Home Assistant Telegram Notifications

Home Assistant is a free platform for home automation that helps manage your smart home system in one place. The service supports more than 2,000 smart devices from popular brands. Due to this, you can create an almost unlimited number of automations and set each connected device to perform its action on a predetermined command.

But there is still something to do after creating a single smart home ecosystem and setting up the necessary scenarios. It is important to always stay aware of what is happening in the house. While Home Assistant has built-in notifications, they are not the best way to keep track of smart device messages and automation status alerts.

It is much more convenient to receive messages where you will instantly notice and read them. For example, in the messenger that you use every day - such as Telegram. The Notify Events integration solves this task quickly and efficiently.

In this article:

• Notify.Events Home Assistant integration features
• Home Assistant Telegram notifications
• Setting up Telegram and Home Assistant
• Configuring Notify.Events
• Configuring Telegram bot
• Configuring Home Assistant
• Subscribing family members to Home Assistant notifications

Notify.Events Home Assistant integration features

Notify.Events allows you to receive free instant notifications from various digital services, including Home Assistant and other home automation systems, on your phone or PC in the most convenient way.

In real time, the tool collects all the event messages you define and sends them in the way you choose. You can receive Home Assistant iOS notifications, Home Assistant Android notifications, Home Assistant alerts via Telegram, Slack, Skype, Discord, SMS and voice calls, as well as Home Assistant push notifications.

See the full list of 50+ recipients >>

You can set up sending notifications for each Home Assistant automation including the following:

• Motion sensor triggered,
• Pipe leak in the kitchen,
• Video doorbell call,
• Washing machine program completed.

If the original message contains an image, file, or link, you will receive them too. For example, you will immediately see a photo from a CCTV camera and will be able to quickly react – urgently call the police or relax.

Home Assistant Telegram notifications

Telegram is in the TOP-5 most downloaded messengers in the world. And if you also use the app every day to chat with friends and colleagues or read thematic feeds, you will love getting Home Assistant notifications on the spot.

The Home Assistant + Telegram bundle helps keep track of all smart home alerts in time and quickly respond to them if necessary. For example, when a faucet leaked or a sensor detected suspicious movement in the backyard.

Setting up Telegram and Home Assistant

Notifications from Home Assistant are sent to Telegram by the Notify.Events bot. To make it work, you need to configure Notify.Events, Telegram and Home Assistant one by one. Follow the step-by-step instructions and it won't take long.

Configuring the Notify.Events integration

1. Sign up or sign in to the Notify Events website.
2. Create a new channel (notification feed) or select an existing one.

3. Add Home Assistant to the channel via the Add Source button in the Sources section.

4. Copy the received token from the instruction.

5. Add Telegram to the channel. Use the Subscribe button in the Recipients section.

Configuring the Telegram bot integration

After clicking on the Telegram card at the stage of adding a recipient, you will see instructions for setting up the messenger. Follow it:

1. Add the Notify.Events Telegram bot to your Telegram contact list.

2. Click Start to allow notifications. You will see a subscription message.

3. Once you launch the bot, run the /subscribe*your personal token* command (see the Notify.Events instruction window) in the dialog.

After successful setup, Telegram will appear in the Recipients section of the Notify.Events interface.

Configuring the Home Assistant integration

1. Login to your Home Assistant account and open the configuration.yaml file.
2. Specify the token received at the stage of adding the Home Assistant source to the Notify.Events channel in the appropriate place in the configuration file:

You can further customize the configuration variables and add additional attributes to extend the functionality. See full instructions on the Home Assistant website.

That’s it! Now, as soon as some event happens in your home or office, you will instantly receive a message in Telegram:

In the Notify.Events control panel, you can set different priorities and levels for events, configure sending by time, and add other methods of receiving. What’s more, you can add more subscribers in no time.

Subscribing family members to Home Assistant notifications

Method 1. Telegram group chats

The first way to subscribe several people to notifications is to set up sending to a Telegram group chat:

1. Similarly, add the Notify.Events Telegram bot to your contact list.
2. Go to the bot's profile and add it to the desired group - the Add to group or channel button. Or do it through the settings of the desired group (the Add button).

3. Once the bot has appeared among the group members, execute the /subscribe*your personal token* @NotifyEventsBot command in the group chat. To get the token, see the Notify.Events instruction window.

After successful setup, all the group chat members will start receiving Home Assistant notifications.

Method 2. Subscription link

If you don't want to set up sending to group chats, you can let your loved ones subscribe to Home Assistant Telegram notifications using a dedicated link. It's completely free for you, plus subscribers don't have to create their own Notify.Events account.

1. Go to the Channel subscription screen (Subscribe button in the Recipients section).

2. Copy the link from the address bar.

When your family members follow the link, they will be taken to the same Channel subscription screen and can set up notifications from Home Assistant to their Telegram account (or other recipient) on their own.

The number of available subscribers varies depending on the plan. At the same time, their number does not affect the consumption of messages from the subscription, since only incoming messages are charged.

Read more about adding subscribers to the channel >>

Now you know how to set up free Home Assistant Telegram notifications using the Notify.Events Telegram bot, and can be the first to know about all incidents and updates in the house, wherever you are.

Still, Notify.Events is not limited to Telegram and allows you to choose the most convenient way for each user to receive notifications from 50+ options.