Quick Look on Home Assistant 2022.3 Updates
On March 2, Home Assistant announced a new release. And over the past week, the team has updated the list of major changes with less important improvements and bug fixes three times.
Most of the changes this month are related to media features and user interface improvements. However, there was a place for new integrations as well. In this article, we will quickly go over the main innovations:
Media
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Playback in scripts
The first thing the Home Assistant developers did was to enable users to embed media playback into automation scripts using the new "Play media" action. And the media selector allows picking the desired cast for playback.
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New media sources
And to give you plenty to choose from, the new release has a bunch of new media sources. They include both pre-recorded material and live media content. The following options are now on the list:
- CCTV cameras,
- Lovelace dashboards,
- text to speech feature,
- new integration with DLNA Digital Media Server,
- 30 000+ radio stations via Radio Browser,
- your own media files upload (images, soundbites, music) directly from the browser, with no add-ons.
Now in just a minute you can set up broadcasting video from a security camera to the supported device when a smart doorbell is triggered or turn on the radio in the hall after opening a smart door lock.
UI Improvement
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New look
With the new release, we can say goodbye to the old interface. Home Assistant now uses Material Web Components to give front-end elements (mostly input fields) a more modern look. Although the changes are not the most significant, MWC makes HA more convenient and allows it to access many new features in the future.
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Trigger alert
Another change in the UI is the display of a special “TRIGGERED” alert bar. The message will instantly appear each time the trigger fires. This will allow you to check the correct operation of the automation.
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Improved code editor
If you at least sometimes use the built-in Home Assistant code editor with the YAML configuration and Jinja templates, now this process will become a bit more convenient for you. With this release, it gained entity ID autocompletion. It means that when you start entering the ID, the editor will propose a full entity identifier and will show its current state.
New integrations
Finally, we got to the integrations. In addition to the already mentioned DLNA Digital Media Server and Radio Browser, the list has been expanded with the following:
In addition, the following two integrations can now be set up via the Home Assistant UI:
By the way, Notify.Events offers a great solution to get instant notifications from smart devices to your smartphone (both Android and iOS). The service offers a ready-made out-of-the-box integration with Home Assistant. Just set up a bundle and stay up to date with what is happening in your home. A leak in the bathroom, high CO levels, or suspicious movement in the backyard - you'll be the first to know about it and be able to react quickly.
In addition to Home Assistant, integrations with other smart home services are also available: Google Home, Nest, Homebridge (Apple HomeKit), and others. A complete list can be found in the Source catalog in the IoT and Smart Home category.
Read more about how to set up a Notify.Events account and get the first notification here.
