Home Assistant is an open-source platform that lets you manage different smart-home systems from one place. It does need to be set up by yourself. In my setup I run Home Assistant in a Docker container on a Raspberry Pi (16GB RAM) and linked it to a domain, so I can manage my devices remotely through the browser and the Home Assistant app. Check out my setup.
Then the fun part begins — building automations across different smart-home vendors. I get a notification on my smart speakers when the washing machine leaks, or my fan switches on and off based on the temperature. A few examples:
- Zoom-meeting mode in the house.
- All lights off via an NFC tag.
- Speaker announcement when laundry is done.
- Speaker announcement when an F1 event starts.
- Alert when it's going to rain and windows are open.
Want to see more examples? Check out my Instagram @madebyadem.
A few advantages of Home Assistant at a glance:
- A clean interface. No extra software required.
- A massive library of compatible smart-home systems — IKEA Tradfri, Google Home, Nest, Philips Hue, Amazon Alexa, Plex Media Server, TP-Link and many more.
- Routines based on different triggers such as time, motion, etc. Devices from different vendors can easily be chained together.
- Running on a Raspberry Pi gives full control over the system and better privacy — no data shared with Big Tech.