This is Fine

Discovering Home Assistant isn't for me

Home Assistant is considered the gold standard in smart home management. It seems like anyone with some technical ability uses it and recommends it. You can get all your devices into a single dashboard! No worrying about interoperability! It supports all the standards. My coworker told me about his setup to remind him if he hadn't taken out the trash using a weight sensor. Cool!

I previously used Apple Home as my hub. It worked except for our Nest thermostats, Ring doorbell (both came with the house), and our Shark robot vacuum (which I hate). For my needs, I really only wanted a single dashboard that could show me all our disparate devices. It would be nice, but not required, to have finer control over my devices. Something like sending a reminder at a time AND location is supported by HA and would be useful.

So I went about installing Home Assistant on my Unraid server. I knew I didn't need all the customization HA supports but I wanted to see what all the fuss was about. The following are my thoughts on the process...

  1. There's a Docker image. Let's use that... oh it doesn't support all the features. I don't know which features I need.
  2. Might as well use the full operating system to reduce issues down the line. It's the recommended way to install. I have to figure out how to run it in a VM. I really don't want to keep track of another way to manage things on my server. I use Docker for everything else.
  3. At least it's easy to get running. There are plenty of tutorials to set up a HAOS VM on Unraid.
  4. HAOS is up and running! I can access it from the browser. Let's add some devices.
  5. It already found some devices. Nice. Adding my Apple TVs and Hue lights was easy. I love all the icon options. Apple Home is very limited.
  6. Google Nest plugin requires a lot of set up but the step-by-step walkthrough is very helpful. Oh yay, I already paid the $5 for a Google developer account.
  7. The Ring plugin is easy to install and works with the cameras. That's nice. Except it doesn't support lights. Boo.
  8. Shark plugin doesn't work. Seems like there's some ongoing development. Maybe someday. I was really hoping the Shark would work because the schedules allowed in the Shark app are very limited. I can't tell it to clean different rooms on different days.
  9. Where do I go to see all my devices? Ok I have to go to Settings > Devices & services > Devices. That seems like a lot of steps.
  10. Let's add an automation to turn on lights when I press this Aqara button. Which trigger do I use? The "Device Trigger" isn't working... That's because it's an "Identify" action (whatever that means) not a button press. What about "Manual event received Trigger"? Nope. Oh I need a "State Trigger". Now it's working. What a pain. There are a lot of options which is nice if I ever want that level of control.
  11. Time for the HA app. I like the information density and customization. It also seems more responsive. My wife will never use this especially since I'll have to install Tailscale too. She doesn't use the Apple Home app either so nothing lost there.

Where does this leave me? I still can't use a single dashboard since the Ring lights and the Shark vacuum aren't supported. I can do a few more custom automations that Apple Home doesn't support. I have a separate VM to maintain.

I used Home Assistant exclusively for about a week. It worked but it didn't add enough to be worth the effort for me. I switched back to Apple Home with Homebridge. It adds Apple Home support for the Nests and Rings. I still have to use the Shark app. I still have to use the Ring app for our Ring outdoor lights. For now, that's good enough.