Hubitat, Google Home, and Android 11

With Android 11 now out in the public (I got it today), it offers some pretty sweet integration with the Hubitat.

First some basics:

While Google Home only thinks about controlling "physical" things like lights, thermostats, etc., with Hubitat, you can create VIRTUAL Switches--which Google Home thinks are just simple light switches.

What's cool about that is that Hubitat lets you trigger any actions you want based upon the switch moving on/off/changing, (or a dimmer level if you are using a virtual dimmer). And, you can make rules based on the status of those switches. Since they are virtual, there's no cost, wiring, or odd lamps going on and off in the corner of the room!

So, now, you can develop nearly any automation you want and trigger it directly by turning one of those virtual switches on/off or you can control the behavior using "IF xxx is ON THEN" logic in rules.

To tie this to Google Home: by letting Google Home have access to that virtual switch, you can just tell Google to turn it on/off. It may think it's turning a light on/off, but really the Hubitat is doing what you programmed it to!

Say, your Mother in Law visits occasionally and you want to get the guest room ready, you could have a "Mother in Law Mode" switch. When it's on, her room temperature is adjusted, the lights are turned on, etc.

When she arrives, you can just say "Hey Google, Turn Mother In Law Mode On"--and things will work fine.

Now, little does she know, but you have some other rules you've written. One that will change the temperature by 10 degrees hotter then colder every hour. Another that randomly flashes the bedroom lights every 20 minutes or so, etc. Those are only triggered when the "Time to Go" virtual switch is turned on.

Now, when you're ready for the Mother In Law to leave, a simple "Hey Google, Turn Time to Go on". And, your automations will kick in, making for an inhospitable time. :slight_smile:

With those concepts in mind... on Android 11, you can put any of those "mode" switches (along with any real ones) right on the new "Home" panel!

When you do a "long press" of the power button (longer than a "click"--but not so many seconds as to cause a forced reboot--say, about 1 second), you'll get a pop-up screen that lets you power off, lock down, choose a credit card or---WOOHOO!!! Turn selected lights on and off via Google Home!!

By clicking the three dots next to that, you can chose which switches (or virtual switches) you want to appear. Then, after that, you can click the 3 dots and "edit' their position.

Now, you can can have your favorite automations at your fingertips--and you don't even need to start an app!!

For the sake of harmonious family relations, here are some ideas that might be more palatable to your spouse:

TV Mode - Adjust the lighting in the TV room for ideal viewing. Possibly even turn on the TV and stereo. When this switch is turned off, it resets the lights for normal activities.

Asleep Mode - Turn off all the lights. close the garage doors, lock all the outside doors, and turn on the porch light. You might have this one automatically reset to "Off" (turning it on will trigger those actions, so it doesn't necessarily need to stay on).

Good Morning Mode - Turn on the morning lights (slowly for tired eyes) and get ready to go. Like Asleep Mode, you might have this one toggle itself off.

Lock Up the House Mode - Lock all the outside doors and shut the garage doors. This is another one you might have turn itself off automatically.

Essentially, whatever helps you out!

Once that's all set up, you can just tell Google what you want--or, with Android 11, you can just squeeze the power button for a moment then click the action you want without making a peep.

Pretty cool stuff! :slight_smile:

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Pics or it didn't happen. :wink:

Got any screen shots of the home panel?

(I rather crudely blurred out the credit cards--after all I've spent the past few weeks on Z-Wave toys, I can't afford to be buying everyone a new car--or 50 new Z-Wave toys!!)

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To keep things organized, I created a "Room" called "Automations"--I put all my virtual switches for my rule-driven "scenes" in there (these aren't Z-Wave "scenes", just a bunch of actions I take when the switch changes state).

I've got up to 4 morning "wake up times" set up, with times on one of my dashboards. To adjust the times and days of the week, I have to get into the Hubitat app/web page and bring up that dashboard. But, to just turn one on/off, I can do that in a snap through Google.

I rolled my own with rules--but, after I did that, another great Hubitat developer wrote an app for handling wakeup routines. I've not tried it, but it sounds pretty sweet. It's currently in "Beta" phase: [BETA] Wake Me Up

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My Android 11 update borked my Pixel4 XL - had to do a factory reset.

Now to be fair the only weirdness I had on that phone was I temporarily added a client in order to configure their Ring & Nest devices without me needing to borrow their phone during the setup process. I suspect A11 upgrade did not like this for some reason.

Tried to report the issue to Google via chatting with "Sam" the possible bot and was told to do a factory reset and that Google really cares about my privacy and data.

The caring about my data part I agree with - Stay classy Googs!

(sorry had to vent a bit... feel better now)

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I've been doing that for some time using the voice control "OK GOOGLE". But having buttons on home screen could be nice. Now if my phone will only update to 11. It is still on 10.

EDIT: Should clarify, I have created routines in Google so my voice commands are more intuitive. Then the routine turns on or off the virtual HE switch.

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Dang, that sux about your phone getting borked. :frowning:

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Yeah is weird that the "flagship" device can get corrupted like that. Fortunately more of an annoyance than a show stopper.

So bro, were you able to get it to work after the reset?

Google has a lot of great things--customer service sure isn't one of them.

Same...my "Goodnight" routine in GH wishes me sweet dreams, and then flips a virtual switch in HE to set off door and window checks, turning off lights and fans in family room and other areas, turning on lights and fans in the bedroom, etc.

I'm a few months from Android 11 most likely, I have an S10 (wife Note10) and usually a few months after release before the new OS shows up. Hopefully we'll get 11.1 w/fixes for any early issues. :slight_smile: Don't want to do another "C7 Sleigh Ride" w/my phone. :smiley: :wink:

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Dude!!!! Where's your sense of adventure!! :stuck_out_tongue:

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I am so ashamed...I promise to look foward to the next beta with open hub and arms. :wink:

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I look forward to the new Android 11 features when I get it in 2 years once LG releases it for my phone. LOL.

(actually more likely I'll get a new phone before LG releases the update)

Android release updates (timeliness as well as how many a phone gets) is still one of the major weak areas for Android.

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I have a buddy w/an LG, and he coined the phrase: "LG: FW updates are a Long-term Goal" :wink:

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Exactly. I like my dual screen LG V60 a lot, but I went into it knowing that I may never get an OS update in the time I own the phone.... :confused:

Their OS upgrade support is right down there in the bottom tier with Motorola.

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Which is sad since Motorola used to be so good about updates...

Yup, they were.... Pre-Google acquisition and subsequent expulsion.

(if you can't tell, my opinion is that Google ruined Motorola's cell phone division)

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I remember waiting in line for the first moto "Droid" back on the day it was released. Exciting times... :slight_smile:

I've yet to see a better value than the LG Nexus 5. My wife still uses hers to this day!

RIP Nexus

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Yeah it's working. I wasn't all that worried. I could have done the ADB thing to downgrade and maybe got my data back but it was backed up anyway. Just restoring accts etc was a pain - otherwise all good.

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