Multiple Users

Hello HE community — I have what seems like a basic question to pose. One of the struggles with migrating to HE after using another system for almost five years (and then having been a Crestron and AMX user going even further back) is that old habits are wired into my way of approaching automation.

I am very much used to having a concept of "users" with regards to the system as a whole. I am hoping to create a different dashboard that is unique to specific users — for example my wife, myself, the in-laws, our building super, etc. I also have not yet reached detecting presence on an individual basis and although I am considering trying life360 I still do not see how I could align or match that presence information to a specific user.

So what is the HE way of handling multiple users/inhabitants/visitors/etc and how can I make best use of dashboards to serve each of their needs?

Thanks!

– Richard

Life360 allows each user's smartphone to be linked to your Hubitat Hub. This will then create a 'Presence Device" for each of your users. You can then use an App like Mode Manager to change the mode to 'Away' when all presence detectors are 'not present'. If any user comes home, the Mode Manager can change the mode to 'Home", for example. Using these modes will allow other automations to behave differently based on whether or not anyone is home. I even use Text To Speech to announce the arrival or departure of any of the users in my home.

As for user-specific dashboards... You can create as many Hubitat Dashboard screens as you'd like. You can then give each specific user the 'Cloud URL' specific for their dashboard.

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Right. Wow. Thanks @ogiewon — I am so soon to be sold on life360…

How about security? I have a dashboard I am using to test. Right now I never encounter a password prompt when accessing either via the cloud or local. That's a concern of ours too. We do not want the neighbors gaining access via a link! That's too easy.

It's also the other aspect of what I hope for with multiple users — separate logins. I love my in-laws. I trust my in-laws. But I still do not want to share my primary account login information. But like I said, right now I encounter no password prompt whatsoever.

Thanks,
Richard

You can set individual dashboards to be accessible via a cloud URL or only a local URL on your LAN. You can also set a PIN code to protect individual dashboards. But right now there’s no other password management feature.

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I'll look for that PIN feature @marktheknife . I didn't see it the first pass through but I'll experiment.

Any other dashboard type UI toolkits well liked in this community? I'm seeing talk of a WebCoRE port but that seems much more of a Rule Machine replacement than a dashboard. I've heard of ActionTiles, OpenDash, etc. Any strong opinions out there?

If you're not an existing webCoRE user from ST, it is probably best to focus on using the built-in Hubitat Apps for now. webCoRE has caused some users' hubs to slow down.

ActionTiles only works with SmartThings. The developers of ActionTiles appear to be pretty content with their ST user base for now. There is currently no announced activity or plans for ActionTiles on Hubitat.

https://sharptools.io/ is a dashboard option with native Hubitat integration. It runs on a cloud web server, whereas the Hubitat Dashboard runs on your Hubitat hub. There are Pros and Cons to each approach, and there is nothing to stop you from using both.

Another option is HousePanel. You have to run in on another computer, like a Raspberry Pi.

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This community keeps delivering… you all rock. Thank you so much! I'll be digging into all of this next week. Right now HousePanel looks very exciting and I do have a few RPi at home looking for new tasks…

Thanks for the shout out Dan!!

r.p... I would love to see you added to the community of HousePanel users. I update it frequently and it is happily used by many members of the community. It works with both Hubitat and SmartThings and with the latest version you can even authenticate any combination of hubs to co-exist on the same panel. Tonight I am posting in the main HP thread a new update that gives user even more fine-grained control over the look and feel of their panel using the built-in web-based GUI. I hope you like it, and if you have any trouble installing just let me know. The hardest part is getting the permissions set right on your rPI and web server since it used a file for options. You will also need PHP with cURL installed on your rPI but that is pretty standard stuff. Finally getting advanced features like videos on the panel and other stuff working is all possible but requires some effort. Again, we're here to help if you run into snags.

Enjoy!!

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Once again this community delivers…

@kewashi I have been following your other thread since before I even bought a Hubitat. It was one of the exciting community led projects that drew me towards HE. I am well versed web technologies and using a Pi for similar tasks. I look forward to giving this a spin. I'm behind schedule as a result of a few big weekends so I may not get to this for a few more weeks. I cannot wait!

In the interim, let me ask, what about cloud/remote access? That is something that SharpTools (and the native HE dashboard) already support. My spouse is going to really miss easy access to a quick view of our home should HousePanel lack remote access support.

Thanks!

–Richard

HP now has a password protect feature so you can more safely install it on a public web server or you can expose your rPi to the outside via a port redirect. Either works. Be sure to include a robots file so search engines won’t find it and be sure to disable directory listings on your web server. There are still risks involved but they are manageable - and not worse than handing your data over to a third party to protect.

HP now has a password protect feature so you can more safely install it on a public web server or you can expose your rPi to the outside via a port redirect.

Can you please suggest a public web server(s) so that I can investigate?

I use GoDaddy but any will do. You will still need an account for web hosting for whatever you pick. Another option is AWS.