Question about alerts

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1

I am still new to Hubitat. About 3 months into it now but still learning.

I have question about alerts on Dashboard and iPhone.

How does one create an alert to be sent to dashboard screen and to iPhone either SMS, Hubatit app or any other way? Is it done in RM?

I plan to start installing contact sensor on all windows and doors and I know Hubitat is not designed to be an alarm system but I would like to receive an alert when windows or doors is opened and a different alert when it left open for more than 10 minutes etc. I am not concerned about making my home more secured just a simple alert to make me aware my kids are being lazy.

Also, an alert from fire alarm or alert from temperature sensor inside a deep freezer, garage door left open for more than an hour etc.

How are alert message setup in Hubitat?

Thank you

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There is a built-in notifier app. My biggest issue with it, is the message are not "check-able" in the app. What I mean is the Hub will send you an alert, but if you cannot read it in the tiny window it gives you when you click on it, it opens the app and the notification is not available.

I prefer to use @Cobra email notifier must register free for his site to send email to SMS for cell phone alerts.

For audio alerts ("kitchen door is ajar") I use @tonesto7 Echo speaks and have it come out of all our Echo devices.

For dashboard alerts I use @bptworld Follow Me.

There are many options both built in, and third party. I'm sure you'll get lots of suggestions. Mine would be to review them all, and pick the ones that work best for you, your use case, and your family.

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3

Thank you for the detailed information!

I will look into all of it but the audio one ..

My wife and I are both Deaf since birth. That is one reason why we have Inovelli switches installed in most of all our room in the house to use Led strip to alert us when something is triggered.

Thanks again for helping me to get started somewhere!

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4

Some people that know me here will say I am cheer-leading, but that's OK. :man_cartwheeling:

If you plan to use lots of dashboards there are several great dashboard "add-ons" as well as smartly which is a 'skin' and runs mostly local to HE without additional equipment to install. I work closely with @spelcheck on smartly, so yes i am biased.

In any event, if your interaction with your home is going to involve more than the occasional dash use, I would consider researching some of the more unconventional dashboard approaches. The Show Off Tread is a great place to start seeing what is available and fine tuning your goals on the dash side of things.

Happy to help you get the most out of your HE experience! Where the only thing better than the hub, is the community of people who help support/improve it!!

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I been following the smartly thread and I plan to add it to my dashboard soon.

Are you familiar with MakerAPI and Homebridge?

We have it set up so we can use the HomeKit on our iPhone control some devices around our house like door lock, garage door or lightings etc. On the iPhone, it would use notification banner to alert us when door is unlock / lock or garage door is opening and shutting which are the important alerts we wanted to be notified of

is there a way to have custom alert sent to the iPhone Homekit notification banner too?

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(Butting in...) I'm not familiar enough with Home/HomeKit/HomeBridge to know if this is technically possible, but I'm using HomeBridge with the MakerAPI plugin now, and it does not support arbitrary notifications.

However, if the device is exposed to HomeKit, you can use the Home app to do the notifications for you--obviously a bit limiting (only the limited options it provides) and possibly messy (spreading automations out between Hubitat and HomeKit). As an example, I used to do this with my locks if I was away: I was using HomeKit as one presence solution, so it usually knew where I was without Hubitat, and I only wanted lock/unlock notifications if I wasn't at home, something Home happens to support natively. The fact that they looked different from regular Hubitat notifications also caught my eye better. :slight_smile: This may not work for all devices or situations.

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7

no butting at all @bertabcd1234 your input is always welcome :smiley:

to get back to @techbill I do not use Homebridge or Homekit. I try to keep as much as I can to HE, or things that will run on the HE platform. I tell my accountant these are business expenses and as such I try to keep it to "a package I can resell/install/support". Once Covid is gone and Hubitat restocks our company plans to have a big "Home Automation" promotion to our end users.

I/We are not affiliated with Hubitat (just enjoy/trust their product enough to share with the masses!)

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