Why no native Hubitat email send support?

šŸ“¢ Feedback Feature Requests
1

Greetings,
I am a new user in the process of learning to use my C5.

I want to send emails on certain events. I have browsed the community, and have seen a lot of feature requests, and a few solutions, all requiring an external computer (Raspberry Pi) or an external (paying) web service.

I would just like to know why the Hubitat designers refuse to implement native email sending ?

Seems odd, as I have read Hubitat is Linux based, and on Linux (like on a Pi), it is quite simple to send emails (and SMS by extension) via a gmail account. I do own a Pi, but I'd rather not commit it to 24/7 duties...

Thank you.

2

I'm not sure they have ever "refused" implementing it.... At least I couldn't find a comment from them saying so.

But there are limited resources for development, so maybe it has just never been a priority - especially since there are other supported alerting methods such as pushover, etc.

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3

There are a couple of other discussions like this.

I guess that, since it's going to rely on the cloud anyways, I'd opt to use IFTTT until one of us writes a driver :slight_smile:

Personally, I use my Hubitat Slack integration, and a couple of other notification systems, so email has never been a real desire...

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4

You may also wish to consider using mailgun:

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5

Just a thought ... but notice the word "local". Maybe they don't want to worry about having an outside connection to something. There are plenty of reasonably priced apps that integrate, so why re-invent the wheel? Pushover is 4$.

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6

Thank you.
I have seen those recommendations already, it is just surprising to have to jump through hoops to have basic outgoing email working.

I have done my homeworks and searched through the community before posting.

Non tech people will not do it. I may, but my question remains. Why not provide it in the base package as it is (very probably) available in the underlying Linux?
Not asking about a full fledged mail server here...

7

Again, because it is LOW priority. There are alternatives that work today, so why develop a mail client instead of some other new feature that there isn't already an alternative/workaround for?

Yes, if there were infinite developers, then of course - put in a mail client. But there isn't, and there is a long list of other features that haven't been implemented yet.

You might not LIKE the answer, but that doesn't mean there isn't an answer...

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8

@rudy1

I have been working on an email service for my members once the site is open.
I have had good results up to now.
It is a device driver that works like any other notification device but uses one of my servers to do the actual sending.
You will also have access to a log, showing what emails you have sent.

@Royski, @njanda and @aaiyar have been testing so they can comment on whether it works ok for them

Iā€™m using it to have emails sent to me when my hubs reboot.

Andy

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9

@rudy1
I can comment that this works really well for me. Incredible service for Andy (@Cobra) to be providing.

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10

And the same for me, brilliant!! :+1:

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11

Is there a use case for email notifications that wouldnā€™t work with the currently available methods?

12

For some things I prefer email.
I can send emails to multiple addresses with no 3rd party apps etc installed.
(other then an email client that is usually installed anyway)

I also have various email ā€˜triggersā€™ in outlook on my PC

Andy

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13

@marktheknife

I try to keep as few apps as possible on my phone. I need the Hubitat app because I use it (among other approaches) for geofencing. But on occasion it has fallen asleep and I have received a bunch of notifications at one time. In contrast, SMS has never failed me. So I use email to receive sms from my providers email-to-sms gateway.

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14

Yep, it's been working perfectly for me too.

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15

Use case: I would like to send status emails to my phone provider SMS gateway (and more emails to a dedicated email account), and the number of SMS directly via Hubitat is limited to 10, and I do not want to depend on a PI or a charging web service.
Is this currently possible ?

grateful.

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16

Thank you Cobra. Very generous.
Initially, I want to explore if it is possible locally.

17

Hubitat no longer supports direct SMS, so that number is 0.

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18

Unfortunately, until HE includes an smtp client in the firmware, that is not possible

But also, email obviously requires the internet to send, so it will never be totally local

Andy

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19

If you want to send an email, you have to be connected to the internet. Otherwise you wouldn't be able to send an email.

20

Of course. What I meant was Internet connected but independant of paying web services and other computers on the local network.

I have my answer, it cannot be done at this time...

Thank you all.

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