A complete different take on the Home Assistant app

Mobile Apps
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21

Just tried the app yesterday and love it. Great UI, good job!

One freature request comes to mind: I’m using an Authentik Proxy for authentication, which redirects the user to the Authentik Login page before redirecting to Home Assistant.
Currently the URL is simply not accepted by the setup dialog, probably because HA is not responding on the specified port but the Authentik web server. Do you think this could be implemented in the future?
For example a browser window could open with the login prompt.

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This app looks soooooooooo great, thank you!
First my mind I saw it: This will go immediately to replace official HA Android client on the wall tablet, because I am tired of configuring Minimalist UI. However, this app is forcing portrait mode, so it is no go for already glued wall tablet :unamused:. Is there any chance to add support for landscape mode as well?

Also, I would have one question: On initial setup of the app, you claim that there is no cloud, and you are not collecting data, app is communicating with the local instance of HA only, etc. But on the next screen, there is a message:

You’re about to give https://ovio.systems access to your Home Assistant instance

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And I can see that https://ovio.systems web site exists.
I believe there is a valid reason, but could you please explain?
Thank you.

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Hi, thanks for trying the app out! Regarding the Authentik Proxy authentication - I am using the developer documentation (Authentication API | Home Assistant Developer Docs) with Indie Auth to authenticate. If authentik does not work via this method I am afraid that it will not be on the backlog for a while.

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Hi Stiw, thanks for the kind words! Tablet mode is coming, the expected release data is at the end of march.

Regarding the cloud question, Home Assistant uses Indie Auth to authenticate, this requires you to authenticate once against a server. So it basicly is to identify who you are. You can check the method for authentication I used in the docs: Authentication API | Home Assistant Developer Docs

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Thank you for the answer, can’t wait for the update, this is the beautiful wall solution out of the box.

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This is sick!!
I have temperture and humidity sensors in all my rooms. My thermostats does also have. temperature sensor.

Is it possible to somehow show both temperature and humdity for each room like using like a chip or something? Also add the possibility to select which sensor should be used - in case there is more?

When changing temperature on a thermostat, it would be nice to make it possible to do so it switches with .5 intervals.

On the home page, instead of having automations at the top, maybe make it scenes?

On the homepage, instead of having only boxes, maybe make it possible to switch the box “switches” to be actual boxes instead of having to click on switches to switch something?

If not possible - will the code be open source to make the changes myself?

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In the next update (it will be a big one haha) - there will be information per room about humidity/temperature/air quality.

Do you control your thermostat with fahrenheit or with celcius?

Automations will indeed be replaced by scenes :smiley:

Direct control on the homepage is also comming in the next update.

If you have any more feedback please let me know!

2 Likes
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When is the update coming? Is there testflight to get it before?
I use celcius.

Will there be open source?

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Great to hear you’re still working on the app!

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The app is not open source. Working very hard to get the update out at the end of february, but mid march at the latest. Testflight for earlier access to updates will come in the future.

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If you have anything you would like to see, please let me know!

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I’ve been noodling on tackling this myself for a while now. The web app is absurdly clunky and insufficient. I’m honestly surprised the community hasn’t taken more of an initiative around filling this gap.

Frankly, I’d really like something snappy and modern like the Josh.ai app.

(dashboard themes do not fix this problem and it’s the primary differentiator between a “native” and “web” experience).

With that being said - the app can’t seem to find my hub nor will it register my hub when placing in my local DNS nor IP address + port information :frowning: . Because of that, I haven’t been able to give it a proper whirl.

HA is a great backend, it is a horrendous front end.

Edit:

Was able to finally get in and play with things. It’s a great concept, it’s just severely lacking in terms of use-full features (plenty of media features missing atm).

Design wise, it’s a huge step forward from the HA Companion app. Although I have my own personal grievances on the custom tab bars at the bottom an some of the design choices that veer a bit too far away from the native app experience.

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Thanks for the eleborate feedback. Could I ask which (media) features you currently mis and would like to see? Also what would you like to see in the bottom bar?

I am currently almost ready to release (a complete overhaul) of the Ovio app. Th release target is at the end of this month.

Btw, just a funny coicidence, I saw your comment on the Josh.ai winter release video haha.

1 Like
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I really like this application’s visual style! It is already very close to an application I’d be willing to pay for to support the development of.

I was wondering if the icon picker when you’re creating an automation could be allowed to also filter by icon name, just with a text box below the scroll? There are quite a few icons to scroll through.

I was also curious about the hiding and deleting features within the interface. It appears that creating and deleting rooms does the same in home assistant, but the visibility toggle for devices seems to be in client only. Personally, I’d love if the client had the ability to hide devices, entities, rooms, etc. only locally. The biggest appeal of this interface to me is that I could install it on the phone of less technically inclined household members and limit what they have control over. We’re a 5 person household and sometimes step on each other’s toes with smart devices.

Lastly, I’d call this more of a bug but not a big one. The automation creation canvas (which is really cool!) seems to make a new blank automation just by opening it. This leaves an “empty” automation in home assistant if you don’t actually edit anything, which doesn’t seem ideal to me.

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Thanks for the feedback!

Interesting suggestion about hiding specific element onyl for the Ovio app. I think this could be combined with a user management sort of thing in the future.

Good point about the empty automations being left behind, it is currently indeed directly creating a new automation when you open a blank canvas.

If you have any more feedback, I would be more than happy to hear it!

36

Great work! This is awesome! I just downloaded and have been playing around for a bit and had some questions and some suggestions if you’re open to them.

Questions

  1. Is there a way to order the rooms?
  2. The top row looks like all (or many) automation. Is there a way to control what goes up here?
  3. Is there a way to associate a media player with a room? For example, when I swipe to Office, it shows the Office media player?
  4. Is there a way to control which media players can be joined?

Some suggestions and thoughts for you. But please take these with a grain of salt. I have a very large and opinionated hassio configuration and may not be the right user for this app.

I don’t love how this app controls my Hassio setup. I started hiding a few devices and changing names but then realized it was changing them in HA. For some reason, I thought this had a local sqlite db that managed all the customizations. Perhaps I’m an outlier here, and in that case, ignore me completely, but I’d prefer to use this app as a customized interface to my existing HA versus a way of managing my setup.

I’d love to see the “room” concept expanded. For example, I’d love to click on “Kitchen” and have it open up a new screen with lights, switches, temperature, media player, sensors like door/window/blinds, motion, and/or occupancy.

The security tab (the second tab) probably shouldn’t include climate-related sensors. It feels a little strange to me. This could be because I have a lot of climate related sensors. For example, my Tempest adds like 20 sensors alone. Each room has a temperature sensor and most rooms have a door sensor, which typically includes a (somewhat inaccurate) temperature sensor. I think door, window, security-related items could be useful here (e.g. motion, cameras).

Building on my previous comment, I’d love to see a “Climate” tab or page that I could control and list all of the temperature (and maybe humidity) sensors that I care to see.

Sidenote, the thermostat UI is beautiful, but the UX isn’t super intuitive to me. It could be that I just click around like an ape, but I clicked on the round thermostat area and it jacked up the heat to 82. I expected the perimeter to modify the temperature, but didn’t think that pressing anywhere inside the circle also changed it. But, this could be because I’m not a smart man, so please keep that in mind. Oh and maybe add presets, e.g. “eco” for Nest.

I’d love to be able to see the state of things. For example, I heavily use booleans to manage things like “Guest Mode”, “Quiet Mode”, “Speech Notifications”, “Lighting Automations”, and others. I’d love to be able to add these to the top where the automation quick links are so I can see which are active and then easily toggle.

I apologize if this is a lot of feedback! Honestly, I think the app is beautiful and really fast. I’d love to see this project expand and happy to help anyway I can.

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It’d be a big list, don’t ask. :smile:

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  1. Currently there is no way to order the rooms, but it is high on the list.
  2. Currently not, but also very close to being implemented.
  3. Will come in the next update!
  4. Will come in the next update!

Always interested in suggestions/feedback!
Interesting point about the split between HA and the Ovio app itself - it is something I am thinking about. Expanded rooms is also something that is coming in the next update!

A split between climate and security is also coming in the next update, also the thermostat ui will be completly revamped.

I’d love to be able to see the state of things. For example, I heavily use booleans to manage things like “Guest Mode”, “Quiet Mode”, “Speech Notifications”, “Lighting Automations”, and others. I’d love to be able to add these to the top where the automation quick links are so I can see which are active and then easily toggle.

This is a bit harder to elegantly implement - I will let this idea brew in my head for a bit.

Thanks for all the feedback, more feedback is always better!

1 Like
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Would be very happy to have the list :smiley:

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Thanks for the quick response! That’s great to hear that most of these items are on your list or in flight.

Happy to help way I can! Let me know if you need somebody to test new builds out for you! Thanks again