I’d like to start my home automation journey, and would appreciate a little help understanding the lay of the land. Initially, I’m trying to understand when and why I might need to use Home Assistant. It feels like there is a lot of device integration being incorporated into things like Alexa and Google Home now. What extra does Home Assistant bring to the party? Is it more device / radio support, or the elimination of proprietary hubs, or something else?
For context, my family are a mix of Android and Apple iOS users. I’m looking to start with a small amount of smart lighting, and getting the AV system under control. My family will demand that anything I do must be at least as easy to use as the current “un-automated” solution. That tends to push me away from APPs on phones and web-browsers, and towards smarter versions of existing types of controls (eg light switches), and especially voice control (hence my interest in integration via Alexa or Google Home).
Feel free to point me at more reading if that would be easier - thanks!
See it as one software package for everything from mail to switches, from sensors to automations etc. everything you can think of is probably possible with Home Assistant.
My use of HA is to integrate items in the home from different manufacturers together.
I also have the issue of needing to ‘keep it the same’… nobody likes change
The advantage of HA for me is automations.
For example, we have lights that are always on when we are home in the living room, so they’re now automated to switch on with varying brightness depending on outside lighting conditions (and presence detection).
The sheer number of available components makes integration easy.
As you mentioned, you can even get rid of proprietary hubs if you wish to.
I am not sure about Android (not a user), but the iOS app is great.
Ok, thanks everyone, that helps. How do I decide/know/find out whether to use a “proprietary” hub, or HA with an appropriate radio, or both in combination? Eg, Philips Hue lights would normally be controlled with their own hub. But the lights are Zigbee light link, which I assume HA supports (with a Zigbee radio) on its own. So how do I know if I want HA + bulbs, or HA + hub + bulbs, or just Hue hub and bulbs, and not use HA at all?
