Companion app for iOS 2023.12: Let’s go!

BrianAker · January 2, 2024, 2:33am

Any chance you could add a feature to synchronize Home Assistant rooms to Apple Home?

You could simplify the adding of HomeAssistant to Apple Home as a collection of bridges, but just synchronizing the creation of rooms would be a great start!

luar · January 2, 2024, 1:40pm

Hello! Great news!

What do you think about uploading current version of the app as “HomeAssistant Legacy” to AppStore so people with older hardware can still use it?

In my case, I have an iPad Mini and an iPad 2 in a drawer, always thinking of using it for hass, as the hardware is good but as they are old they don’t accept any updates or new software.

And on iOS it’s not as easy as in Android to have it done by myself, building an APK and installing it…

mattyscaife · January 2, 2024, 10:32pm

Latest companion app update on MacOS is broken. Not able to open the app. Works fine on iPhone and iPad. Have seen others mention the same thing. Any ideas?

z06Drew · January 3, 2024, 5:05pm

I’d love to see Car Play integration so I can create a dashboard for controlling things like exterior lights, garage doors, locks, alarm, etc.

fightingmajor · January 3, 2024, 9:52pm

Thank you got it combined now.

laurensvp · January 5, 2024, 9:45am

Hi Bruno, good to have you on board. I’d like to clarify one thing related to the latest iOS update and Matter/Thread. According to Home Assistant Yellow Silicon Labs Multiprotocol Border Router - "Thread Border Router Required" - #5 by wmaker commissioning a Thread device directly in HA via iOS wasn’t possible at the time. Is this still the case?

(For context, I have a Yellow and I’m trying to add a Thread switch via iOS. This switch has Thread and Bluetooth, but no WiFi. I don’t have any other Thread Border Routers, just the OTBR integration.)

aves_aquila · January 5, 2024, 12:17pm

Hey @mtf169! I was struggling with the exact same problem. Then somewhere I read, that the iOS device you are using for that operation, has to belong to the owner of the HomeKit home. Which I wasn’t… After I switched to my wife’s phone, I managed to get the credentials successfully imported immediately. Maybe your device you are using also doesn’t belong to the owner?

casuallynoted · January 7, 2024, 9:18am

Thought I would link the thread about Unknown type error 74.

mploetner · January 7, 2024, 1:29pm

When trying to merge the networks I received this.

Smart as I am I tried to change channel and received this. Where exactly do I change this

mhoogenbosch · January 9, 2024, 9:24am

Oh noo!!! Testflight app with first iteration of Apple CarPlay just got released and now my car doesn’t have carplay anymore . Good luck testing everyone, looks like a nice addition!

ali_ilhami · January 10, 2024, 8:32pm

Hey there, please check github issues time to time there is a bug that effects Mac app for more than 2 years… we cannot scroll with mouse or copy paste with keyboard in the mac app. That is frustrating. It is happening for years with every release.

parautenbach · January 11, 2024, 5:08am

Be careful with accusations. If there’s a GitHub issue then share it here so that others can add info to it if they’re sharing your experience.

It’s definitely not the case for me, so it doesn’t seem to be affecting everyone. This can be caused by custom cards. What have you tried on your end? Which version of macOS? Etc.

ali_ilhami · January 11, 2024, 11:39am

There are no accusations actually. I am an enthusiastic user which adopts amost every feature HA team develops and being a evangelist of HA. It is not possible for a user to debug every other plugin or custom card if that’s the cause. I have already opened the issue on github like many others.

Here is all the related open issues on github. I’ve found them today by doing a searching. Almost all of them includes the version and the operating system details. I know HA is not a “for profit” project and I have utmost respect to all developers putting effort on this. I just wanted to emphasize that one simple bug is there for almost 4 years.

parautenbach · January 25, 2024, 6:56pm

Could someone please help me understand this better?

This does not mean your iOS 12, 13, or 14 devices have become unusable. You can still access your Home Assistant using the browser if you have a device that can’t update past iOS 12, such as the 2014 iPhone 6 or iPad Mini 3. All other devices currently capable of running iOS 13 or 14 can be updated to iOS 15 or higher and use the new versions of the iOS Companion App.

I have some old devices like these.

Past this last release, will the last supported version of the app remain usable (it just cannot be updated), or will unsupported clients be unable to connect to an HA instance? I’m ok with an unsupported app that’s effectively feature frozen, as long as it can still connect.

What happens with background updates such as location tracking? When opening a page in the browser, I’m not sure auto update functionality such as location tracking will work reliably. I rely on this heavily. Secondly, running from the browser might also mean certain sensors won’t be available.

bkbartk · January 25, 2024, 7:06pm

Your app may stays working but it’s not guaranteed.
You can use sour browser means safari/firefox/chrome etc….
Location tracking may fail. As alternative you can consider the ping integration to check if your device is home or not. However my xp is that ping works better for android devices. As iOS devices use a battery safe function.
Maybe not 12. But 17 does.

parautenbach · January 25, 2024, 8:31pm

I appreciate your input, but I hope one of the app devs such as Zac will chime in too.

Ping sensors either cause battery drain or are too slow to update with less pinging, and I track more than just the home location, so it’s not a workable solution.

As for backend compatibility, I’d like to know if there’s a current roadmap or architectural decision (AR) for it. I don’t mind a cut-off: I just want to stay ahead of the curve.

javalsu · February 12, 2024, 4:36pm

Any chance we can expect an update to allow the native swipe/back iOS functionality in the app?

parautenbach · February 12, 2024, 8:22pm

@bgoncal could you please clarify this: For unsupported devices will an old companion app installation be actively prevented from logging in or stop working against a certain server version? Using HA on older devices via the browser won’t work well with background tasks to update sensors, such as for location tracking, I think. This is a major issue in my case, since so many of my automations depend on whether people are home. Using ping sensors aren’t a viable substitute for me.

bgoncal · February 13, 2024, 10:26am

The 2023.12 version of the app will keep working

parautenbach · February 13, 2024, 10:29am

Wonderful, thank you so much.