Home Assistant and Companion. Local only access

[JohnBentley]

Hello,

(I’m restricted to two links as a new user, so I prefix some links with web://)

I’m a newbie and evaluating Home Assistant as a refugee from Philips Hue, who have recently mandated cloud accounts even for local access.

I’d like to verify that accessing Home Assistant, whether through a web based dashboard or using a native mobile app (the Home Assistant Companion for Android or Apple), can be done entirely locally, without having to register a cloud account.

I see on the home page

Open source home automation that puts local control and privacy first.

and at web://community.home-assistant.io/t/philips-hue-will-force-users-to-upload-their-data-to-hue-cloud/617391 a post by the system admin (Paulus Schoutsen) that,

I wrote how toying with the first Philips Hue hub and their local API led me to start Home Assistant back in 2013) … [but with respect to the recent Philips change] … things are changing, for the worse.

So all the right noises are being made by the (or “a”?) Home Automation founder.

Local access to dashboard without cloud account

I also see in the docs what appears to be a local first approach to accounts.

Onboarding Home Assistant

the Home Assistant device’s address in your browser’s address bar … If you are running an older Windows version or have a stricter network configuration, you might need to access Home Assistant at homeassistant:8123 or web://X.X.X.X:8123 (replace X.X.X.X with your device’s IP address) …

… So there seems to be local IP to access without being forced into the cloud (at that stage).

Then there’s “In this step, you will create the owner’s account of Home Assistant. This account is an administrator account” with a screenshot that allows for any user name. That is, there’s no forcing of an email account anywhere. And from there it seems one can edit a dashboard.

So can I get confirmation I have it right so far? There’s no need for any cloud account to setup and access a (web based) Home Assistant Dashbaord. It can be 100% local?

Local access to Home Automation Companion (Mobile) App without cloud account

Now to the Home Automation Companion (Mobile) App. At Getting Started | Home Assistant Companion Docs there’s

After tapping “continue” on the first screen, the app will start checking your network for Home Assistant instances. If an instance is found, simply tap the instance and follow the prompts to connect and log in to your Home Assistant. If you are not connected to the same local network as your Home Assistant instance, tap “Enter Address Manually” and enter the address you use to remotely connect to your Home Assistant instance (using the Home Assistant Cloud ).

I’d love it if someone could also verify things are what they seem here too. That to use the native Home Automation Companion (Mobile) App, one can do this 100% locally, without requiring a cloud registration of any sort (in the case one doesn’t want remote access)?

Other

I can’t seem to find a list of 3rd party Mobile apps for Home Assistant. Is there a list, or a just a recommendation of a particular app you have?

For building a third party Mobile app for Home Assistant is the WebSocket API web://developers.home-assistant.io/docs/api/websocket, the way to do it, or is there another API (I’d be interested in the prospect of building an Android in Java mobile app)?

[NathanCu (Nathan Curtis)]

There aren’t any.

You access HA with a web browser or the companion app.

The only thing that gets out is anything you LET out. Default everything is on your HA host only accessible by your lock network. To access it from outside you may (don’t have to) open access in various ways. HAs own Nabu Casa service, DuckDns, BYO reverse proxy. But the short version is its local by default and anything you let out is your fault

[dshokouhi]

@JohnBentley

I’d like to verify that accessing Home Assistant, whether through a web based dashboard or using a native mobile app (the Home Assistant Companion for Android or Apple), can be done entirely locally, without having to register a cloud account.

yes

@JohnBentley

So can I get confirmation I have it right so far? There’s no need for any cloud account to setup and access a (web based) Home Assistant Dashbaord. It can be 100% local?

yes

@JohnBentley

That to use the native Home Automation Companion (Mobile) App, one can do this 100% locally, without requiring a cloud registration of any sort (in the case one doesn’t want remote access)?

yes cloud is only mentioned because its the easiest way to setup remote access.

@JohnBentley

I can’t seem to find a list of 3rd party Mobile apps for Home Assistant. Is there a list, or a just a recommendation of a particular app you have?

you wont find any list. There are just official companion app or random 3rd party ones that users may mention in the forums or on reddit here and there.

@JohnBentley

or is there another API (I’d be interested in the prospect of building an Android in Java mobile app)?

the native integration as it allows for sensors, location tracking, notifications etc…

https://developers.home-assistant.io/docs/api/native-app-integration

[JohnBentley]

Thanks very much @dshokouhi and @NathanCu for the confirmation. That’s set me down the Home Assistant path.

(@NathanCu, in probably doesn’t matter, but I couldn’t work out which of my many questions your “There aren’t any” was responding to).

Just to share, I had been evaluating Hubitat as another possibility for that too seemed to forefront privacy and “local first”. However, registering with an email turned out to be part of the default process: Local control using mobile app? - Local Control - Hubitat … and there appears to be workarounds, but I’d rather not have to workaround.