Hi,
is it possible to rename (or create an alias name) the notify service created by mobile companion app integration?
Now when I add a phone, new notify service is created with a name for example: notify.mobile_app_sm_g955f_jerry, problem is that this notify service is used in multiple places like automations, Node-Red, etc… and when I get a new phone, I have to manually go through everything and change the notification service.
I would like to create an alias or rename the service to a static name, so when I get a new phone I would just change the name in one place.
Thank you
I also have Android, and yes I know you can change the name, but the name will still be prefixed with mobile_app_(name). Which means that if I, for some reason, don’t use the mobile app for notifications or I want to use different channel, I would still need to go through my automations and Node-Red and change it from mobile_app… to something else. Groups are probably best solution, because I can create a group for each person, and only manage their devices/notification channels in the group, or I can even send a notification to more devices in the group at the same time.
I am not saying your answer is incorrect. For sure it would work, and for someone it could be better and easier to set up directly in the app (if I didn’t know about the group, I would probably use it too ). But in terms of flexibility and possibilities, the groups are better solution, with the benefit of being able to use more channels, etc…
Anyways thanks for your input
OK, go to the Companion App settings on your phone and change the Device Name there. You might need to remove and re-add the integration in HA, or reload it
This is a nice tip — really annoying that each user has to make this change on their device tho, would be nice to be able to name this for everyone as the admin.
the weird thing is i see both services, one with the old and one with the new name.
but only the old name works, even if i change the name in the companion app.
also i did forcefully stop the app, but that did not work either.
so this is a very weird one. what else could i try?
I guess the best workaround is creating an alias of sorts by using a Notify group, so you can give arbitrary names for multiple groups, each one containing the notify service you wanted to rename. Thus, next time you change the device, you can change it only once in the YAML.
Definitely not elegant, but I guess we’ve seen worse around HA configs
Like this:
notify:
- platform: group
name: me # creates the service notify.me :)
services:
- service: mobile_app_my_badly_named_device
The user picks the name of their device, then that name propagates to Home Assistant, then Home assistant ends up with a pile of service calls all helpfully called mobile_app_iphone.
Very helpful. Whose iphone? Why would this not use the device name assigned server side?
Weird, it does for all our ipads (I do not own iphones). Maybe if the companion app does not have permissions to access certain things? It may be IOS preventing the app from reading the name.
Thank you 
). But in terms of flexibility and possibilities, the groups are better solution, with the benefit of being able to use more channels, etc…
