Hi everyone
greetings i am new to this community and recently came across the home assistant app. i am interested in learning more about it
i currently use different apps for different smart appliances and tools in my home it is becoming quite inconvenient to manage everything separately
could someone let me know if Home Assistant can integrate all these devices into one platform? if yes i would appreciate any guidance on how to get started with the integration process
?
The App does not integrate anything by itself but its purpose is to access Home Assistant that you have installed at your home (or office).
Home Assistant has hundreds of Integrations, including (just as an example) Zigbee, Zwave, Tuya, TP Link, Google Nest, Alexa, Google Assistant, etc etc.
Probably. Depends on devices. Ha supports a lot of devices and they are added as integrations
You have to install home assistant on some computer that will run 24/7 using instalation guide.
There are various types of installation so choose one that fits you the best, probably haos.
thanks guys
i now understand the home assistant app itself is more of an interface and the real setup happens through the hoome assistant platform installed on a local device.
do you guys recommend a particular hardware setup for beginners? like would a raspberry pi be good enough or should i look into something else for better performance in the long run?
Use something stronger. Doesnt have to be a new but I prefer desktop comp as it is easily up gradable.
I use a HA Yellow Box but I read that a HA Green Box also works well.
A desktop PC is only recommended if you leave it on 24/7.
You have to run it 24/7 whatever you use to install ha on it.
Gamulay
I started with a HA Green device. It’s doing a great job hosting integrations for lighting, electric metering, heating and weather. Everything is automated in HA, but much of that is also fed to Apple Homekit for family convenience. The video/security I have installed in HomeKit. In part I’m not yet ready to mess with video, but I also think the Green isn’t the best device for that (I’d get a HA Yellow or some beefier host for HA)
That is to say I feel getting an HA Green is a great way to start getting into all of this, unless streaming video is a significant factor. It was for me, anyway. I started with Philips Hue hubs, brought those into HK, dabbled for a year with Hubitat, but for the last 1.5-2 years it’s been about setting stuff up in HA.
YMMV, naturally. 
For testing, any old PC or laptop.
For long term, any old PC or laptop. Once you understand your needs and have goals maybe upgrade to better used hardware or buy new hardware
EDIT
Something you can dedicate to this task.
If you plan to go down this rabbit hole, I strongly recommend a Micro PC running HAOS Bare-metal. For the cost of a new Raspberry Pi5, case and power-supply, you can buy a used Intel NUC or Beemax Micro PC that will outperform any Raspberry Pi in every metric.