Home Assistant Notifications: Never Miss What Matters at Home

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Notification Methods Compared

Home Assistant can send notifications through a dozen different channels. Here's what actually works well and when to use each one.

Setting Up the Companion App

This is step one for most people. The Companion app gives you the best notification experience and doubles as a sensor source for presence detection.

Your first notification automation

automation:
  - alias: "Front door opened"
    trigger:
      - platform: state
        entity_id: binary_sensor.front_door
        to: "on"
    action:
      - service: notify.mobile_app_your_phone
        data:
          title: "🚪 Front Door"
          message: "The front door just opened."

Replace mobile_app_your_phone with the actual name of your device. Check Settings > Companion App > Notifications to find your device name.

Actionable Notifications: Reply Without Opening the App

The real power of HA notifications. Add buttons to your alerts so you can take action right from the notification shade. No need to open the app or your dashboard.

Motion detected with action buttons

automation:
  - alias: "Motion alert with actions"
    trigger:
      - platform: state
        entity_id: binary_sensor.backyard_motion
        to: "on"
    condition:
      - condition: state
        entity_id: group.family
        state: "not_home"
    action:
      - service: notify.mobile_app_your_phone
        data:
          title: "🏃 Motion Detected"
          message: "Movement in the backyard."
          data:
            actions:
              - action: "TURN_ON_LIGHTS"
                title: "Lights On"
              - action: "VIEW_CAMERA"
                title: "📹 View Camera"
              - action: "IGNORE"
                title: "Ignore"

Handle the button press

automation:
  - alias: "Handle motion action - lights"
    trigger:
      - platform: event
        event_type: mobile_app_notification_action
        event_data:
          action: "TURN_ON_LIGHTS"
    action:
      - service: light.turn_on
        target:
          entity_id: light.backyard
        data:
          brightness_pct: 100

  - alias: "Handle motion action - camera"
    trigger:
      - platform: event
        event_type: mobile_app_notification_action
        event_data:
          action: "VIEW_CAMERA"
    action:
      - service: notify.mobile_app_your_phone
        data:
          message: "Backyard camera"
          data:
            image: "/api/camera_proxy/camera.backyard"

Camera Snapshots in Notifications

A notification saying "motion detected" is fine. A notification with a photo of what triggered the motion is better.

Send a camera snapshot (Companion App)

automation:
  - alias: "Doorbell with snapshot"
    trigger:
      - platform: state
        entity_id: binary_sensor.doorbell
        to: "on"
    action:
      - service: notify.mobile_app_your_phone
        data:
          title: "Someone at the door"
          message: "Doorbell pressed"
          data:
            image: "/api/camera_proxy/camera.front_door"

With Frigate object detection

automation:
  - alias: "Frigate person detected"
    trigger:
      - platform: mqtt
        topic: frigate/events
    condition:
      - condition: template
        value_template: >
          {{ trigger.payload_json['after']['label'] == 'person' }}
    action:
      - service: notify.mobile_app_your_phone
        data:
          title: "🧑 Person Detected"
          message: >
            Person spotted near {{ trigger.payload_json['after']['camera'] }}
          data:
            image: >
              /api/frigate/notifications/{{ trigger.payload_json['after']['id'] }}/thumbnail.jpg

Using Frigate for cameras? The detection snapshot shows a bounding box around the detected object, so you instantly see what triggered the alert.

Telegram Bot Notifications

Telegram is the best secondary notification channel. It handles images, videos, inline keyboards, and lets you send commands back to Home Assistant through chat.

telegram_bot:
  - platform: polling
    api_key: "YOUR_BOT_TOKEN"
    allowed_chat_ids:
      - YOUR_CHAT_ID

notify:
  - platform: telegram
    name: telegram
    chat_id: YOUR_CHAT_ID

Send a photo via Telegram

action:
  - service: telegram_bot.send_photo
    data:
      url: "/api/camera_proxy/camera.front_door"
      caption: "Someone is at the front door"
      target: YOUR_CHAT_ID

How to Avoid Alert Fatigue

The fastest way to make notifications useless is to send too many. If you stop reading them, they stop protecting you. Here's how to keep your notifications meaningful.

Cooldown timer to prevent notification spam

automation:
  - alias: "Motion alert with cooldown"
    trigger:
      - platform: state
        entity_id: binary_sensor.front_yard_motion
        to: "on"
    condition:
      - condition: state
        entity_id: group.family
        state: "not_home"
      - condition: template
        value_template: >
          {{ (now() - state_attr('automation.motion_alert_with_cooldown',
              'last_triggered')).total_seconds() > 300 }}
    action:
      - service: notify.mobile_app_your_phone
        data:
          title: "🏃 Motion"
          message: "Movement detected in the front yard."

This automation won't fire again within 5 minutes (300 seconds) of the last trigger. Adjust the number to match the situation. For security alerts you might want 60 seconds, for temperature warnings maybe 3600 (one hour).

Critical alerts that bypass Do Not Disturb (iOS)

action:
  - service: notify.mobile_app_your_iphone
    data:
      title: "🚨 WATER LEAK"
      message: "Water detected under the kitchen sink!"
      data:
        push:
          sound:
            name: default
            critical: 1
            volume: 1.0

Reserve critical alerts for genuinely urgent things: water leaks, smoke detectors, security alarms. If you mark everything as critical, you'll turn off the permission entirely.

10 Notification Automations Worth Setting Up

Practical notifications you'll actually use. Each one solves a real problem instead of just pinging you for the sake of it.

Notification Groups and Multi-Device Setup

In a household with multiple phones, you don't want to duplicate every automation. Create groups and send to everyone at once.

Set up a notification group

notify:
  - platform: group
    name: family_phones
    services:
      - service: mobile_app_dads_phone
      - service: mobile_app_moms_phone
      - service: mobile_app_kids_tablet

Now use notify.family_phones in your automations and everyone gets the alert. You can also get creative: create a "parents" group for security alerts and a "family" group for general household stuff.

Conditional notifications based on who's home

automation:
  - alias: "Alert whoever is away"
    trigger:
      - platform: state
        entity_id: alarm_control_panel.home
        to: "triggered"
    action:
      - choose:
          - conditions:
              - condition: state
                entity_id: person.dad
                state: "not_home"
            sequence:
              - service: notify.mobile_app_dads_phone
                data:
                  title: "🚨 Alarm Triggered"
                  message: "Home alarm went off!"
          - conditions:
              - condition: state
                entity_id: person.mom
                state: "not_home"
            sequence:
              - service: notify.mobile_app_moms_phone
                data:
                  title: "🚨 Alarm Triggered"
                  message: "Home alarm went off!"

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