A few months ago, I had a bit of a thought as to whether I need an Android Auto app. I have a number of activities that happen when everyone leaves the home such as lights being turned off, gates being closed, roller shutters going down, etc. and when in a car, getting the phone out to check the openHAB app (or notifications) was a big no-no.
So, it set out to be a bit of a hobby a plaything but I did it and I have a working app.
On my cars screen, I can:
View items and groups in a sitemap.
I can view statuses and theyâre updated in real-time.
I can toggle switches e.g. turn lights on/off, etc.
I have a âsearch screenâ where I can add my top 5 items/groups so I donât have to scroll too much through the sitemap.
For those that donât know, there are many many limitations Google place on Android Auto apps so you will never get a beautifully aesthetic all-singing all-dancing Android Auto app but it gives me most of what I need.
Itâs in the app store but in closed testing so not publicly available and I didnât really have much of an intention to make it publicly available but may do so if the demand is there.
The only thing that I would like that I canât seem to locate in the REST API is the push notifications. I know that to get push notifications, I would have to register it with Firebase or something like that but I was wondering if there is anything available today to pull the last 10 or push notifications rather like I can see when I log in to myopenhab.org?
That would top it off and give me an even quicker glance on my cars screen to confirm whether the activities I mentioned above that I expect to happen when everyone is away from home, has happened.
For my case open gardendoors and garagedoors, I have since a couple of months now extra installed an HomeAssistant server which only has the job, to bring thoose two switches on the Android Auto screen, based on the HA Android client.
BTW: This works perfect. When my car is connected via BT, a Tasker Script open my VPN Tunnel and then I have the full Smarthome stuff under access.
The HA App offers âfavoritesâ. This mean, itâs a âtwo touch actâ now.
Open HA App (one touch), and click the door which needs to be open 2.nd. touch.
Very, very good.
But all this stuff I could get rid off, when the OH client App would support Android Auto.
@SuperTed itâs great idea, not later than a week ago I was thinking of it. I browsed the library and even found that there is Home Assistant app on the Android Automotive natively, donât know how it works, but certainly Android Auto app would be very convenient. As you said - on leaving the house as well as on approaching (turn certain things on) I have plenty of tasks that would be much easier with the Android Auto app.
yeah but I mentioned Home Assistant (I believe, need to double check), itâs on Android Automotive (Android Automotive - Wikipedia), not even Android Auto.
Thats wrong!. The HA Android client App is already working togehter with Android Auto.
There is a own section in the AA HA App, which you can use for Favorites in you carâs Display which is connected via AA to you Android Mobile phone.
This is the native HA working with AA on my mobile.
I think there is a misunderstanding. I tried to say that HA goes one step beyond - it has native app on the Android Automotive (installed directly in the car), not just in Android Auto. Overview | Home Assistant Companion Docs. quote: Home Assistant offers an Android Auto (AA) and Android Automotive OS (AAOS) experience. This will allow you to interact with various entities safely while driving your vehicle.
yes, thatâs correct that Android Automotive has a App on the car.
My son has a Polstar since two days and we installed directy HA App on the Polstar Headunit. But you need anyway a way to connect to the HA server somehow.
So Iâm looking for a native VPN tunnel for that.
This would be awesome, so far I only linked key action as links through Google home⊠So at least I can trigger the gate from car screen but far from perfect. Special sitemap + your app would solve everything.
I recently have looked into adding Android Auto support to the OH Android app as well. The idea is to render a sitemap that the user tailored for the special constraints imposed by AA. The initial code for that is here.
For those who want to try, hereâs a debug APK. Some notes:
On first start on AA, the app should ask for the sitemap you want to use
That selection is reset when resetting the âdefault sitemapâ in the phone app settings (this will likely change later, I think Iâll add a settings page into the AA interface)
Only a very limited subset of sitemap widgets is supported
The supported widgets include
Frames, with 2 caveats: no nested frames, and as soon as a frame is present, all widgets on the page must be within some frame (AA doesnât support mixing lists with and without heading)
Binary switches
Selections
Switches with mappings, roller shutters, players (all rendered as selection)
Everything else will just render its label and (if present) value. That limitation is imposed by AA; you can read up on the available UI components here.
