this post was submitted on 19 Aug 2024

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Entity control from iOS widget (reddrefuge.com)

submitted 3 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Does anyone know if the 2024.5 Companion App update for iOS removed the ability to control entities from the widget? I've read the release notes but there's no mention of any features being removed.

I could absolutely swear that I had a working widget with most of my lights on it, a solitary button for each light, that I could single tap to toggle said light.

Then, a few months or so back, I noticed the widget didn't seem to be working. The entity icons had change to black, round shadows, and tapping them did nothing.

I deleted the widget, thinking it got corrupted somehow and have never been able to get it back exactly as described above.

Now, it seems that only thing I can do with widgets is use Actions. Some Actions have been auto-created by the Companion App for each scene on my server, and I can obviously create my own Actions, to trigger automations.

But, I don't want to have to frig around with Actions (using input_booleans and automations) to do something as simple as turning a light on or off.

Am I dreaming? Did the iOS widgets never have this ability? Or am I missing something really obvious to configure entities onto a widget?

Thanks in advance for any useful advice.

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Did you see the widget is back in HA on iOS18?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Are you sure? I went looking after I upgraded and I still only have Assist; Scripts; Actions; and Open Page.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago

Sorry, reread your post. I am indeed wrong. My entity control is done with script like turning porch light on, so that is why I have it in my widget. It is a script. Sorry about that.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago (2 children)

I wonder if HomeKit and HomeKit bridge would satisfy that itch.

I set it up so I can use Siri to open my garage door. Works great! You just need at least one HomeKit device like an Apple TV or a HomePod.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago

What do you need the HomeKit device for?

I’m a light user of HomeKit so may not have run into the limitations yet. I use the HomeKit Bridge to expose a few light switches to HomeKit and then used AppleFamily to duplicate that to my kids. What little I use it for is fine without a HomeKit device

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago (1 children)

It possibly would, but I don't have any Homekit devices, and I just feel hat this is a simple thing a home automation app should offer, it's almost conspicuous by it's removal/absence.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 2 months ago

HomeKit bridge also makes the devices available to Siri

[–] [email protected] 0 points 3 months ago (1 children)

All my light switches are entities and live on entity cards. This works fine in the app, both on Android and iOS.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Yep, but I'm talking about widgets that you place on your phone's home screen - not in the app directly.

[+] [email protected] -7 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Why in the world would you do that, when this app is so fully customizable?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago (2 children)

So you can't possibly conceive that a single finger tap on a home screen widget to control a light is far simpler, and takes less effort, than having to open the app each time, potentially scroll to the location of the entity you want to control, then tap?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

Look into the Shortcuts app. This is Apples answer to creating automations on your iPhone. While I’ve never tried this, I see that it can send actions to the HA app. Perhaps that will do what you want

So your options include

use your HA dashboard
create a link to an action or scene in HA
configure HomeKit bridge and use a HomeKit dashboard
configure HomeKit Bridge and use Siri
Use the Shortcuts app to automate the HA app

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago

I use Shortcuts with NFC tags to automate some stuff with HA, and could probably achieve something on an entity by entity basis.

My point is that we used to have the ability to put a widget on the screen with about 6 or 8 entities on it, for simple, single-click access. And now we don't. Seems silly to have taken it away from us.

[–] [email protected] -3 points 3 months ago (3 children)

Believe it or not, I do understand that :)

But then I have about 15 of these switches here, and in my home it feels like I have just started to make it smart... would you want to create 15 widgets then, instead of using the 1 app?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago

Nah - not a widget per light. Per my OP, I had a widget that had a number of lights on it. The number varies based on widget size. I think mine had about 12 entities on it.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Worst kind of commenter. I bet when people ask for advice on buying sneakers you list 5 pair of sandals, and bait to start an argument against wearing shoes...

Anyway OP I also just looked on my iPhone and get the same results as the top poster for widgets. Does indeed look like they changed it at some point. I am also sure I had one with buttons for lights on both the phone and watch.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 months ago

Disappointing that, if this was a thing, they removed it. Seems like the very definition of regression to me.

At least I know I'm not imagining it. Or that I'm not the only one. ;) Cheers!

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago (1 children)

He is probably talking about light switches like a porch light or garage light that you want quick access to when you get home and for some reason your automation never switched it on, so you want to quickly access it on a homescreen via a widget, and not have to go into the app and search through multiple dashboards etc. His use case and therefor his question is totally valid.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

Yep, that's it. One of my most frequent uses of this widget was to turn the kitchen light off - the teenagers are forever walking in to the kitchen while we're watching TV in the loungeroom nearby, then forgetting to turn the light off when they leave again.

Having a quick access widget for it just made it such a non-issue for me to turn it off. No fumbling and swiping for the app, and no interrupting what we're watching to issue a voice command.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago

Never used it, but checked iOS widget now, and you are correct. It only gives options to three things: Ask AI, Actions, and open page. Nothing else on my iOS.