Home Assistant Notifications with Echobell: Instant Alerts for Your Smart Home

Connect Home Assistant to Echobell via REST commands and webhooks to get prioritized push notifications or phone calls for security events, temperature alerts, and automation triggers.

Home Assistant Notifications with Echobell: Instant Alerts for Your Smart Home

Home Assistant's built-in mobile notifications blend in with everything else on your phone. Echobell adds priority levels—push, time-sensitive, or an actual phone call—so critical smart home events don't get buried. The integration requires no custom components: just a REST command and your webhook URL.

Basic Setup

  1. Download Echobell and create a channel (e.g., "Home Alerts")
  2. Copy the webhook URL from channel settings
  3. Add a REST command to configuration.yaml:
rest_command:
  echobell_home:
    url: "https://hook.echobell.one/t/YOUR_TOKEN"
    method: POST
    content_type: "application/json"
    payload: '{"title": "{{ title }}", "message": "{{ message }}"}'
  1. Restart Home Assistant
  2. Call the service from any automation

Test with a simple door sensor automation:

automation:
  - alias: "Door Open Test"
    trigger:
      - platform: state
        entity_id: binary_sensor.front_door
        to: "on"
    action:
      - service: rest_command.echobell_home
        data:
          title: "Front Door"
          message: "Door opened at {{ now().strftime('%H:%M') }}"

Practical Automation Examples

Temperature Monitoring with Call Alert

For sensors that protect food, equipment, or safety — set the Echobell channel type to Calling so it rings like a phone:

automation:
  - alias: "Freezer Temperature Alert"
    trigger:
      - platform: numeric_state
        entity_id: sensor.freezer_temperature
        above: -10
        for:
          minutes: 15
    action:
      - service: rest_command.echobell_home
        data:
          title: "⚠️ Freezer Temperature Alert"
          message: "Freezer is at {{ states('sensor.freezer_temperature') }}°C for 15+ minutes"
          severity: "critical"

Smart Security Alerts

Send context variables with the webhook, then use Echobell conditions to filter on the channel side:

automation:
  - alias: "Smart Security Alert"
    trigger:
      - platform: state
        entity_id:
          - binary_sensor.motion_living_room
          - binary_sensor.motion_bedroom
        to: "on"
    action:
      - service: rest_command.echobell_home
        data:
          title: "Security Event"
          message: "{{ trigger.to_state.attributes.friendly_name }} detected motion"
          alarm_state: "{{ states('alarm_control_panel.home_alarm') }}"
          hour: "{{ now().hour }}"

Channel condition: alarm_state == "armed_away" || (hour >= 22 || hour <= 7)

This sends alerts only when the alarm is armed or it's nighttime — filtering out daytime motion noise without disabling the automation.

Appliance Completion Alerts

automation:
  - alias: "Laundry Done"
    trigger:
      - platform: state
        entity_id: sensor.washer_power
        to: "0"
        for:
          minutes: 3
    action:
      - service: rest_command.echobell_home
        data:
          title: "🧺 Laundry Complete"
          message: "Washing machine finished. Don't let it sit!"

Morning Summary

automation:
  - alias: "Morning Home Report"
    trigger:
      - platform: time
        at: "08:00:00"
    action:
      - service: rest_command.echobell_home
        data:
          title: "Good Morning - Home Status"
          message: >
            Temperature: {{ states('sensor.living_room_temperature') }}°C
            Humidity: {{ states('sensor.living_room_humidity') }}%
            Energy yesterday: {{ states('sensor.daily_energy') }} kWh
            All windows: {% if is_state('binary_sensor.window_group', 'off') %}Closed{% else %}OPEN{% endif %}

Advanced Features

The externalLink variable adds a tappable link to your notification history in Echobell:

action:
  - service: rest_command.echobell_home
    data:
      title: "Motion at Front Door"
      message: "Check the camera feed"
      externalLink: "https://my-home-assistant.duckdns.org/lovelace/security"

Multi-Channel Strategy

Use separate channels with different notification types:

  1. Home Routine (normal): Appliances, daily summaries
  2. Home Monitoring (time-sensitive): Temperature, humidity, energy spikes
  3. Home Security (calling): Armed-mode motion, door sensors, critical failures

Securing Webhook URLs

Use Home Assistant secrets to avoid exposing your webhook URL in configuration files:

# secrets.yaml
echobell_webhook: "https://hook.echobell.one/t/YOUR_TOKEN"

# configuration.yaml
rest_command:
  echobell_home:
    url: !secret echobell_webhook

For full technical documentation including advanced templating and troubleshooting, see the Home Assistant integration guide. For other integrations, see GitHub Actions notifications and Grafana monitoring alerts.