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

Download Echobell and create a channel (e.g., "Home Alerts")
Copy the webhook URL from channel settings
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 }}"}'

Restart Home Assistant
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

Contextual Links

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:

Home Routine (normal): Appliances, daily summaries
Home Monitoring (time-sensitive): Temperature, humidity, energy spikes
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.