Google Home app alternative

JediMasterASD

I've been running GrapheneOS on my old phone for a few weeks and testing out if I can live with it as my daily runner without Google apps and services. The only one I am having trouble with is Google Home. Do any of you guys have a connected smart home and if so, how do you manage it?

Panda-na

JediMasterASD Could you elaborate what features you specifically want? I don't have any knowledge of how Google Home works.

I got myself a Home Asssistant Yellow It is open source and it can handle all smart home devices. You don't need this bit of hardware, you can use a old laptop if you so choose. It requires a little bit of research to find out what you need.

JediMasterASD

Panda-na Well the Google Home app is the front end GUI for my entire house. It's where I can control the lights, my thermostat, fans, TV, door locks etc. I also use Google Assistant speakers though in this thread I was asking specifically about replacing the smartphone app. Basically I'm asking what are the best alternatives for managing a smart home if I don't go with Google.

goslife

If Google is the brains of your smart home than you will likely need to keep using the home app. Which you can do on graphene otherwise you could switch your brain to home assistant which can be run on a pi or other device locally and control it with the open source home assistant app. That's what I do.

nunyo

Home Assistant has been working extremely well for me. Literal "set it and forget it". I got a cheap Intel NUC and boot right into HASS OS: https://www.home-assistant.io/installation/generic-x86-64

If you get a NUC that has auto wake setting in bios, even better. In the event of a power outage it'll wake itself back up.

A NUC is considered overkill by many, but it's working flawlessly.

23Sha-ger

nunyo
I don't think there is a need for a NUC just to run home assisted stuff.
If you run GOS then I'm sure you have a RPi, or a router (OpenWRT), or and old PC
in your house, then you simply install this local daemon:
https://www.home-assistant.io/integrations/luci/

If you don't have open source apps that can power your home devices, it pretty much
defeats the purpose of GOS if you still let Google to control your house stuff. And yes,
while your phone might be secure, the devices around you are still in the ecosystem of
data collection and remote control by the big corps.

nunyo

Forgot to mention it's completely local, but can be accessed remotely either via VPN or their own hosting service.

itsjpb

seconding home assistant, once built a system that controlled lights, curtains, locks and heating. we even hosted it on aws (though a local device is best).

you will want to research, though. a lot of smart tech is compatible with home assistant but not all, or you may have to use an intermediary software.

Bootlace1170

If you need the Google home assistant, you can keep it in a separate user profile with nothing else except that app (and I guess maybe orbot). I’m planning to test this out myself.