Telegram and HA

[hilt_ctn]

I'm itching to get some HA on ( yes I know I should probably see someone about that )

Building on my own suggestion in this thread, I've been researching using a Telegram bot with an alarm system. It seems straight forward enough to set it up securely with specific user ID's, PIN codes etc.

I'm curious. Outside of alarm system functionality, what else do you or would you use a Telegram bot for in HA ?

 

[ItherNiT]

You can use it for notifications in general:

• frigate notification (person detected in yard)
• Did you forget the garage open, would you like to close it
• Did you leave home but forgot to turn on the alarm
• the grid went off and you are draining the battery with the geyser, do you want to turn it off?

These are also easy to setup so they are normal notifications/ actionable notifications in the HA mobile app.

 

[SauRoNZA]

Actually haven't gone down the HA route with my Telegram bot, but I do have one setup talking to Unraid and Plex etc, so wouldn't be hard to just add more stuff to it.

With the HA app on my device though never really seen a need for it.

 

[JaseZA]

I love using Telegram for easy access to history. Images and notifications for the home all in one place and stored for free. Not so easy to see notification history on the HA app.

 

[hilt_ctn]

Thanks all.

Stalling right out the gate however. I received the dreaded " We've sent the code to the Telegram app on your other device " message whilst Telegram tries to send a verification code.....I don't have any other devices with Telegram installed, have never installed it on this device etc. Seems like a lot of folk have this issue with no clear fix. Will try again tomorrow

 

[vic777]

I love the fact that with Telegram integrations I don't need to run Wireguard or OpenVPN to query sensors or integrations

 

[phool]

At the moment I am using Telegram to get notifications if my front gate has been left open for longer than 2 minutes (family members sometimes forget to close it). Trying to work out how to send a corresponding message if it is subsequently closed after it was left open for longer than 2 mins but not yet worked out how to do that (I'm a HA noob). I'm just using an aqara door sensor to monitor the open/closed state so I cant control the gate remotely (yet).

I also have a notification if someone switches on the TV (mostly for the lols and to make snide remarks when someone shouldn't really be watching TV) but the Samsung Smart TV integration is a bit wonky and I seem to get the same notification when the TV gets switched off as well. Need to look at it in more detail when I have some time.

 

[SauRoNZA]

I love the fact that with Telegram integrations I don't need to run Wireguard or OpenVPN to query sensors or integrations

Why do you need to do that in the first place?

Letsencrypt and Duckdns are your friends.

 

[vic777]

Why do you need to do that in the first place?

Letsencrypt and Duckdns are your friends.

To access a local network safely, you need a DDnS like DuckDNS, anyway. I use either Wireguard or OpenVPN to do that safely.

Telegram bots don't need DDnS, or a VPN solution

AFAIK LetsEncrypt is just a SSL provider, which has nothing to do with using Telegram bots, which avoids having to run a VPN solution to access HA dashboards or custom firmware sensors or Node-Red flows to query a simple status on a sensor or Node-Red flow.

 

[SauRoNZA]

To access a local network safely, you need a DDnS like DuckDNS, anyway. I use either Wireguard or OpenVPN to do that safely.

Telegram bots don't need DDnS, or a VPN solution

AFAIK LetsEncrypt is just a SSL provider, which has nothing to do with using Telegram bots, which avoids having to run a VPN solution to access HA dashboards or custom firmware sensors or Node-Red flows to query a simple status on a sensor or Node-Red flow.

No it has nothing to do with Telegram but everything to do with not needing a VPN to access your local network in the first place, so you don’t need Telegram or Wireguard but just use the Home Assistant app from anywhere.

You’ll notice I said DuckDns already in my first response.

Add Letsencrypt and use Nginx Proxy Manager and it couldn’t be easier.

Even as someone who does VPN tunnels for a living I would never bother with that trauma to access my stuff remotely.

Wireguard/OpenVPN is basically too safe whole removing functionality or causing cumbersome steps in between.

 

[vic777]

No it has nothing to do with Telegram but everything to do with not needing a VPN to access your local network in the first place, so you don’t need Telegram or Wireguard but just use the Home Assistant app from anywhere.

You’ll notice I said DuckDns already in my first response.

Add Letsencrypt and use Nginx Proxy Manager and it couldn’t be easier.

Even as someone who does VPN tunnels for a living I would never bother with that trauma to access my stuff remotely.

Wireguard/OpenVPN is basically too safe whole removing functionality or causing cumbersome steps in between.

Ok, I get your point. I use the VPN for more than accessing HA though. When I travel and use public WiFi, I use OpenVPN to secure my Internet traffic from my mobile device to my home, then out to the Internet.

I don't like exposing HA to the Internet directly, call me paranoid, but I prefer accessing HA via VPN, if I need to. Most of my automations and sensors push status updates via Telegram though

 

[SauRoNZA]

Ok, I get your point. I use the VPN for more than accessing HA though. When I travel and use public WiFi, I use OpenVPN to secure my Internet traffic from my mobile device to my home, then out to the Internet.

I don't like exposing HA to the Internet directly, call me paranoid, but I prefer accessing HA via VPN, if I need to. Most of my automations and sensors push status updates via Telegram though

I use Cloudflare Warp for that, but even then it’s somewhat unnecessary as everything I connect to is already secured, so most of the time it’s use for dodging stupid limitations imposed by captive portals, not for security.

As long as it’s secured with Letsencrypt and 2FA it really is no problem at all.

Since I use HA with a lot of geo location automations using a VPN in the middle would just cause issues.