Sending intent from HA to android app | Home Assistant | Page 1

civic bear Mar 3, 2025, 9:38 PM

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I have a location tracking service called Dawarich that uses owntracks location data (similar to Google timeline). I would like to use home assistant zones to automate owntracks to switch monitoring parameters. Is it possible through the HA OS, HA app to send an intent to switch monitoring modes? I am trying to avoid Tasker and other automation tools.

This is from is tracks site on sending intents, I am just not technical enough: https://owntracks.org/booklet/features/android/

thorny rampart Mar 3, 2025, 9:50 PM

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you can send an intent to another app using https://companion.home-assistant.io/docs/notifications/notification-commands#broadcast-intent

civic bear Mar 4, 2025, 3:05 PM

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I have this but triggering it does not update owntracks monitoring mode. Any tips?

description: ""
triggers:
  - device_id: bb5a31b99644cf3445ba397d42318785
    domain: device_tracker
    entity_id: e8c9c093a20f5bc2c01ec02e39e1d985
    type: enters
    trigger: device
    zone: zone.home
conditions: []
actions:
  - action: notify.mobile_app_s21
    metadata: {}
    data:
      message: command_broadcast_intent
      data:
        intent_package_name: org.owntracks.android
        intent_action: org.owntracks.android.CHANGE_MONITORING
        intent_extras: monitoring:0
      target: org.owntracks.android
mode: single```

thorny rampart Mar 4, 2025, 3:36 PM

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any errors in the logs?

civic bear Mar 4, 2025, 3:38 PM

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None

thorny rampart Mar 4, 2025, 3:51 PM

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app logs wont be blank and will at least show the command sent to the app

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did you confirm the device received the notification too?

civic bear Mar 4, 2025, 3:55 PM

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I guess I could be in the wrong logs.

I added an additional notification not noted in the code above that confirmed the device is receiving the code.

Is there somewhere specific to find logs?

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Home assistant core logs show no errors or warnings. I could try a higher level of monitoring to see more

thorny rampart Mar 4, 2025, 4:12 PM

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civic bear I guess I could be in the wrong logs. I added an additional notification not no...

from the phone settings > companion app > troubleshooting > show and share logs

civic bear Mar 4, 2025, 4:33 PM

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📎 homeassistant_companion_log_2-4-2025_11-33-9.txt

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I found it.I see "duplicate location not sending to HA", "Notification is not in a group. Cancel notification..." And "Unable to log event: analytics library is missing"

civic bear Mar 4, 2025, 4:57 PM

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From owntracks logs:
11:55:38.766 | MessageProcessor: Received incoming message: MessageUnknown on NOKEY with id=0 11:55:38.767 W MessageProcessor: Unknown message type received 11:55:39.676 | MessageProcessor: Received incoming message: MessageUnknown on NOKEY with id=0 11:55:39.676 W MessageProcessor: Unknown message type received

thorny rampart Mar 4, 2025, 5:16 PM

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civic bear I have this but triggering it does not update owntracks monitoring mode. Any tip...

try to wrap intent_extras in quotation marks so intent_extras: "monitoring:0" the logs show the command was sent without any errors

civic bear Mar 4, 2025, 5:18 PM

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Wrapping it as you described and then saving makes it revert back to no quotations

thorny rampart Mar 4, 2025, 5:19 PM

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check the apps notification history, did the format retain as expected?

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one other thing we can try is to specify the type so intent_extras: "monitoring:0:int" could be what the error was possibly but also depends on what data teh app got

civic bear Mar 4, 2025, 5:21 PM

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thorny rampart Mar 4, 2025, 5:22 PM

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ok yea try with specifying the type

civic bear Mar 4, 2025, 5:26 PM

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No change adding ":int"

thorny rampart Mar 4, 2025, 5:29 PM

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may need to do more trial and error

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https://github.com/owntracks/android/issues/993 looks relevant

civic bear Mar 4, 2025, 6:16 PM

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I'm fairly certain the owntracks app is not receiving the notification. There is nothing in the logs. The thing I posted does not correspond to notification push times.

thorny rampart Mar 4, 2025, 6:41 PM

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the OS would error if the intent was not formatted properly, is the intent a feature you need to enable at the app level? you can try the tasker/adb command to see if that works to rule out an issue

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an app like logcat reader may be of help to in case there is more logging but that will be quite verbose

civic bear Mar 4, 2025, 6:47 PM

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I set up macrodroid and sent the intent that way and it works

civic bear Mar 4, 2025, 7:03 PM

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Here are logs from logcat for macrodroid and owntracks. It looks like this shows owntracks receiving a notification and making changes.

📎 log_2025_03_04_14_01_55.log

thorny rampart Mar 4, 2025, 7:23 PM

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the logs dont show the data macdroid sent, try to remove intent_extras and see if that works....according to the docs it should toggle the mode

civic bear Mar 4, 2025, 7:26 PM

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I removed it and ran it. Still nothing. I have a feeling the notification isn't reaching owntracks but I have no idea how to fix that

thorny rampart Mar 4, 2025, 7:28 PM

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if we dot get an error back then i am not sure what the issue is

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double check you didnt misspell anything

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also try to switch to command_activity maybe owntracks does not like command_broadcast_intent

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they both send intents but depends on how the responding app implemented it

civic bear Mar 4, 2025, 7:38 PM

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That was it. Command_activity triggers owntracks. When I add the intent_extras: monitoring:0 back it fails with a toast saying to check command format

thorny rampart Mar 4, 2025, 7:39 PM

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check the app logs and the error will give a hint about the formatting hopefully

civic bear Mar 4, 2025, 7:41 PM

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2025-03-04 14:40:20.562 6345 6345 io.homeassistant.companion.android E MessagingService : Unable to send activity intent please check command format
android.content.ActivityNotFoundException: No Activity found to handle Intent { act=org.owntracks.android.CHANGE_MONITORING flg=0x10000000 pkg=org.owntracks.android }
at android.app.Instrumentation.checkStartActivityResult(Instrumentation.java:2252)
at android.app.Instrumentation.execStartActivity(Instrumentation.java:1878)
at android.app.ContextImpl.startActivity(ContextImpl.java:1174)
at android.app.ContextImpl.startActivity(ContextImpl.java:1145)
at android.content.ContextWrapper.startActivity(ContextWrapper.java:445)
at io.homeassistant.companion.android.notifications.MessagingManager.processActivityCommand(MessagingManager.kt:1818)
at io.homeassistant.companion.android.notifications.MessagingManager.handleDeviceCommands(MessagingManager.kt:718)
at io.homeassistant.companion.android.notifications.MessagingManager.access$handleDeviceCommands(MessagingManager.kt:108)
at io.homeassistant.companion.android.notifications.MessagingManager$handleMessage$4.invokeSuspend(MessagingManager.kt:440)
at kotlin.coroutines.jvm.internal.BaseContinuationImpl.resumeWith(ContinuationImpl.kt:33)
at kotlinx.coroutines.DispatchedTask.run(DispatchedTask.kt:101)
at android.os.Handler.handleCallback(Handler.java:958)
at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:99)
at android.os.Looper.loopOnce(Looper.java:230)
at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:319)
at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:8919)
at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Native Method)
at com.android.internal.os.RuntimeInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(RuntimeInit.java:578)
at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:1103)

thorny rampart Mar 4, 2025, 7:42 PM

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did you try with specifying the type too?

civic bear Mar 4, 2025, 7:43 PM

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Well now I don't know. It's failing with and without intent_extras: monitoring:0

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I don't know why it worked once after I switched to command_activity but now it fails each time

thorny rampart Mar 4, 2025, 8:07 PM

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wonder if your commands are delayed to your phone, add the critical format to speed up deliverys doze does not impact it

civic bear Mar 4, 2025, 8:07 PM

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I don't follow

thorny rampart Mar 4, 2025, 8:09 PM

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https://companion.home-assistant.io/docs/notifications/critical-notifications#android

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that has an example of what to follow, by default notifications can be delayed untl your screen turns on

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that may explain the sporadic behavior

#Sending intent from HA to android app