HD+ Companion App/Driver
How to install and use the HD+ Companion app+driver
Last updated
How to install and use the HD+ Companion app+driver
Last updated
HD+ Companion App/Driver is a Hubitat Hub app and driver which works with HD+ and allows you to send 'push' notifications from the hub to your phone. With it, you can:
show system notifications on your phone
play messages via Text To Speech (TTS)
run Tasker tasks
You can already get push notifications to your phone today using the native Hubitat app. It will create a new Hubitat device for you and because Hubitat has a cloud server it's already configured to push messages from your Hub to your phone without any additional work needed.
This is the complicated part. It's required so your Hub can send push messages to your device via Firebase Cloud Messaging (Hub -> Google Servers -> phone)
Since everyone owns their own 'server' (aka: Hubitat Hub), I can't just create an account myself to do this and use the same API Key on everyone's Hub.
In effect, you need to obtain 2 API keys.. 1 for the Hub to talk securely to Google and another for the phone to receive push messages from the Hub
Navigate to Firebase Console (you'll need to login with a Google account)
Click on Create a Project
Enter project name. The name isn't important but I used "HD Companion"
You'll be asked to enable Google Analytics.. I disabled this (shouldn't matter either way)
When done, you'll be at a screen that says "Get started by adding Firebase to your app". Click on the little Android icon
Fill in the following details about the app
"Android package name" -> "com.jpage4500.hubitat"
"App Nickname" -> "HD+" (optional)
"Debug signing certificate SHA-1 (optional)" -> leave this empty
Click Register app
Click Download google-services.json. You'll need this file later!
Click Next -> Next -> Continue to Console
Click on your new project icon, HD+ and click on the little gear/settings icon
You should be on the Project Settings screen. Click on Cloud Messaging and then Manage Service Accounts link
This will open a new tab with your project. Click on the little hamburger icon in top-left corner -> API's and Services -> OAuth consent screen
Select External -> Create button
Enter app name (HD Companion), support email address (your email address) and developer contact (your email address)
Scroll down and click Save and Continue button
Hit Next button on the Scopes tab
On the Test users screen, add your email address. Save and Continue again
Find and select the Credentials link on the left
Click on "+ CREATE CREDENTIALS" -> OAuth client ID
Select Application type == Web application
Enter a name for the client, e.g. Hubitat Companion
Under Authorized redirect URIs, click + ADD URI and enter: https://cloud.hubitat.com/oauth/stateredirect
Click CREATE
You will see the new entry under OAuth 2.0 Client IDs -- on the far-right, click the download icon and then DOWNLOAD JSON button to download OAuth credentials. This file should start with "client_secret_*.json" You'll need this file later!
Before you're done - click on the OAuth consent screen item in left menu and hit PUBLISH APP button. I believe this is necessary to keep the OAuth token active ongoing
Install Hubitat Package Manager (HPM) if not already installed
Use HPM -> Install -> Search for keyword: "HD+ Companion" to install the app and driver
NOTE: this replaces an older driver called "HD+ Device". It should update fine but if not please uninstall HD+ Device driver first
You're going to need to open both the .json files you downloaded earlier. Open them in a text editor.
Add a new App to the Hub (Add User App -> HD+ Companion)
Fill in the 5 required fields. The first 2 are needed for the server app and the last 3 are needed for HD+
From the client_secret_*.json file:
Client ID
"client_id": "123456789-abcd.apps.googleusercontent.com",
Client Secret
"client_secret": "VALUE",
From the google_services.json file
Project ID
"project_id": "hd-companion-12345",
API Key
"current_key": "VALUE"
App ID
"mobilesdk_app_id": "1:333482833076:android:XXXX6db1a53e1",
After filling in these fields you should see a button show up "Authorize App". Click this and follow the instructions on Google to login and allow access to your Hub to send push messages. When done you should get a link to return back to the Hubitat app
The HD Companion app will create a new device called "HD+ Device"
Open MakerAPI and add this new device so HD+ can access it
In HD+ find this new device, long-press and hit Edit
Open "Push Notifications"
Once you link HD+ and the Hubitat device, HD+ will try to get a 'client key' and set it on the device. You can verify this by viewing the device on the hub and look for clientKey to be set
The HD+ Device driver supports PushableButton, which means you can use it as a virtual button in your Hubitat Hub.
When pushed, an event is sent to the device which you can use to run a Tasker task (today, other actions will be added in the future)
Use this new Hubitat device driver for sending either text or TTS notifications
The guide below shows how to do both text or TTS notifications
This device driver also supports presence and can be used with the Presence Tracking (Geofence) feature
This device driver / feature currently only works with Google supported devices and not with Amazon Fire devices. This is because Amazon doesn't support Firebase Cloud Messaging (FCM). Once this is all working well I'll try to also support Amazon's version of pushing messaging as well
If you're having any trouble getting notifications or TTS to work check these things:
you're running the latest beta version of HD+ (1.0.2196 or greater)
make sure the "HD+ Device" driver is added to MakerAPI
find this device in HD+ and check "Support Notifications"
look at the HD+ Device driver page and ensure both client key and server key are set (HD+ will do this for you). If either one isn't set - you might need to email me device logs along with what device you're using.
Enable "Link Device" to allow this Hubitat device to send push notifications to this phone
Use the "Button Commands" setting (see above) to set an action for each button press. You will need Tasker installed to use this
