Actionable Notifications

WristAssistant turns Home Assistant notifications into interactive control panels on your watch. Instead of just reading a message, you get up to 8 action buttons that can toggle lights, lock doors, adjust thermostats, and more — right from the notification.

{/* video: notification with entity action buttons */}

How It Works

When Home Assistant sends a notification with entity actions, WristAssistant renders custom buttons on the watch. Each button knows what kind of device it controls and adapts its behavior automatically.

Tap a light button — it toggles. Tap again — presets appear (25%, 50%, 75%, 100% brightness).

Hold a lock button — a progress bar fills as you hold. Release when it’s full to confirm. This prevents accidental unlocks.

Tap a media player button — play/pause. Tap again for previous track, play/pause, and next track presets.

After an action succeeds, the button updates to show the new state. If auto_dismiss is set, the notification disappears automatically.

Domain-Specific Actions

Each button automatically adapts based on the entity type:

Domain	Tap	Double-Tap Presets
Lights	Toggle	25%, 50%, 75%, 100% brightness + color temp presets
Switches / Input Booleans	Toggle	—
Locks	Hold-to-confirm lock/unlock	—
Covers (blinds, garage)	Open/close	Closed, 25%, 50%, Open positions
Fans	Toggle	Low (25%), Med (50%), High (75%), Max (100%)
Climate	Toggle on/off	±1° and ±2° temperature adjustments
Media Players	Play/pause	Previous, Play/Pause, Next
Alarm Panels	Hold-to-confirm	Home, Away, Disarm modes
Scenes / Scripts / Buttons	Activate	—

Hold-to-Confirm

For sensitive devices like locks and alarm panels, buttons require a sustained press (~0.5 seconds). A progress bar fills from left to right as you hold, with haptic ticks along the way. This prevents accidental activations from wrist bumps.

You can also enable hold-to-confirm on any button by adding confirm: true to the action payload.

Styling

Customize the notification appearance in Settings → Notifications:

• Background — Black, dark gray, or glass
• Button fill — Tinted, solid, outlined, or glass
• Button size — Small, medium, or large
• Corner style — Rounded, sharp, or square
• Accent color — 12 color options, follow app theme, or iOS default
• Entity tint — Color each button by its domain type (yellow for lights, orange for locks, green for switches)
• Tap animation — Pulse, flash, bounce, or none
• State badges — Show entity state inside or below each button
• Sound and haptics — Configurable feedback for taps and confirmations

Notification Payload

Send notifications from Home Assistant automations with entity actions:

service: notify.mobile_app_your_watch
data:
  message: "Front door unlocked"
  data:
    auto_dismiss: true
    actions:
      - entity_id: lock.front_door
        state: "unlocked"
        friendly_name: "Front Door"
        icon: "lock.open.fill"
      - entity_id: light.porch
        state: "off"
        friendly_name: "Porch Light"

Per-action options:

Option	Description
entity_id	The Home Assistant entity to control (required)
state	Current entity state for display (required)
friendly_name	Display name on the button
icon	SF Symbol name for the button icon
label	Custom button label
confirm	Require hold-to-confirm (true/false)
attributes	Entity attributes (brightness, position, temperature, etc.)

Set auto_dismiss: true at the notification level to dismiss after any successful action.

Visual Feedback

Buttons show real-time feedback:

• Progress bars on lights (brightness), covers (position), and fans (speed)
• Left edge strip — a colored line when the entity is active
• State badges — formatted per domain (“On · 75%” for lights, temperature for climate)
• Checkmark prefix — completed actions get a ✓ after success
• Failure haptic — if the action fails or the entity is unavailable

Tips

• Use notifications for security alerts — “Motion detected at front door” with buttons to lock up, turn on lights, and view the camera
• Use notifications for routine reminders — “Bedtime” with buttons to run your Good Night scene, lock all doors, and turn off all lights
• Send a test notification from Settings → Notifications to preview your styling
• Keep it to 3–4 buttons for quick glanceability — you can go up to 8, but fewer is faster