Push notifications

[Ash_Patel]

Hello, fairly new to SharpT’s here, but wanted to know instead of sending e-mail notifications when rules are triggered, is it possible to send push messages using SharpT’s rules engine in a similar way that Smartthings does ?

Thanks

A

[josh]

Ash-
Thanks for posting. SharpTools has integration with an app called ‘Pushbullet’ which can send push messages to a variety of devices (iOS, Android, Chrome, etc)

https://www.pushbullet.com/

Once you have Pushbullet setup on one your phone/tablet/computer, you can connect it to SharpTools using the following instructions:

1. Open your SharpTools.io User Page
2. Tap Manage Connections
3. Tap Pushbullet and then follow the prompts to approve the connection

Once you’ve connected Pushbullet, you can use it in any Rule under Action → Notification → Pushbullet

[josh]

And the push notifications have saved me a couple of times even just recently!

For example, I received this message from SharpTools Rule Engine (via Pushbullet) just the other night. Luckily I was able to find the leak and prevent further damage!

Similarly, I received the following notification while I was out at the waterpark with the kids and was able to remotely lock my door using the dashboard.

[Joern_B]

@Josh: I really like the idea to use Pushbullet and it’s working fine for me. Is there a way to connect Smart Tools with different Pushbullet accounts? Depends on the rule I would like to send most of the notifications to my phone, but some should be go to my wife, to inform her. How can I connect her Pushbullet account directly or is there a workaround if this isn’t possible?

[josh]

The current design enables you to send push notifications to any device attached to your Pushbullet account.

I took a look through the Pushbullet API and it looks like there is a way to address the message to a different person. With the current setup, you’re able to target the specific device on your account that you want the message sent to and when it’s received, the message comes in under the ‘Following’ section of the Pushbullet app as if it came from ‘SharpTools’.

If we add the ability to push to other users outside your account, you’ll have to address to the push message to their email address and Pushbullet will send it to their account (all devices) and the message will appear as if it came from your account. I’ll look at getting this functionality added.

In the meantime, there are Pushbullet device drivers for both SmartThings and Hubitat. You can use those to create a ‘Thing’ for your wife’s Pushbullet device and then you would be able to use that Thing in your rules.

• SmartThings Pushbullet Device
  • Need to add capability Actuator into the DTH definition so you can use it in SharpTools
  • Uses a custom push(message) command
• Hubitat Pushbullet Device
  • Uses the speech synthesis speak(message) command

[Joern_B]

@josh
Thanks for the info. I tried to setup the Smartthings Pushbullet device. And seems to be it works so far fine. The only issue is, that I’m not able to add the new device to Sharp Tools. Any ideas?

[josh]

@josh

SmartThings Pushbullet Device

• Need to add capability Actuator into the DTH definition so you can use it in SharpTools
• Uses a custom push(message) command

You’ll need to modify the DTH and add:

capability "Actuator"

Or some other supported capability. If you use capability "Actuator" you can use the following steps to authorize it:

How To Authorize Unrecognized Things

If the Thing implements at least one of the core supported capabilities, it should be available as part of the normal authorization flow. (Eg. Switch, Motion, Lock, Temperature, etc, etc) The steps below are no longer required as of January 2023. SmartThings shut down their Groovy integrations and SharpTools transitioned to a next-generation integration with SmartThings which naturally authorizes all devices on an account without having to make selections by capability. If the Th…

[Joern_B]

My bad, I totally oversaw your explanation. Sorry and thanks for your patience!

Will try it out later today. Really great support, as always!

[josh]

No worries! Let me know if you need any help with the modification or getting things setup.

[adam_lewis]

Looks like ios support is dead on this and they have pulled the app from the appstore, is there an alternative?

[James]

I’ve found Pushover really helpful, though it costs one-time $5 per platform. I liked the way it will keep reminds you for the “Highest Priority” notification until you acknowledge it, and allows you to choose different sound for the highest priority notification, so I used the highest priority for security alarm notification only to separate them from “regular” notifications.

[adam_lewis]

so sorry i didnt see this was available as well, just set it up and works like a dream

[Scott_Levin]

@josh just out of curiosity, what is the reason that sharptools can’t send a push notification directly to the smartthings app (not using pushbullet/over/sms/etc)? Thanks.

[josh]

The APIs on SmartThings next generation platform aren’t documented for sending in-app notifications.

There is an undocumented API endpoint, but it sends the notification to ALL users of the location and some of the SmartThings engineers have publicly recommended not using it as it could change at any time. It was discussed here on the community somewhere. I can find the details if you want to use it.

Personally, I would use either Pushbullet or Pushover. Pushover has broad cross platform support and is feature rich. It’s not the prettiest, but it works really well. And it’s only a one time fee of $5. If you’re Android / browser only, Pushbullet is great.