I used to use SmartThings up until the announcement killing off WebCORE. I well fully into Home Assistant using Zigbee and ZWave both. HIGHLY recommend it, though there is work to set it up.

I use quite a bit of NodeRed as well for some of my more complex automations, and use the native HA automations for things like button mappings or simple scripts.

Lots of his stories feel like he got bored, and just wrapped it all up without much actual closure. Feels very rushed. Under the Dome was a clear example of this for me.

Are you looking for integrations or front-end/GUI recommendations? HACS is great for both!

It’s easier for me to control my Sonos devices through Home Assistant and dashboards I’ve created, rather than using the Sonos app itself. It’s like they hired some McKinsey consultants to make the app as useless as it can be.

I think as long as the model you are looking for supports Z-Wave, you’re good.

I have Schlage locks integrated via Z-Wave. All local, can poll for battery levels, supports physical key unlocks ( and can differentiate logging events between key, code, and HA service unlocks)

I’m happy with the capabilities.

On iOS you may need to allow HA to constantly track your location. I’ve done a decent amount of testing with zones and it seems to work well. I used some temp Node Red logic to send a push notification as I entered/left zones and it was pretty accurate.

3D printing is half the fun! Although I have no skills in design so I usually look for STLs that other have created. The NFC tag reader was such a fun project because I got to: 3D print the enclosure, solder the wiring for the ESP and NFC hardware, write the login within Node Red to work as a juke box, and then I wrote an excel file that I use to track my playlists (allows me to copy/paste the Spotify share link and have it translate it into an NFC tag payload).

Do you use Plex at all? One fun integration is to turn the lights off automatically when something starts to play, then turn them back on when paused/stopped. It’s fun to see the lights auto-dim as media starts to play.

I use mine for a jukebox with various playlists. Allows anyone in the house to scan a tag. You can also have them do anything a button can do (run a script, turn on/off devices, etc.