[App][Pro] Zone Activity

Hi everyone,

I’ve recently developed the Zone Activity app for Homey Pro, and I wanted to share it with the community as I think it could be useful for others as well.

What is Zone Activity?

The app is designed to simplify zone-related flows by adding features that Homey doesn’t offer out of the box. Whether you’re dealing with zones without physical sensors or seeking greater control over zone activity, this app aims to provide the necessary coverage.

Key Features:

  • Virtual Sensor
    I know there are already very capable virtual device apps available, but I introduced this sensor specifically for zone-related activity, simplifying the process of adding and using a virtual device. It’s tailored to let you manually trigger or disable zone activity for zones that do not have any physical sensors. This is especially helpful for simulating motion or activity based on specific conditions.
    • The app includes action cards that let you turn the virtual sensor on for a given time or off after a given delay. This feature simplifies scenarios like keeping lights on for a short period after motion or simulating zone activity for a set time.
    • The virtual device can be toggled on/off and has some maintenance operations to enable / disable the sensor manually.
  • Zone condition cards
    • Check if a zone is on/off for a given time using an “AND” condition card.
    • Check if a particular device type (e.g., lights, switches) in a zone is on/off.
    • Assess the capabilities of devices in a specific zone, such as verifying whether any sensor’s value exceeds, falls below, or matches a predetermined value.

Future Plans

This app isn’t much yet, but I’ll be working on adding more zone-related features in the future to make it even more versatile for your automation needs.

Feedback & Support

I’ll try to check in on the forum regularly to help out, but my GitHub repository will be the main source of truth for issues and feature requests. Feel free to report anything or submit requests there: GitHub Repo

I’d love to hear your feedback or ideas on what could be added next! Feel free to try out the app and let me know if it helps streamline your zone flows.

Thanks!

PS: I’ll also try to extend and update this post regularly as I release new features and updates to the app.

4 Likes

Test version released: 1.4.3
Edit 2024/09/16: Live version released: 1.4.3

The “Always on” option has been added to the Virtual Motion Trigger device. This feature can prevent the sensor from being accidentally turned off, or it can be used to exclude the sensor when employing flows that turn off all devices in a specific zone.

The release is available at the following link:

The complete changelog for all versions is available at the following link:

Test version released: 1.5.0

This release introduces a trigger card that you can use to check if any type of device has been turned on or off in a particular zone.

image

The test release is available at the following link:

The complete changelog for all versions is available at the following link:

A nice app that I would like to try out. However, I cannot install the app. More people suffering from this?

@iBosvelt Which Homey device and version are you using? I created this application for my Homey Pro (Early 2023). It was developed for Homey version 12.x, but I’ve just realized that the app’s manifest states compatibility with version 5 or higher. I need to verify the accurate compatibility, as this might be the source of the issue.

Additionally, because of the necessary permissions (homey:manager:api), the app is not permitted on Homey Cloud.

Hello Erik,

Thank you for your response.

Like you, I have a homey pro 23, firmware 12.2.
I just added a virtual sensor via add device. It seems that the app does install this way.

After a few seconds I did get a red bar saying that the installation was unexpectedly taking too long. Unknown to me if t was an error message. The app is now on my Homey, though.

For helpfulness;
Do you have a flow you can share for inspiration? How this app adds to Homey’s standard functionality?

I’m glad you managed to resolve the installation with that workaround. I’ll monitor for any similar issues, as I haven’t noticed any crash reports on my dashboard so far.

I am planning on on getting a documentation webpage up and running soon. This will definitely contain some flow examples that were useful to me.

In summary, I have been utilizing the app’s functionality for the following use-cases:

  • I’ve added virtual motion trigger devices in both my driveway and backyard zones, which already contain existing physical motion devices. When the physical devices detect motion, I enable the virtual trigger for 120 seconds with the provided action card Turn on the alarm temporarily for [x] seconds. This allows me to use the built-in cards When zone becomes active/inactive to toggle the driveway lights. The existing motion sensor would turn off the alarm too quickly (as soon as motion is no longer detected). The virtual motion trigger resets the timer to 120 seconds each time it is triggered, preventing the lights from flickering or turning off too soon. This ensures the lights turn off only after the last movement during the active zone period. It also helps me avoid using timers like Chronograph.

  • I’ve used the condition card the zone is inactive for [x] minutes to start my robot vacuum cleaner at a set time, but only when the room has been inactive for more than the specified period (along with other conditions).

  • In my newborn’s room, I use the condition card the zone is active for [x] minutes in a flow triggered when the room temperature is too high. This only turns on the air conditioning if the room has been active for a longer time. This is used together with the built-in card if the zone becomes active for [x] minutes to cover multiple scenarios.

  • The condition card if any [device] in [zone] is on is used to turn off lights (for a particular trigger) only when they were on, preventing unnecessary commands and noise of timeline messages informing me that the lights have turned off.

  • The new trigger card if a particular device in a given zone is turned on/off can be used to trigger the Virtual Motion Trigger, which in turn can activate a zone in Homey that has no physical motion/presence device. This way, you can still utilize the build-in zone cards when that zone becomes active/inactive based on other devices in that zone turning on or off.

Most scenarios could be handled with a more complex advanced flow, but I hope this app can significantly reduce that complexity.

I hope this sparks some inspiration! I’m open to any suggestions you might have.

1 Like

Live version released: 1.5.0

This release introduces a trigger card that you can use to check if any type of device has been turned on or off in a particular zone.

image

The release is available at the following link:
https://homey.app/en-us/app/nl.erikvl87.zoneactivity/Zone-Activity/

The complete changelog for all versions is available at the following link:
https://github.com/Erikvl87/nl.erikvl87.zoneactivity/releases/

1 Like

Live version released: 1.5.4

Compared to version 1.5.0, this release fixes an issue where the trigger card was not always triggered and the supported device classes have been updated.

The release is available at the following link:
https://homey.app/en-us/app/nl.erikvl87.zoneactivity/Zone-Activity/

The complete changelog for all versions is available at the following link:
https://github.com/Erikvl87/nl.erikvl87.zoneactivity/releases/

Live version released: 1.6.1

Compared to version 1.5.4, this release

  • Fixes an issue that prevented the evaluate sensor capabilities condition card to work.
  • Is now utilizes the official homey-lib library to discover all device classes and capabilities. * This expands the range of supported device classes and capabilities in cards and their translations.

The release is available at the following link:
https://homey.app/en-us/app/nl.erikvl87.zoneactivity/Zone-Activity/

The complete changelog for all versions is available at the following link:
https://github.com/Erikvl87/nl.erikvl87.zoneactivity/releases/

1 Like

Live version released: 1.6.2

this release

  • Fixes an issue that prevented the trigger card “to check whether a device has been turned on or off in a particular zone” to start when the app was unable to determine the zone name
  • Fixes an issue that caused a crash for the trigger card “to check whether a device has been turned on or off in a particular zone” when the device onoff capability is set to null by ignoring it and not assuming a certain state

The release is available at the following link:
https://homey.app/en-us/app/nl.erikvl87.zoneactivity/Zone-Activity/

The complete changelog for all versions is available at the following link:

1 Like

A sneak preview of what’s coming; a zone widget indicating zone activity:

Live version released: 1.6.3

this release

  • Fixes the ordering of zones in autocomplete settings fields
  • Highlights an already deprecated flow via its flow title for visibility

The release is available at the following link:
https://homey.app/en-us/app/nl.erikvl87.zoneactivity/Zone-Activity/

The complete changelog for all versions is available at the following link:

Widgets will be released shortly
Further more, widget development is still in progress. Here’s an update.
Next to the previously shown screenshot, which displays a widget for a single zone, there’s also coming a widget that displays the state of multiple zones dynamically, with the options to sort by default, or by activity!

Test version released: 2.0.0
Update 2024/11/11: Live version released: 2.0.0

This release

  • Introduces 2 dashboard widgets!
  • Removed an already deprecated condition flow (breaking change)
    • There’s a replacement condition card available called zone-active-for-minutes
  • The minimal compatibility has been changed from 5.0.0 to 12.1.2 (breaking change)

widget-demo-opt

The release is available at the following link:

The complete changelog for all versions is available at the following link:

I would love to get your constructive feedback on the new widgets!

1 Like