Maximize Home Security: See Who's at the Door on Your Phone from anywhere using Home Assistant!

This Home Assistant tutorial explains how you can show a camera snapshot and camera live stream on your smartphone remotely when someone rings your doorbell. This works for video doorbells, but also for other security cameras. You can use a doorbell camera, a Wi-Fi camera, or a network security camera for this. I will show you how to create an automation in Home Assistant that sends the camera snapshot to your phone.
NOTE:
If you experience caching issues and see old snapshots, then you can add the image as a camera entity and show it using the picture-entity card. Add the following to your configuration.yaml for this:
camera:
- platform: local_file
file_path: /config/www/tmp/snapshot-doorbell.jpg
name: "Doorbell"
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00:00:00 Introduction
00:00:59 Explanation of how to access an image on your Home Assistant Server remotely
00:02:10 How to create the automation to show a snapshot of your camera on your phone when the doorbell rings
00:05:11 Test the automation
#homeassistant #doorbell #videodoorbell #doorbellcamera #doorbell #smarthome #homeautomation #smartphone #securitycamera

[@SmartHomeJunkie]

How fast can you say Double-U Double-U Double-U without making a mistake? It was quite a tongue-breaker... 😂 Your remote URL is the Nabu Case, DuckDns, or your own domain URL. Let me know in the comments below if this tutorial works for you. New ideas are always welcome!

[@Johnsmith-uc9df]

🤣 love the bloopers at the end! It's not as easy as it looks.

[@SmartHomeJunkie]

You're right. Most people do not have a clue about the amount of work it takes to create these videos.

[@FGOD-83]

just wanted to thank you Ed for helping me again with your tutorials! you are amazing!

[@justsomeone2134]

Nice video again Ed and i have that automation already ongoing for like 2 month but then combined with my home alarm. It makes a picture of the burglar in my home and send a notification to my phone. Keep the videos up 👍

[@SmartHomeJunkie]

Thx and great idea!

[@evert4205]

lekker bezig, jouw kanaal is een standaard "go to" voor mijn Hass benodigdheden.

[@SmartHomeJunkie]

Super! Dank je wel!

[@EelcoAnneveldt]

Thanks Ed, for this video and all your other tutorials. Wildly useful stuff!

[@BeardedTinker]

Great video Ed!!! It's great that they've improved Reolink integration in last few releases. They have really nice cameras.

[@SmartHomeJunkie]

Thx Andrej!

[@captain_loeffel]

Ok, I just send a photo to my phone as I can afterwards click the photo and it will open Unifi Protect, where I am connected to the doorbell and I can directly communicate with someone standing there. This is working on the smartphone as on a tablet, but your system comes in very handy if your system doesn't support that out of the box. ;)

[@tichardchapman3062]

Thank you so much for this tutorial. The only issue I am having is Im not seeing where to select button press on the reolink doorbell camera in homeassistant. I'm seeing every other option under the sun, but no option for a simple button press.

[@renderralf]

exactly what I was looking for. Thanks Ed!

[@SmartHomeJunkie]

Glad to help!

[@JbVest]

Is the only entity change needed if I'm just using an amcrest camera (not a doorbell camera) I'm going to try and go over this again but I couldn't get it working the first time I desperately want to see the snapshots. Think I'm having a hard time understanding the location where the stuff is saved or how to access it externally. I know my clips and snapshots are stored in in the media section then frigate and then clips

[@sevagjb]

Helpful video again Ed, thanks for the new knowledge

[@SmartHomeJunkie]

Thank you Sevag.

[@jp007uk]

Excellent video, is it possible to open the native camera 'Reolink' when you press the Open Camera button? perhaps by amending the uri?

[@7fu381]

I'd be very intrested if this is possible

[@knightlautrec4311]

This worked perfectly, thanks!

[@SmartHomeJunkie]

You're welcome! I'm glad I could be of help. Now you owe me a lifetime supply of chocolate!

[@knightlautrec4311]

@@SmartHomeJunkie I'm afraid I would probably end up eating it all before I managed to get it to you

[@DennisSchmitz]

Doesn't work with the Nest Doorbell sadly which seems to use WebRTC protocol. All the snapshots and video I take are blank/black basically.

[@PaulRichards1]

Any idea why the snapshot would be a cached image instead of the most recent live image?

[@wapphigh5250]

Great video and this is a great task for a smart home. How do you include the username and password when you call the HA nabucasa url?

[@MadMike78]

I have the camera stream live video to my TV when motion is detected. I would like the video to play for 10 seconds and then exit. How can I resume what I was watching on TV?

[@chrise666]

Awesome. Thank you!

[@SmartHomeJunkie]

You're welcome!

[@DanCatanase]

Thank you for this video - really what I was trying to do. It's not fully working for me as in the call service send message for telegram I don't have the "data" field so unsure where should I put the code. In my case, when I open the call service->Telegram bot send message I only have the following options: Message; Title; Target; Parse mode; Disable notification; Disable web page preview; etc. I am on HA 2024.1.3 Any suggestion/help/etc. is much appreciated. Many thanks

[@networx2002]

Thanks!!!

[@SmartHomeJunkie]

Thanks for your comment. I really appreciate it. 🙏🏻

[@loovanloon3884]

Can you also do a video on saving those snapshot photos (and videos) that are saved with a maximum of items and that I can view back in a (rolling) photo /video gallery.

[@SmartHomeJunkie]

Interesting idea, and definately possible. I will put it on my list.

[@pryczenzo7616]

hej @Loo Van Loon - I have a solution for you: saving images with date of creation by adding phrase as: snapshot-doorbell{{now().strftime('%H:%M %d-%m-%Y')}}.jpg. So every snapshot is created like: snapshot-dorbell_12:25 05-04-2023.jpg. Automatically gallery of snapshots is created with date in snapshot name (useful)

[@TheLMFAOZ]

Would be cool to get the notifications sent through Telegram too! Some of us don't have any kind of "external access" to HA except through VPN and not always the VPN can or will be on. Good content tho! Love it!

[@felipemcarli]

Nice video Ed, thanks!! U know if this gone work the at POE version of the reolink doorbell?

[@SmartHomeJunkie]

Yes sure, that should work as well.

[@Kal-el23]

I don't get a tiny thumbnail when the alert comes through. I'm also using an iPhone. However, when I long press on it, then it loads the snapshot. Any ideas why that is?

[@adamgreenberg3583]

Great video. It works the first time as described. The next time the snapshot comes through in the notification, it is the original picture not the current one, even though the picture was updatd in the www/tmp folder. Anyone else experience this issue?

[@SmartHomeJunkie]

This is a caching issue. I solved it on my dashboard by showing the image as a camera. You can use the local file integration for this. www.home-assistant.io/integrations/local_file/

[@pryczenzo7616]

@@SmartHomeJunkie thank you for so great video!!!. BUT SAME PROBLEM with caching - old snapshot only. I tried to use the local_file integration and it works to display the snapshot on the dashboard. But how to send it in the notification to the smarphone? Could you give me some advice or record a small tutorial on this in the future.

[@SmartHomeJunkie]

@@pryczenzo7616 I will have to dive into this. Not sure what might cause this.

[@pryczenzo7616]

​@@SmartHomeJunkie I solved this problem in this way: saving images with date of creation by adding phrase as: snapshot-doorbell{{now().strftime('%H:%M %d-%m-%Y')}}.jpg. So every snapshot is created like: snapshot-dorbell_12:25 05-04-2023.jpg. And this (last) one is sended to smartphone. Automatically gallery of snapshots is created with date in snapshot name (useful). Now only I need to make an automatic deletion of files after e.g. a week and relax :D.

[@Hb2oo]

Having the same issue. Fixed it during pre-install by removing all other reolink integrations rebooting ha, then installing again. However now I am having the same issue after installation and can not get the new image when the doorbell is pressed sent to my android, just an old image. Any suggestions/solutions yet? Thanks!

[@GadgetRobb]

Does this work for the Google battery video doorbell? I’ve struggled to get HA to show me an image from it

[@EelcoAnneveldt]

Bedankt

[@SmartHomeJunkie]

Thanks for your support Eelco!

[@manfredzimmer1199]

I like your Videos 👍👍👍

[@SmartHomeJunkie]

I like your comments 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻😜

[@jswollie1]

Nice tutorial, i just received my reolink doorbell and installed it totday. I have one issue with the snapshot, when i click on the notification (on iphone) i don't see a snapshot but only a black pictures until the stream loads and start then i see the camera stream. The snapshot url is reachable and present (via my domain name). What could cause this issue?

[@SmartHomeJunkie]

Hi! I did see that issue as well, but only once, so I thought it was a glitch. But, reading this, it seems to happen more often. Can you check if the snapshot is reachable through the url that I menstion in this video in your browser? Maybe the time between saving the snapshot and showing it on your phone is too short. You might try to place a delay action of let's say 1 second between the save snapshot and notifcation action. Pleaselet me know if that works for you.

[@jswollie1]

@@SmartHomeJunkie Hi thank you for your reply. I tested today i set an automation on motion on my driveway (because the doorbell does not ring every day). Sometimes I get the snapshot instantly but if I open the URL in the browser its shows an older snapshot. Just a few minutes ago there was a notification because someone came on the driveway. I open the notification and the preview loaded perfectly but when I opened the URL in the browser it showed an older snapshot. (in safari I opened the URL in chrome it showed an even different snapshot something with safari's cache I think). After a couple of refreshes it showed an even older snapshot (from this morning me leaving to work at 7:30.).

[@SmartHomeJunkie]

@@jswollie1 That is really weird. Seems like a caching issue because the file on the server gets overwritten every time. 🤷🏼

[@catman41155]

Is it possible to do this in the docker version of Home Assistant?

[@halko1]

Is the snapshot by default public to the internet or is there authentication or need to setup network filtering in order to keep the snapshot photos private? Thanks for the tutorial.

[@SmartHomeJunkie]

Good question. It's public to the internet. You can alter the automation to delete the snapshot automatically after you've viewed it if you like. I do not really care because my url is not known to anybody anyway.

[@philipshergold4771]

So the notification always sends the message/notification but, for some reason it only attaches the picture when my device is connected remotely but not locally. Does anyone know why?

[@JbVest]

hey Ed i cant seem to find the correct url for my cam its a amcrest cam it works great with frigate have audio recording working, but cant seem to get the notification to work with snapshot i get the text when it detects someone in my front door zone but no picture still. any ideas?

[@SmartHomeJunkie]

Maybe this helps? www.ipcamlive.com/rtspdatabase

[@JbVest]

i figured it out Ed! my url wasnt correct i had added config to the url. i removed it and now it works! i thought it was something simple. cant believe i missed that

[@SmartHomeJunkie]

@@JbVest Great to hear!

[@Kiloptero]

Looks like there is a new bug. The image that HA send is a cached image.. Anyone here experience the same?

[@pyccku212]

is there a way to open the open camera uri with the home assistant app and not in the browser? because you need to authentificate yourself in the browser.

[@SmartHomeJunkie]

Uhm, I open it in a browser without having to identify myself 🤷🏼‍♂️

[@robertperkins4909]

Where do I find the URL for my instance of HA? Is it the URL that shows up when I sign-on remotely from Nabu Casa?

[@SmartHomeJunkie]

Yes indeed! That's the one!

[@robertperkins4909]

@@SmartHomeJunkie Here's what I used (modified part of url). Have I got it right? abcdefghihklmn12345450.ui.nabu.casa/local/tmp/snapshot-doorbell.jpg

[@liorzilber2246]

thank you, excellent vid, except that I get always the same (first) pic made, it doesn't overwrite the pic in the directory

[@mvanimpe]

same here! have you found a solution?

[@simplesi6513]

Probably a really stupid question but where do I find me url for the action yaml

[@SmartHomeJunkie]

Depends on your camera. Each camera brand uses it's own url format. So you can find it in the manual of your camera.

[@EbrahimHasan]

So how do I get the snapshots to be publicly acessible?

[@SmartHomeJunkie]

They are already if you can access HA remotely.

[@EbrahimHasan]

@@SmartHomeJunkie Thanks for your quick response. In my case, my remote access link is something.ui.nabu.casa and my snapshots are saved as /config/snapshots/backyardcam.jpg Somehow I am still unable to access them from my browser. Really appreciate your time.

[@theattorney6072]

Does this work with Blink doorbell ?

[@TamerBakir]

Hi Ed I did it all and i get the notification with the "open camera" and it opens perfect. but i do not get a preview. It is only text and when i click Open camera then it opens up in home assistant. What did i do wrong ?

[@SmartHomeJunkie]

No idea really. It works here using an iPhone.

[@BlueSky-cy5nw]

Thanks Ed for the video. Is it possible to keep the previous snapshot instead of overwriting it in the folder. For eg: snapshot1, snapshot2 etc. For eg: if 5 different people rang the doorbell at different times during the day, I need to have 5 snapshots instead of just the current one.

[@SmartHomeJunkie]

I think you can do that by using a number helper and store the follow-up number in there. Add 1 every time when you take a snapshot and add the value of the helper to the snapshot filename. You can reset the value to 1 when you created 5 snapshots.

[@BlueSky-cy5nw]

@@SmartHomeJunkie Thanks will try that. I can confidently say I wouldn't have gotten this far in home assistant without your videos. Much appreciated. 🙂👍

[@SmartHomeJunkie]

@@BlueSky-cy5nw that's really cool to hear!

[@harjaskaran]

I got this working. Only thing is it sends the old snapshot sometimes and not the current one. Even added a delay. Still the same

[@BerndJTHIEL]

absolute amazing :) Q: is their a way to show this push on a Sony TV (Android)

[@SmartHomeJunkie]

I will release a video next week that will show the live stream on a tablet when someone rings the doorbell. Not sure if this will also work on your Sony TV. Basically it will show on specific browsers and I do not know of your Sony TV is considered to be a browser.

[@CosminFrinculescu]

Hi Ed, I have a card in which I see the live streaming from the video doorbell and when I click on the image of the card it unlocks my front gate. Would it be possible to make a link to that card instead of the link to the dashboard with the cameras or to toggle a virtual button.

[@SmartHomeJunkie]

You can only link to a URL and cards do not have a url. You can however create a dashboard view with only one card on it and set the viewtype tp panel so that the card covers the whole view.

[@CosminFrinculescu]

@@SmartHomeJunkie You are right, cards don't have an URL but I thought maybe there's another way and I am missing it.

[@TheMagenatto]

Hello my friend! Could you tell me if there is any way to see the snapshot when you are also outside the local network?

[@SmartHomeJunkie]

You should be able to see it when you point to the snapshot using your external url. First save the snapshot to the www folder and use your external url to point to the snapshot in that folder.

[@TheMagenatto]

@@SmartHomeJunkie Ooh, How did I miss that! 😅 Sorry. Thank you very much 🤝 Now it worked :)

[@SmartHomeJunkie]

@@TheMagenatto No problem! Great to hear!

[@martijndelmeer]

Deze werkt als een malle. Is er nog een optie in te bouwen zodat je de snapshot naar een 2e lokatie kunt kopiëren met een date en time stamp zodat je een archief opbouwt.

[@SmartHomeJunkie]

Ja, dat kan. Eigenlijk hoef je alleen een timestamp aan de action toe te voegen. Dat is iets van {{ now() }}

[@martijndelmeer]

Al gelukt, delay van een seconden en dan een extra snapshot naar een archive lokatie sturen.

[@radimek100]

service: camera.snapshot data: filename: /media/{{ now().strftime('%d.%m.%Y/%H:%M:%S') }}.jpg

[@videosmas3206]

nice video but not very clear for a newbie like me. when you say select a notification that send to your phone, I don't even know how to send notification to the phone. Maybe you can say that at the beginning of the video that you need to have notification send to your phone already set up.

[@SmartHomeJunkie]

How to get Phone Push Notifications from Home Assistant - Tutorial kzbin.info/www/bejne/sKjQaaSBhpiMn5I 😉

[@leondegraaf2197]

Hoi Ed , bij mij blijft steeds de visitor button op uit staan heb al van alles geprobeerd maar krijg het niet voor elkaar jij nog suggesties?

[@SmartHomeJunkie]

No sorry. No idea. It's not my experience. You can check the github page of the developer of the Reolink integartion and create an issue report there. Maybe he can help. github.com/home-assistant/core/labels/integration%3A%20reolink

[@capbrantz4935]

@@SmartHomeJunkie same problem, I think it is https related

[@andyvandebeek9972]

is it also possibe to send the image to whatsapp ?

[@SmartHomeJunkie]

Not that I know of. 🤷🏼

[@martinhocosta88]

Tried the automation for sending a notification with no succes. Then I realized that the reolink camera entities on home assistant are not updating the states. No motion or person detection or even the visitor (ring bell). Any ideas on whats missing?

[@SmartHomeJunkie]

Hmmm. That's unfortunate. I'm not sure why it's not updating at your side. Maybe reinstalling the integration might work?

[@Tehral]

Live feed would be even more interesting

[@SmartHomeJunkie]

You will see the live feed after a couple of seconds. See the demo in the video.

[@LeiChat]

Thanks for another great tutorial. I've swapped out the action URL for a relative link that opens the dashboard tab in the HA smartphone app. data: image: cloud-domain-goes-here/local/tmp/snapshot-doorbell.jpg # iOS URL url: "/lovelace/cameras" # Android URL clickAction: "/lovelace/cameras"

[@SmartHomeJunkie]

Thanks for this!

[@Jcarlier50]

when i received the notification on my phone and i press it i get the lovelace but not the photo on my phone ???

[@SmartHomeJunkie]

What kind of phone so you have? IPhone or Android?

[@Jcarlier50]

@@SmartHomeJunkie android s20 fe

[@SmartHomeJunkie]

@@Jcarlier50 Hi! I used an iPhone and I need to long press the notification to see the full camera image. Not sure how it works on Android, but you should be able to see the image as well.

[@Jcarlier50]

@@SmartHomeJunkie ok fine

[@davidssss20]

It takes too long sometimes 10 seconds sometimes less

[@SmartHomeJunkie]

What exactly takes too long?

[@Mennovr123]

Hello, I am using the Reolink PoE doorbell. But the doorbell doesn’t send any snapshot to the /config/www/tmp/snapshot-doorbell.jpg map. It leaves them empty after pressing the doorbell. So as a result the live stream of the camera appears in the message which I received. Anyone struggling with the same issue?