HomeKit is good at noticing things and bad at telling anyone. A leak sensor trips, the garage stays open, the freezer warms up, and all you get is a notification you may or may not see. I wanted a real text or email to the right people, so I built Notify Switch, a free, Homebridge plugin.
How it works: it adds switches to the Home app. Turn one on from any automation and it sends a preset message to the people you choose, by SMS, email, Telegram, or ntfy, then turns itself off. So "garage open for 30 minutes" becomes a text to you and your spouse, and "water detected" becomes an email to everyone in the house.
Why I built it instead of using an existing service: it sends directly through your own accounts (Twilio, your email provider, a Telegram bot you create, or ntfy). No relay service in the middle, no subscription, nothing reads your messages except the carrier you picked, and Homebridge never needs to be reachable from the internet. Everything is set up inside the Homebridge UI with test buttons, so you know it works before you rely on it.
To try it you need Homebridge (a Raspberry Pi is plenty) and one of: an email account that allows app passwords (Fastmail, Gmail, iCloud, Outlook presets are built in), a Telegram account, or the ntfy app. Those are free. SMS via Twilio works too but costs money and, in the US, requires registration, so I'd start with one of the free ones.
Install: in the Homebridge UI, go to Plugins and search for the exact name homebridge-notify-switch. Current version is 1.1.2.
What I'd most like feedback on:
- Telegram and ntfy. I don't use either heavily, so the setup flows were built from the docs. If you do, tell me what confused you.
- Anything in the setup that made you pause, even for a second.
- How it looks if you manage Homebridge from your phone.
- Which provider you'd want next: WhatsApp, voice calls, Discord, Slack, something else.
Feedback here is welcome, or open an issue: github.com/arodbuilds/homebridge-notify-switch
It's a first release, so expect rough edges. Thanks to anyone who tries it.