How I turned my old clock into a small Home Assistant dashboard

I’m planning an Apple Watch upgrade this year, which means I’ll soon have a wearable around the house. Another use case I’ve been thinking about is a limited smart home dashboard, and I think I may have messed it up.

Why use a smartwatch for this?

A small wearable is probably not a common choice for a smart home dashboard. Many people want tablets that offer larger displays, which can display more information at the same time while providing controls for connected devices and images, as well as camera feeds and notifications.

I recently had the plaque on my wall removed when I installed a ducted HVAC system. I chose a connected system that I can control with my smartphone and the Home Assistant, without an external display. I didn’t want a big plaque on my wall, especially since I couldn’t choose one myself.

That said, it would be nice if guests could access a few simple home systems like the air conditioner or garage door without having to devote a lot of space to it. As luck would have it, my 45mm Apple Watch Series 8 is smaller than a smart thermostat and will otherwise live out its days in a drawer.

The Magnetic Apple Watch charger is strong enough to hold the watch still, so lifting it up shouldn’t be a problem. The strap slips off instantly, at which point Apple wears something similar to an iPod nano. In this case, the Digital Crown is still in use, and there is nothing stopping you from holding the Watch and walking when you need to.

But there are a few hurdles to overcome. Much of this depends on Apple’s erratic behavior while the Watch is charging, and the biggest problem is that the display will sleep until you interact with it. Again, this might not be such a bad thing if minimalism is the goal.

Your watch needs to be connected to the iPhone, through which it will display all kinds of information. The best thing you can do for privacy is to turn off notifications, but if you’re worried about strangers reading your text messages or making phone calls, this might not be the dashboard for you.

Finally, that iPhone will need to be close by since the Watch app works as an extension of the iPhone app. It’s a great place, but it’s worth noting.

The Home Assistant app and scripts made it happen

I’ve always felt that the Apple Watch’s Home Assistant implementation could use some work. Unlike the iPhone app, which provides access to all features and functions, the Apple Watch companion is more limited. Although you can add apps to the Control Center, the app itself can only display text and images.

Furthermore, Face Problems are for lack of a better word complicated. You can do complex things, but you’ll need to use YAML to do it. You can’t override the sensor reading on your Watch face or create a shortcut to a specific app.

Home Assistant scripts are so powerful, you can use them to do anything with a faucet. It also allows me to limit which smart home functions are available, so that guests don’t turn the thermostat temperature to something unforgivable.

As luck would have it, I already have a series of scripts that I use with Apple Home (like buttons) to quickly control the HVAC system. I have one that opens all the zones and cools the house down to 27ºC, one that opens the zones and turns on dry air, and one that turns off the HVAC system completely. I also wrote a script to change the garage door and close.

With these ready to go, I opened the Home Assistant app on my iPhone, went to Settings > Companion App, and scrolled down to the Apple Watch section to set things up. I added my letters and gave them images and colors that made sense to me, then saved my changes.

Fixing watchOS and 3D printing mount

I don’t want to unlock my dashboard all the time, so the first thing I turned off was Hand Access under Settings > Passcode. This worked fine when the watch was not charging, but it would always lock up when connected to power. Finally, I turned off the passcode completely.

The next thing I did was create a watch face that would be useful in some way. I opted for a simple modular face and added a “local” Home Assistant complication to the standout. Tapping it opens the Home Assistant app and my mail list. I also added a widget that shows the temperature in the living room, since that’s where my dashboard is now (this works using HomeKit Bridge and Apple Home).

Finally, I 3D printed a few mounts. My gut feeling said that a wall mount is best, but this requires some sort of cable management. To give me options, I printed one vertical stand and a wall mount. It’s undeniable that using a dashboard at head height like a wall switch or thermostat makes sense, but you can’t beat how clean the desk looks when the cable is neatly hidden behind the furniture.

And with that, my little dashboard is complete. I can add more jobs by writing more letters, and I’m thinking of adding jobs to change all the lights soon.

I’m always giving my old smartwatch to a family member, and I’m still of two minds about whether a dashboard like this has enough features for me to deny someone else a Watch upgrade. That said, if you’re looking for a way to replace a device you’re not currently using, you could do a lot worse than the Smartwatch Home Assistant’s tiny control panel.

Looking for a different Home Assistant dashboard? You probably already have all the tools needed to build it.