Notifications Android/Fire TV smart home integration, free and open source
Show notifications on your Android TV or Fire TV: messages, doorbell camera pictures, alerts.
Published by guim31
- Devices
- Version 1.0.1
- Requires Gladys >=5.2.0
- ★ 0
Show notifications on your TV from Gladys: a message over the film, with a picture if you want. The great classic: the doorbell rings, the visitor's picture appears on the TV. Also: the washing machine is done, a window is still open at bedtime, "Dinner is ready!" sent from the kitchen tablet.
It works with a free notification app installed on the TV: Notifications for Android TV (Android TV, Google TV, Nvidia Shield…), Notifications for Fire TV (Amazon Fire TV and Fire TV Stick), PiPup or TvOverlay. Each TV becomes a Gladys device that says whether it is on (its app answers), so a scene can choose between the TV and a phone.
Developed without the hardware: feedback welcome. The integration is covered by automated tests against simulated apps, but has not yet been tried with a real TV in a real Gladys installation. Tell us on the Gladys forum how it works with yours.
This integration is not affiliated with the authors of these apps, nor with Google or Amazon.
What you get
- One device per TV, with one feature, Reachable (presence sensor, yes/no): yes when the notification app of the TV answers, which in practice means the TV is on.
- A scene action, Show a notification on the TV: title, message (scene variables accepted), display time, position, background color, transparency, icon and a picture downloaded from a camera's snapshot URL. It tells the scene whether the notification was shown.
- A dashboard widget, Message on the TV: the state of the TV, a Write a message button that opens a small form, and up to three quick messages, one tap each.
- Three buttons in the configuration: add or update a TV, remove a TV, send a test notification.
Requirements
- Gladys Assistant 5.2.0 or later (the widget form needs it).
- A TV running Android TV, Google TV or Fire OS, on the same local network as Gladys.
- One of the notification apps installed and opened once on the TV (next section).
- The address of the TV: an IP address (a fixed one is best: reserve it in the DHCP settings of
your router) or a DNS name.
.localnames (mDNS) cannot be resolved inside the integration.
Installing the app on the TV
Android TV, Google TV, Nvidia Shield
Install Notifications for Android TV from the Google Play Store of the TV (search for "Notifications for Android TV"), then open it once: it shows the IP address of the TV and asks for the permission to display over other apps. Leave the app installed: it keeps listening in the background on port 7676. Check on its store page which options its free version includes.
Fire TV
Install Notifications for Fire TV from the Amazon Appstore of the Fire TV, then open it once. It is the same app for the Fire TV, with the same protocol: choose "Notifications for Android TV / Fire TV" in Gladys.
PiPup or TvOverlay instead
- PiPup (port 7979) is an open source alternative. When it is installed outside the Play
Store, it needs the permission to draw over other apps, given once with ADB:
adb shell appops set nl.rogro82.pipup SYSTEM_ALERT_WINDOW allow. - TvOverlay (port 5001), from the Play Store, also needs that permission (same ADB command
with
com.tabdeveloper.tvoverlay). The look of its notifications (colors, layout) is chosen in the app itself.
Our integrations Android TV Remote and Android TV ADB control the TV (power, volume, apps); this one displays messages on it. They work side by side on the same TV. With ADB set up for the second one, the command above can be sent from your computer with the same ADB access.
Configuration
Settings
| Setting | Default | Use |
|---|---|---|
| Language | Français | names of the features, messages of the actions, text of the test notification |
| Check the TVs every | 30 s | how often the integration checks that each TV answers |
| Unreachable after | 1 minute | time without any answer before a TV shows as unreachable (Wi-Fi misses a check) |
A check is one connection to the app of the TV: nothing appears on the screen, and the TV is not woken up. The apps have no account and no quota: the integration only talks to them on your local network, never to the internet.
Adding a TV
- In Integrations → Notifications Android/Fire TV → Configuration, fill in Add or update a TV: a name, the IP address shown by the app, and the app installed. Leave the port empty unless you changed it in the app.
- The answer says whether the app answers. If it does not, turn the TV on, open the app once, and run the action again.
- Open the Discover tab and create the device of the TV.
The same action with the same name or the same address updates the TV (new address, other app): its device stays the same. Remove a TV stops the checks; delete its device in Gladys as well if you no longer need it.
Testing
Send a test notification, with the TV chosen in the list, shows a short message on the screen. The answer says what happened: shown, the TV does not answer, or the app refused the notification (the wrong app chosen, or another port).
Devices
Each TV is a device with one feature:
| Feature | Type in Gladys | Shows |
|---|---|---|
| Reachable | presence sensor (yes/no) | yes when the app of the TV answers (the TV is on), no otherwise |
On the dashboard, Gladys labels a feature that is alone of its type with the name of the type: the device box may read "Presence" instead of "Reachable". The value is the same.
The state is refreshed by the integration itself at the chosen interval, and published only when it changes (plus once every 12 hours, so the dashboard never shows "no recent value"). A notification that is shown also marks the TV as reachable at once.
Some TVs keep their network on in standby: the app may keep answering for a while after the screen goes off. The state tells "the TV can show a notification", which is what a scene needs.
Dashboard widget
Message on the TV shows:
- the state of the TV (on and reachable, off or unreachable);
- Write a message: a tap opens a small form (message and display time), Send shows it on the TV;
- up to three quick messages, written once in the settings of the widget ("Dinner is ready!", "Bedtime!"), shown with one tap.
Settings: the TV (empty: the first TV of the integration) and the three quick messages. After each message, a short note says whether it was shown.
Scene action and triggers
Show a notification on the TV (category "Integrations" of the scene editor):
| Field | Use |
|---|---|
| TV | the TV (required) |
| Title | optional; Notifications for Android TV shows "Gladys" when it is empty |
| Message | the text (required); scene variables accepted, e.g. the name of a device or a temperature |
| Display time (seconds) | 1 to 300, 10 by default |
| Position | a corner of the screen or its center (TvOverlay: corners only) |
| Background color | nine colors (not with TvOverlay, which uses its own layout) |
| Background transparency | opaque to fully transparent (not with TvOverlay) |
| Icon | doorbell, camera, parcel, washing machine, meal… (not with PiPup) |
| Picture URL | optional: a picture downloaded at each notification, see below |
The action returns Notification shown (1 or 0). A TV that is off is not an error: the value is 0 and the scene goes on, so a Continue only if step can send the message to a phone instead. Only a device of another integration, or a notification without text, makes the action fail.
The integration declares no scene trigger: what happens to the TV is its Reachable feature, usable in the usual "a device state changes" trigger (the TV turns on or off).
Picture of a camera
The integration cannot read the image of a Gladys camera device: Gladys only gives an integration access to its own devices. It downloads the picture from the snapshot URL of the camera instead, at the moment of the notification. Examples:
- most IP cameras:
http://192.168.1.40/snapshot.jpg, or the URL given in their manual (Hikvisionhttp://192.168.1.40/ISAPI/Streaming/channels/101/picture, Reolinkhttp://192.168.1.40/cgi-bin/api.cgi?cmd=Snap&channel=0&user=…&password=…); - Frigate:
http://192.168.1.50:5000/api/front_door/latest.jpg; - go2rtc:
http://192.168.1.50:1984/api/frame.jpeg?src=front_door.
A user name and a password can be written in the URL (http://viewer:[email protected]/…):
the integration answers the camera's Basic or Digest challenge with them, and never writes them in
its logs. A scene is readable by every Gladys user: create a camera account limited to viewing
for this use.
The picture must be a JPEG, PNG, GIF or WebP of 4 MB at most, downloaded in 6 seconds at most. When the download fails, the notification is shown without the picture.
Scene examples
- Who is at the door: trigger "the doorbell button is pressed" → Show a notification on the TV with the title "Doorbell", the message "Someone is at the door", the doorbell icon, a 30 second display time and the snapshot URL of the entrance camera. The picture of the visitor appears over the film.
- TV or phone: same scene, followed by Continue only if "Notification shown" equals 0, then Send a message to your phone: when the TV is off, the phone takes over.
- Laundry done: trigger "the power of the washing machine plug falls below 5 W" → notification "The laundry is done" with the washing machine icon, only if the Reachable feature of the TV is yes.
- Bedtime: at 9 pm on school days → notification "Bedtime in 10 minutes!" in the center of the screen, in amber.
Troubleshooting
- "does not answer": the TV is off, in deep standby, or the app is not running. Open the app once on the TV; on some TVs, allow it to start in the background or disable the battery optimization for it. Check the IP address shown by the app.
- "refused the notification (HTTP 404 or 400)": another app answers on that port. Check the app chosen in Add or update a TV, and the port if you changed it in the app.
- Nothing on the screen but "shown": the app lacks the permission to display over other apps (see the ADB command above), or a full-screen app hides overlays.
- No picture: open the snapshot URL in a browser of a computer of the same network; check the user name and password, and the integration logs (one warning per failing URL, password hidden).
- The state stays unreachable while the TV is on: the Gladys machine and the TV must be on the same network, without client isolation (guest Wi-Fi often blocks it).
- More details: set
LOG_LEVEL=debugon the integration to see every check and every notification.
Limits
- Local network only: the integration talks to the app of the TV over HTTP on your network; no cloud, no account.
- No image of a Gladys camera device itself (see above): a snapshot URL is needed.
- The apps differ: no colors, transparency or center position with TvOverlay, no icon with PiPup.
- No reading of what the TV shows, no control of the TV: see our Android TV Remote and Android TV ADB integrations for that.
- Notifications are shown by the app over most content, but some protected or full-screen apps can hide them.
- Not tried yet on real TVs (see the note at the top): feedback welcome.
Configuration settings
These are the settings Notifications Android/Fire TV asks for in its configuration screen in Gladys.
| Setting | Type | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Your TVs | section | No | Install a notification app on each TV ("Notifications for Android TV" or "for Fire TV", PiPup, TvOverlay) and open it once: it shows the address of the TV. Then add the TV with "Add or update a TV" below and create its device in the Discover tab. |
| Language | select | No | Language of the feature names, of the action messages and of the test notification. |
| Check the TVs every | select | No | One connection to the notification app of each TV: nothing appears on the screen. |
| Unreachable after | select | No | Time without any answer before a TV is shown as unreachable. A TV on Wi-Fi sometimes misses one check. |
How to install Notifications Android/Fire TV in Gladys
- In Gladys, open Integrations: Notifications Android/Fire TV appears in the catalog, next to the native integrations, with a community badge.
- Click Install. Gladys pulls the Docker image (
ghcr.io/guim31/gladys-tv-notify:1.0.1), starts it in a sandbox isolated from the core, and generates the integration's interface (devices, discovery and configuration). - Open the Configuration screen of the integration, fill in the settings, and save.
- You can also install it directly from its repository URL: https://github.com/guim31/gladys-tv-notify.
Notifications Android/Fire TV requires Gladys >=5.2.0. The catalog inside Gladys refreshes every hour, so a new version becomes available at most one hour after its release.
Not running Gladys yet? It is free and open source: follow the installation guide to get started.
About external integrations
Notifications Android/Fire TV is an external integration: a community integration packaged as a Docker container and published on GitHub, that Gladys installs in one click and runs in a sandbox isolated from its core. It is published and maintained by guim31, not by the Gladys core team.
- Browse all integrations, native and community
- Build and publish your own external integration
- Source code on GitHub — source of this documentation