[OBSOLETE] Super Notifier - All your alerts in one place!

Combines ‘Left it Open’ with ‘Notify Me When’ in a convenient parent-child smart app (decluttering your smartapp list), plus includes:

  • Custom frequency of notifications
  • Notification Restriction Options for certain Modes, Times of day, Days of week, Sunrise/sunset
  • Periodic Notifications - Recurring notifications after the initial one, based on either a separate custom time period, or at sunrise/sunset, or when mode changes
  • Adds something left on (or off), something left closed (or open), lock left unlocked (or locked), and temperature still too hot (or cold)
  • Can handle when something is left open/closed/on/off/locked/unlocked/too hot/too cold while in a mode or time period that wouldn’t generate a notification, but remember it and notify you when the mode/time changes to a one that does (e.g. something left open while home, but then you leave, it’ll still notify when the modes changes to away)

This is similar to what SHM can do, but includes some features that SHM lacks. The parent-child app setup lets you make as many specific, custom alerts as you want without cluttering up your smartapp list (just like Smart Lighting does).

You can set custom time and other thresholds for each device, or lump them all into one app if you want. It works great for when one of your devices would otherwise notify you of it’s new state, but you don’t care because your home. Once you leave, it still knows you’d like to be notified. (or however you want that set up).

Examples for use:

  • Away alerts (all motion/contact sensors alert when away for home security)
  • Night alerts (all exterior sensors alert at night for security)
  • Guest still on alert (virtual guest switch/presence used when guests/babysitter/etc at home and don’t want automations, this can alert your when the mode changes or every sunset that it’s still on so you can turn it off again)
  • Freezer still open (so you know to close it)
  • Garage door still open
  • Back door still open
  • Bathroom motion at night (so you know your toddler/elderly parent may need help in the middle of the night)
  • Freezer too hot
  • Garage too cold
  • Whatever you can think up!

How to Install

  1. In the SmartThings API, create a new Smartapp. Either do it by code and copy the code from the links below, or add my Github repository to your Github Integration settings:
    Owner: flyjmz
    Name: jmzSmartThings
    Branch: master

  2. You need to add all three apps as separate smartapps in the API: the parent “Super Notifier” and each child app, “Super Notifier-Instant Alert” and “Super Notifier-Delayed Alert.” But I recommend only publishing the Parent App (publishing will put it in the list of “My Apps” when you’re on your phone, and you only need to ‘install’ the parent app on the phone, the child apps just need to be available within the API).

  3. One you’ve added them to the API, open the SmartThings app on your phone, add an automation, and you’ll find the “Blue Iris Fusion” app under the “My Apps” category. Only install the “Super Notifier” app, do not install the “Super Notifier - Instant Alert” or “Super Notifier - Delayed Alert” apps.

  4. Then follow the directions on screen.

Updates

5 Mar 2018 - Bug fix to preferences (one field didn’t have a title)

21 Feb 2018 - Bug fix to timestamps.

1 Feb 2018 - Added timestamp to messages, option to turn on debugging, and app update notifications.

mid Oct 2017 - Added ability to monitor door lock/unlock status changes for alerts.

5 Oct 2017 - Added ability to monitor and receive alerts for temperature sensors either too hot or too cold. Both the instant alert and the delayed alert apps have been updated. Just update via the Github repository and you’ll see it as an option now on your phone. Instant alert example - Freezer too hot! or Basement too Cold! Delayed alert would be similar, Basement is still too cold!

2 Sep 2017 - Added ability to snooze periodic alerts. You can use a virtual switch device to temporarily turn off the periodic alerts in situations where the alerts become bothersome and you can’t fix whatever it’s alerting for. This way you don’t have to edit the smartapp to turn them off, you can just hit a switch on your phone (or real one). For example, being away on vacation and some sensor fails. Instead of getting notifications the whole time or changing your smartapp settings and having to change them back, you can just snooze those alerts. It’ll still send the first message, e.g. “[door] is still open,” and the “it’s ok” message in case anything else configured to the same snooze switch is triggered. There is a “virtual switch” device type handler in my Github repository.

23 October 2016 - Updated Delayed Alert in Github. There was an error in the code. If you had periodic notifications for mode changes or sunrise/sunset but didn’t also have them for a period of time, it may not have alerted you. Corrected now. Reminder- be sure to open and close the smartapp after publishing the change in the IDE to ensure the changes take effect.


Thank You! I have no expectations here, and no guarantees this app work perfectly, but brew money helps keep me going and is appreciated!)

25 Likes

Two questions.

  1. Can i uninstall notify me when and replace with this?

  2. I installed this but when i trigger a switch I am not getting any push notifications

  3. Will th ealert automatically pick up the name of the device and the state? This is a short-coming of Notify me when, having to manually add a name er device.

  1. yup! That’s what I did. Replaces “Notify Me” and “Left it open”

  2. I’m assuming you receive notificaitons from other smartthings apps, so ensure you setup push notificaitons within each alert child app (you have to set it up for each one because some users have alerts that don’t need to be sent to everyone on their hub). Also, if you have the app open and your phone on when you trigger the switch, it’ll only be a little banner at the top and then disappear, so watch for that or close out of the app when testing the switch. Do you have it set to alert for switch on or switch off?

  3. You do not have to type a specific message unless you want to. It will default to whatever the device name is that you have selected to receive the alerts, and whatever status you told it to alert you with (e.g. “Example Switch is On” or “Test Door is still Open”)

1 Like

I think it would be cool to append a name to the alert instead of replace the alert name. So if front door sensor opens instead of it just being the name I can add additional text to the alert.

You can. The “Message Text” field in setup lets you make the push
notification say whatever you want. I’m not sure if I understand what you
want, can you give an example of what you’d want the notification to say
when the front door opened? Without addind a custom message, the app will
say, “Front Door is open.”

So instead of Front Door is Open - Front Door is Open - Front Door Zwave Sensor (the device).

I might have a motion sensor and a door sensor but just saying the Front Door is open doesn’t tell me at a glance which went off, of that makes sense.

So you can solve that a couple of ways. First, you could just name the devices so you know by device name (I have “Front Door” which is a contact sensor, you could have “Front Door Motion” for you motion sensor. Your alerts would then be either “Front Door is Open” or “Front Door Motion is active”). You also know since the contact can only be open/closed while a motion sensor is either active or not.

Or, if you don’t change the device names, just have separate child iterations of alerts, and set them up with different custom messages. That’s a large reason for my creating a parent/child app.

1 Like

I like your app… very nice for a stand alone alert/notifier. I like the child app approach as well. I was looking to do something like this while I was developing my app… but built in a smaller version. Good Job.

Is there a way to add to your app the ability to prevent notifications if a presence such as a present sensor or life 360 to text someone in the house?

You can via modes. E.g. I have most of my notifications only push when I’m in Away mode. When I’m in home mode then they don’t.

Yes true, but the issue is that when I am away I want some to fire and others to not.

I guess i will break my super notification child into a few different ones. It was just more straightforward to have one all encompassing child.

Hello :slight_smile: Can someone please explain how to install this from github? I’m a newbie and having trouble.
Thank you. :slight_smile:

Yup, that’s why it’s a parent/child app set up. I had probably 11 iterations of Left it Open and Notify me when. Made me start down the road for this app. So I’d expect to have a good handful of child apps.

1 Like

Yup! Use Github integration in the Smartthings API:

Then in the app on your phone, go to add a smartapp, and it will show up in “my apps.” Install the parent app and set it up! (you don’t need to install the child app separately on your phone, the parent app will just connect to it directly in setup).

What are your github repository settings? :slight_smile:

Owner: flyjmz
Name: jmzSmartThings
Branch: master

1 Like

Awesome. Thank you :slight_smile:

Is there a way that the delayed alert can check during certain hours? For example I would like to know if the light is left on during the day so that would be between sunrise and sunset. The lights should go on after sunset so I don’t need the alerts telling me babe and left on during the time that they’re supposed to be on.

Yup, it’s under the more options part of the settings. You can set custom
times or use sunrise/sunset. In this case, when the light is left on it’ll
check if it’s nighttime and not alert, and if it’s left on during the day
it’d alert. It also monitors the time, so if they came on at night it
wouldn’t alert, but if they were still on after sunrise t would start
alerting.

1 Like

Hmmm I just added this via github integration in smartthings, and I can see the App, but as soon as I click on Add Instant Alert I just get an error :frowning:

I then removed from smartthings and added it manually by copying your code, and still get the same error :frowning: I see nothing come up in the live logging either.

Just curious if anyone else has had this issue when trying to get this app installed.

Ken~