Homepod Mini: Temperature and Humidity sensors not available as entity

[twcau]

The problem

HomePod mini includes a temperature and humidity sensor, which are exposed to Apple’s home app.

However, HA’s Apple TV integration does not detect these sensors to make them available as an entity.

What version of Home Assistant Core has the issue?

core-2023.11.0

What was the last working version of Home Assistant Core?

No response

What type of installation are you running?

Home Assistant OS

Integration causing the issue

Apple TV

Link to integration documentation on our website

https://www.home-assistant.io/integrations/apple_tv

Diagnostics information

No response

Example YAML snippet

No response

Anything in the logs that might be useful for us?

No response

Additional information

No response

[home-assistant]

Hey there @postlund, mind taking a look at this issue as it has been labeled with an integration (apple_tv) you are listed as a code owner for? Thanks!

Code owner commands

Code owners of apple_tv can trigger bot actions by commenting:

• @home-assistant close Closes the issue.
• @home-assistant rename Awesome new title Renames the issue.
• @home-assistant reopen Reopen the issue.
• @home-assistant unassign apple_tv Removes the current integration label and assignees on the issue, add the integration domain after the command.

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apple_tv documentation
apple_tv source
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[postlund]

These are only available via HomeKit and will thus not be exposed via the Apple TV Integration as pyatv does not support HomeKit (and I don't plan to support it either).

[codyc1515]

To be able to add these to HomeKit, they would need to be unpaired first. Conceptually, this just does not make sense so I don't think that there would be any way for us to do that.

[FermedePommerieux]

To integrate HomePod Mini sensors into Home Assistant when direct integration isn't possible, you can use the following method:

1. Create an input_boolean that will be exposed to HomeKit:

   input_boolean:
     homekit_sensors_update:
       name: Collection of HomeKit sensors
       initial: off

   Include this input_boolean in the HomeKit configuration:

   homekit:
     - name: your House
       port: 56320
       filter:
         include_entities:
           - input_boolean.homekit_sensors_update

2. Create input_number for the sensors:

   These entities will store the sensor values.

   input_number:
     homepodmini_XXXXX_temperature:
       name: "HomePodMini XXXXX temperature"
       initial: 21
       min: 0
       max: 100
       unit_of_measurement: "°C"
     homepodmini_XXXXX_humidity:
       name: "HomePodMini XXXXX humidity"
       initial: 50
       min: 0
       max: 100
       unit_of_measurement: "%"

3. Create sensors in Home Assistant:

   These sensors will use the input_number to display data.

   sensor:
     - platform: template
       sensors:
         homepodmini_XXXXX_temperature:
           friendly_name: "Living Room"
           unit_of_measurement: '°C'
           value_template: "{{ states('input_number.homepodmini_XXXXX_temperature') }}"
           icon_template: mdi:thermometer
         homepodmini_XXXXX_humidity:
           friendly_name: "Living Room"
           unit_of_measurement: '%'
           value_template: "{{ states('input_number.homepodmini_XXXXX_humidity') }}"
           icon_template: mdi:water-percent

4. Create an automation in Home Assistant:

   This automation will update the input_number based on data received via a webhook and will activate the input_boolean to request an update to HomeKit.

    - id: update_homekit_sensors
    description: Process temperature and humidity from HomePod Mini
    trigger:
    - platform: webhook
      webhook_id: homekit_sensors
      allowed_methods:
      - POST
      local_only: true
      id: WebHook
    - platform: time_pattern
      minutes: /2
      id: time
    action:
    - choose:
      - conditions:
        - condition: trigger
          id:
          - WebHook
        sequence:
        - service: input_number.set_value
          data_template:
            entity_id: input_number.{{ trigger.json.sensor }}_temperature
            value: '{{ trigger.json.temperature }}'
        - service: input_number.set_value
          data_template:
            entity_id: input_number.{{ trigger.json.sensor }}_humidity
            value: '{{ trigger.json.humidity }}'
      - conditions:
        - condition: trigger
          id:
          - time
        sequence:
        - service: input_boolean.turn_on
          data: {}
          target:
            entity_id: input_boolean.homekit_sensors_update
        - delay:
            hours: 0
            minutes: 0
            seconds: 5
            milliseconds: 0
        - service: input_boolean.turn_off
          data: {}
          target:
            entity_id: input_boolean.homekit_sensors_update
    mode: parallel
    max: 10

5. Set up an automation in the HomeKit app:

   This automation will trigger when homekit_sensors_update is activated. It will obtain temperature and humidity values and send this data to Home Assistant via the URL http://homeassistant:8123/api/webhook/homekit_sensors using the POST method with a JSON containing the sensor data.

   Format of the JSON to send:

   {
     "sensor": "XXXXX",
     "temperature": temperature value,
     "humidity": humidity value
   }

This method allows you to bypass the limitations of direct integration of HomePod Mini sensors into Home Assistant by using HomeKit as an intermediary.

[jupurgepen]

Thanks @FermedePommerieux, this method works quite well!

However, the humidity value only gets correctly populated when I manually test the automation from the HomeKit app, otherwise it registers as 0.0%.

edit: I got it working, for some reason the Home automation was using the "Current state" variable instead of "current relative humidity". Weird that it worked when manually triggering...

[FermedePommerieux]

Ensure your HomeKit automation is correctly set to use the 'current relative humidity' attribute from your HomePod Mini's humidity sensor. Also, verify that the automation triggers as expected. I've successfully implemented this method with three HomePod Minis, so these checks should help resolve the issue.

[mensoh]

Hello! Thanks for the awesome tips, following the instructions in ran into a little issue that I'm surprised you didn't (or maybe I missed something?)

I could see the webhook incoming from Homekit in HASS but it is sending the data in the following format:

trigger:
  platform: webhook
  webhook_id: homekit_sensors
  json:
    sensor: homepodmini_bathroom
    temperature: 21,2°C
    humidity: '48'

I can see in the logbook:

Stopped because an error was encountered at 17 December 2023 at 00:28:01 (runtime: 0.01 seconds)

expected float for dictionary value @ data['value']

This is because the temperature field is not a float but 21,2°C coming from Homekit.

Fixed it by changing the automation line from:
value: "{{ trigger.json.temperature }}"
to:
value: "{{ trigger.json.temperature | replace('°C','') | replace(',', '.') }}"

and now it works like a charm.

Also, Homekit only worked for me using a hostname (e.g. http://hass.local/api/webhook/etc and not when using an IP address (http://10.0.0.1/api/webhook) in case anyone is running into this issue.

[mensoh]

🙈 Ok I'm an idiot, none of the above is necessary if you set the field in Homekit automation to Number instead of text, which wasn't clear to me.

[Seger85]

@FermedePommerieux, What great instructions and help. I haven't actually started yet, but I have already been able to follow all the steps. Tell me, I have 3 Homepods minis, do you have a template that I could use or would you create all 3 Homepods separately using the template? I'm asking because you mentioned that you have activated it for 3 Homepods and have certainly already played through all the pros and cons, whether it makes sense to pack everything into one automation (HA and IOs).

Best regards
Seger

[mensoh]

If you add:

"state_class" : "measurement"
"device_class" : "temperature"

or

"state_class" : "measurement"
"device_class" : "humidity"

to the JSON requests you can also track statistics on them instead of just history

[danishru]

If you add:

"state_class" : "measurement"
"device_class" : "temperature"

or

"state_class" : "measurement"
"device_class" : "humidity"

to the JSON requests you can also track statistics on them instead of just history

Please tell me where exactly I need to insert this? in homekit automation or somewhere in the sensor in home assistant?

[danishru]

I found a more correct way to add a history for the sensor.

Instead of the legacy sensor template, you need to use the new sensor template format https://www.home-assistant.io/integrations/template, where you can specify state and device classes.

Below is a piece of code from point 2, which I converted to a new format.
Other parts do not need to be changed, they are compatible with the new sensor template format.

template:
- sensor:
    - name: "homepodmini_XXXXX_temperature"
      unique_id: ff02eebc-b4a5-4761-906c-d4603c70266f
      unit_of_measurement: '°C'
      device_class: temperature
      state_class: measurement
      state: "{{states('input_number.homepodmini_XXXXX_temperature')}}"
    - name: "homepodmini_XXXXX_humidity"
      unique_id: a5e5cf60-7ac1-4147-85d6-fa5e4536c462
      unit_of_measurement: '%'
      device_class: humidity
      state_class: measurement
      state: "{{states('input_number.homepodmini_XXXXX_humidity')}}"

[wildpash]

@FermedePommerieux: Nice work, thank you!

I don't know why, but I had some problems with the automation stored under bullet point 4.
The formatting wasn't right for me at all. I recreated the automation and got the formatting that was right for me.

In case anyone else has these problems, here is the formatting of the automation:

- id: '1703980955663'
  alias: update_homekit_sensors
  description: Process temperature and humidity from HomePod Mini
  trigger:
  - platform: webhook
    allowed_methods:
    - POST
    local_only: true
    webhook_id: homekit_sensors
    id: WebHook
  - platform: time_pattern
    minutes: /2
    id: time
  action:
  - choose:
    - conditions:
      - condition: trigger
        id:
        - WebHook
      sequence:
      - service: input_number.set_value
        data_template:
          entity_id: input_number.{{ trigger.json.sensor }}_temperature
          value: '{{ trigger.json.temperature }}'
      - service: input_number.set_value
        data_template:
          entity_id: input_number.{{ trigger.json.sensor }}_humidity
          value: '{{ trigger.json.humidity }}'
    - conditions:
      - condition: trigger
        id:
        - time
      sequence:
      - service: input_boolean.turn_on
        data: {}
        target:
          entity_id: input_boolean.homekit_sensors_update
      - delay:
          hours: 0
          minutes: 0
          seconds: 5
          milliseconds: 0
      - service: input_boolean.turn_off
        data: {}
        target:
          entity_id: input_boolean.homekit_sensors_update
  mode: parallel
  max: 10

[FermedePommerieux]

Nice ! Would you like me to update my initial post ?