Controlling your smart home from the couch can be clunky, often requiring you to pull out your phone for simple tasks. QuickBars is a native Android TV application built from the ground up to solve this problem. It provides an elegant and intuitive overlay system, allowing users to control their Home Assistant devices instantly, without ever leaving their current app or disrupting their viewing experience.
QuickBars is now open source! Check out the official repo
For complete setup guides, advanced feature documentation, tutorials, and more, please visit the official QuickBars website.
This project went from a personal passion to a validated, successful product in the smart home community.
- 6,000+ Active Installs
- 500+ Paying Customers via In-App Purchases
- 4.9+ Star Rating on the Google Play Store
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| 📺 Custom Overlays | Design and deploy beautiful, responsive QuickBars that can be opened over any app, giving you instant access to your most-used devices. |
| 🎮 Remote Key-Mapping | Go beyond the overlay. Map any button on your remote to trigger Home Assistant actions for true one-click control. |
| 🔔 TV Notifications | Send rich, actionable notifications directly to your Android TV. Include title, message, icon, and even custom action buttons — using a simple Home Assistant blueprint. |
| 🎥 Camera PiP Streams | Instantly show live camera feeds on-screen in a floating Picture-in-Picture window. Choose between an existing camera entity (MJPEG) or an RTSP/HTTP URL, with automatic size modes, stop controls, and multi-camera support — fully configurable via a blueprint. |
| ⚡ Instant & Local | Built for performance with a local-first communication approach, ensuring your commands are fast and reliable. |
| 🔒 Secure by Design | Leverages hardware-backed credentials and modern security practices to keep your smart home connection safe. |
| 🎨 Highly Customizable | From icons to colors to layout, QuickBars is designed to be personalized to match any user's setup and aesthetic. |
This application was built using a modern, scalable, and maintainable tech stack, focusing on performance and a high-quality user experience.
- Platform: Android TV
- Language: Kotlin
- UI Toolkit: Jetpack Compose
- Architecture: MVVM (Model-View-ViewModel)
- Asynchronous: Kotlin Coroutines
- Security: Android Keystore System
The inspiration for QuickBars came from a very personal place. My dad has difficulty seeing things up close, which made using a phone to control our smart home a challenge. I wanted him to experience the power of Home Assistant, so I set out to build a solution that was big, clear, and intuitive enough for him to use from the couch.
What I quickly discovered is a classic principle of good design: by solving for that specific accessibility need, I had created a faster, more convenient, and more seamless experience for all users, including myself. This project became a passion-fueled endeavor to build a product that is not only powerful, but truly accessible and enjoyable for everyone in the shared TV experience.
QuickBars is available now on the Google Play Store.
This showcase was created by Omri Peretz (Trooped). Connect with me on LinkedIn or view my portfolio at omriperetz.dev.