Bluetooth coverage on Home Assistant requires me to constantly manage devices and settings. Some devices don’t reliably report to Home Assistant, which often fails to trigger automations. I posted this to fix it ESP32 boards as Bluetooth proxies operate as a dedicated relay point. Honestly, I prefer to free them up for other experiences.
when I came across a GitHub project called Ava programConverting Android phones Bluetooth proxiescaught my attention. My old android phone works now Home assistant control paneland the app allows me to turn it into a proper smart home control panel. All this without writing a single line of code.
If you have an Android 7 or higher phone gathering dust, Ava is the most effective app you can install on it.
Your old phone deserves a second life
It packs a lot of features
Ava is a free app that can turn phones into all-in-one smart home panels. Created by a solo developer, it’s available for Android 7 and up on phones and tablets. This is a heavily modified fork from Brownard open source project of the same name.
The real kicker is that rooting is not required on an Android phone unless the app receives the necessary permissions. But try using it first Shizuku program for higher permissions.
The Ava program is primarily a voice assistant it turns your Android device into a voice satellite for Home Assistant. By default, it lets me control smart home devices with my voice, display album covers while playing music, and display weather information and clocks.
What I love about Ava is that Voice Satellite is just the beginning of its capabilities. It’s a relief that the app doesn’t require any add-ons or integrations, e.g AGAINST or MQTTTo work with Home Assistant.
This app is a fantastic way to create more Bluetooth proxies with Android phones as it doesn’t require ESP32 flashing or configuration. Just install it and enable the option to make it a relay point.
I can run the app on top of other apps like browsers and set it up to show the dashboard. The best part is that I can choose floating window options to appear on the screen, like a clock or an album cover. Or I can turn them off completely so that the Android phone works normally while the Ava app remains in the status bar.
Turn your phone into a Bluetooth proxy
Home Assistant selects it immediately
As I wanted to turn my old Android phone into a Bluetooth proxy, the app worked without any permission issues. In the app’s Settings, I enabled the Device Discovery switch to allow the app to discover nearby Bluetooth devices using the phone’s Bluetooth radio.
Home Assistant automatically detects your Android phone ESPHome a device that allows you to quickly configure.
The application uses the ESPHome protocol to implement its own Bluetooth Low Energy proxy. It turns your phone into a presence sensor, detecting nearby Bluetooth Low Energy devices and reporting them to Home Assistant. So I wanted to add my smartwatches and headphones to the list so that the app can tell Home Assistant about them.
However, my old Android phone showed several Bluetooth devices as unknown, and only a couple had a hostname. This forced me to cross-check each Bluetooth MAC address of the respective devices before adding them to Ava.
Fortunately, the software helped relieve several of my ESP32 boards from Bluetooth Proxy duties without messing with any software code or configuration.
Improve availability-based automations
After a few tries, Ava detected the parent names of several stationary smart devices, such as my smart TV and Govee table lamp. It is less useful for that presence detection in smartphones, smartwatches, fitness bands, wireless headphones, and more.
As for other devices that appear as “Unknown Device” in the list, I had to refer to the Bluetooth MAC address of the respective device. The Bluetooth devices I added to the Ava app automatically appeared as sensors in the ESPHome integration. After that, I set up an automation to run when Ava detects my smartwatch or headphones in a certain area and reports.
The fun part comes with Home Assistant, which allows me to control several functions of my old Android phone thanks to Ava. In addition, I can adjust the scan performance High Performance for Low Power to save phone battery life. Also, I can adjust the delay after which the app notifies me that my smartwatch or headphones are far away or no longer in the relevant area.
An old phone can earn its own money
Honestly, Ava won’t replace every ESP32 running as a Bluetooth proxy in your setup. However, your old Android phone could certainly be a better choice improving presence detection and Bluetooth coverage in your smart home. If you have an older Android phone, it might be a better tool now.
- OS
-
Windows, macOS, Linux
- Compatible with iOS
-
Yes
- Compatible with Android
-
Yes
