The Home Assistant 2026.9 beta ships a proper alerts system, one that separates a leaking dishwasher from a light bulb going offline. That’s a real fix, and it exposes the next problem: the alert only helps if it reaches the right person on the right screen. We tested seven Android apps that route Home Assistant notifications with intent, from the official companion to targeted push services and phone-side automation frameworks.
What to look for in a Home Assistant alert app
- Priority-aware delivery, so a smoke sensor overrides Do Not Disturb
- Silent channels for maintenance events you want logged but not shown
- Local-network delivery when possible, not a round trip through a third-party cloud
- Actionable notifications, tap to acknowledge, tap to arm, tap to cancel
- Retry and rate-limit controls, no message storms during outages
- A clean audit trail of what fired, when, and why
Quick comparison
| App | Best for | Free plan | Paid | Self-hosted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home Assistant Companion | Default routing | Full | none | Yes |
| ntfy | Simple pub-sub push | Full | Small tier | Yes |
| Pushover | Priority push | 7-day trial | ~$5 one-time per platform | No |
| Gotify | Local-only push | Full | none | Yes |
| IFTTT | Multi-service webhooks | 2 applets | Pro tier | No |
| Automate | Visual flow automations | Free with a block cap | Premium removes cap | On-device |
| Tasker | Deep phone control | 7-day trial | ~$3 one-time | On-device |
The apps
1. Home Assistant Companion, the one to install first
Home Assistant Companion is the official Android client. It exposes the phone as a device to your HA server (battery, location, connection type), and it accepts push notifications with actions, priority, TTS, and lock-screen replies. Paired with the new alerts entities in 2026.9, this is where most routing should end.
Where it falls short: All routing decisions still happen on the HA server. If HA is offline, nothing routes.
Pricing: Free, MIT-licensed.
Download: Google Play · F-Droid · Aptoide
Bottom line: Non-negotiable base layer for any HA notification stack.
2. ntfy, the cleanest pub-sub push service
ntfy is a topic-based push server you can self-host on a Raspberry Pi in ten minutes. HA sends to a topic, one or many devices subscribe. Priority, tags, and click actions all pass through. The public server works too, and the Android client is free and open source.
Where it falls short: No end-to-end encryption on public topics unless you self-host with TLS. No native scheduling.
Pricing: Free. Small paid tier for higher rate limits on the public server.
Download: Google Play · F-Droid · Aptoide
Bottom line: The best “push from anything to Android” service, self-hostable or not.
3. Pushover, best priority handling
Pushover was built around message priority. Emergency-priority messages bypass Do Not Disturb and repeat until acknowledged, which is what you actually want from a water-leak alert at 3 a.m. HA has a first-class notify integration for it.
Where it falls short: Per-platform one-time fee after the trial. No self-hosted option.
Pricing: Seven-day free trial, then a one-time fee per platform.
Download: Google Play · App Store · Aptoide
Bottom line: Pay once, get the most reliable emergency channel in the category.
4. Gotify, best fully local push
Gotify is a self-hosted push server that only talks to devices on your network (or via your own VPN). Zero cloud dependency, zero data leaving your walls. HA integrates via a REST notify service.
Where it falls short: No push over LTE without a VPN back home. UI is minimal.
Pricing: Free.
Download: Google Play · F-Droid · Aptoide
Bottom line: The privacy-first pick when your alerts never need to leave the LAN.
5. IFTTT, best for cross-service handoffs
IFTTT turns an HA webhook into a Slack message, an email, a Sonos announcement, or a smart-bulb pulse. It is not the fastest and it is not the most private, but it is the shortest path to reach a service that HA doesn’t natively support.
Where it falls short: Only two applets on the free tier. Delivery latency is measurable.
Pricing: Free tier is heavily capped. Pro tier removes the cap.
Download: Google Play · App Store · Aptoide
Bottom line: Useful as glue, not as the core notification path.
6. Automate, best visual routing on the phone
Automate builds phone-side flows out of blocks. A notification arrives, a flow decides whether to speak it, silence it, or forward it to a smart watch. Great for people who like flowcharts more than YAML.
Where it falls short: The free block cap hits quickly on complex flows.
Pricing: Free with a block cap. Premium removes the cap.
Download: Google Play · Aptoide
Bottom line: The friendliest way to add phone-side logic on top of HA.
7. Tasker, deepest phone control
Tasker intercepts notifications, reads their content, and reacts with anything the phone can do: TTS, screen wake, media control, an HTTP callback. The learning curve is real; the ceiling is high.
Where it falls short: Setup is fiddly. Documentation lives across YouTube channels and forums.
Pricing: Seven-day trial, then a small one-time purchase.
Download: Google Play · Aptoide
Bottom line: Best pick if the phone itself needs to make decisions, not just display them.
How to pick
Install Home Assistant Companion first. That covers 80% of the routing surface on its own once 2026.9 lands.
Add ntfy when you want a second channel that also reaches a laptop, a smart display, or a partner’s phone.
Add Pushover when you have real emergencies (water, smoke, freezer alarm) and need one channel that will not stop until you tap acknowledge.
Add Gotify when your threat model rules out any cloud hop.
Reach for Automate or Tasker only when the phone needs to react in ways HA can’t drive from the server.
FAQ
Does Home Assistant Companion work over LTE without a VPN? Yes, if your HA instance is exposed via Nabu Casa Cloud or a reverse proxy. Otherwise it only reaches the server on the local network.
Do I still need Pushover or ntfy if I already use the Companion app? For most alerts, no. Add them for redundancy, for family members who won’t install the full Companion, or for priority behaviours the Companion doesn’t offer.
What is the best priority notification service for Home Assistant? Pushover has the most mature priority behaviour, including retries that bypass Do Not Disturb. ntfy has caught up in most respects and is free.
Can I do all of this without any third-party server? Yes. Companion plus Gotify keeps every packet on your network or through your own VPN.
Is ntfy safe to use with the public server? Public topics are readable by anyone who knows the topic name. Use random names or self-host if the payload is sensitive.