I've used Home Assistant for years to control my smart home devices and run automations. The software is packed with features, including the ability to send notifications to your phone. I have multiple automations that send me notifications about my smart home devices.

Home Assistant has reached a significant milestone of two million active installations worldwide, right as Home Assistant 2025.5 is starting to roll out. This is a major update that has a lot of improvements to make usage easier.

Smart home technology can often feel far from smart. You want to turn on the lights in your living room, but your light bulbs are from one brand, and your smart lamp is from another, so you have to open two different apps to turn on all the lights.

Smart home tech can be expensive. It might cost hundreds of dollars to replace your light bulbs with smart ones. However, some devices cost next to nothing but can make a huge difference to your smart home.