When I first got into Home Assistant I thought the more automations I had, the better. Over time I realized there are only a handful I genuinely rely on every single day. If I had to start over from scratch, those are the first ones I’d recreate.
What’s the one automation you couldn’t imagine living without now?
When I first started using Home Assistant I didn’t pay much attention to helpers because they seemed pretty basic. After using them for a while I realized they can make automations much cleaner and easier to manage. Now I use them far more often than I expected.
Which helper has become surprisingly useful in your setup?
When I first started using Home Assistant
I was mostly focused on automations, but over time I realized some of the smaller features ended up being the ones I use every day. Things like history, dashboards, helpers or simple notifications turned out to be more useful than
I expected.
Looking back, what’s one feature you didn’t think much of at first but now use all the time?
I noticed some of the automations I use the most now are actually the really simple ones I almost didn’t bother setting up. Meanwhile some of the more complex stuff barely gets used anymore. Curious what ended up being unexpectedly useful in your setup.
I’ve been testing different NFC setups recently for things like Google reviews, WiFi sharing and social links.
One thing I noticed is that people seem much more likely to tap an NFC tag than scan a QR code, especially in restaurants or at checkout counters.
The interaction just feels faster and more natural.
Curious if others here noticed the same thing or tested similar setups?