This section will help you get up and running with HSBuddy.
Installing HSBuddy
There are 2 components to HSBuddy that you need to install and configure separately:
- The mobile application that runs on your phone or tablet. You can get this application using the following links, depending on the kind of device that you are using:
- The server plugin that runs on your HomeSeer server. You can install the plugin using the Plugin Manager on your HS server website. The plugin can be found under the User Interfaces section:
Installing the plugin on your HomeSeer server is not required in order to use the app. However, some Features will not be available unless you have the plugin installed.
Plugin requirements
Please make sure your HomeSeer server meets the following requirements, based on its operating system.
For Windows:
You will need Windows 7 or later. If you are on Windows 7, make sure that the .NET Framework 4.5 is installed.
For Linux (x86/64):
You will need to install the mono-devel package, for example:
sudo apt-get install mono-devel
For Linux (Raspberry Pi):
You will need to install the mono-devel and libsqlite3-0 packages, for example:
sudo apt-get install mono-devel
sudo apt-get install libsqlite3-0
Connecting to your server
The first time you start HSBuddy it will require that you configure your server settings. The application supports two connection types: Direct and MyHomeSeer connections.
[Option 1] MyHomeSeer Connection
HomeSeer provides an proxy service to make your server accessible on the Internet. The service is called MyHomeSeer and is available to all HomeSeer clients.
On your HomeSeer server
To setup your server to connect to MyHomeSeer you must:
- Create an account at https://myhs.homeseer.com/
- Enable MyHomeSeer Remote Control in your server:
- Go to Tools > Setup > Network
- Choose to Enable remote access through MyHomeSeer service
On the HSBuddy app
Back in the Connection options, you will need to provide the user name and password of your MyHomeSeer account so that the application can connect on your behalf.
If you get authentication errors trying to access your server, you can try enabling the option Use alternate authentication from the Advanced section on the Settings tab.
[Option 2] Direct Connection
Connecting the HSBuddy app directly to your HomeSeer server requires that your server is accessible to the Internet. This process will be specific to your Internet Service Provider, the brand and model of your router, whether your server runs on Windows or Linux, and other details. Suffice to say, it is not a straightforward configuration, and definitely not recommended unless you know what you are doing. I’ve put together a quick guide to help orient you in case you decide to pursue this route: Direct Connection Setup
To setup a Direct Connection from the app, you need to provide the user name and password to your server as well as your server host, port, and whether to connect using HTTP or HTTPS. If you are connecting via a local network you may specify your server IP address in the host field.
If you are connecting using HTTPS and your server is using a self-signed certificate, you will need to enable the Accept invalid certificates option from the Advanced section on the Settings tab.
Using HSBuddy
Once you’ve been able to connect to your server, you will be able to access different features from the app. There are many different Features available. The following sections provide a very brief overview of what is available. You can access each of the following features by tapping on the menu (≡) button in the upper-left corner.
Dashboards
Dashboards allow you to build customized views of your HomeSeer devices, events, cameras and more. You can add, configure, drag and resize widgets of different kinds to create an experience that is unique to your home configuration.
Additional information is available in the Dashboards page of this site.
Devices
This section of the app lets you view and control the devices on your HomeSeer server. You can choose from 4 different views of devices:
- Favorites: Shows a single list of devices that have been marked as favorites
- All: Shows a single list with all devices available in your HomeSeer server
- By location: Shows a nested list of devices by location
- Search: Lets you find a device by typing on a search box part of its name or location
If you tap on a device, you will be taken to a section that shows more details about the device, such as related devices, history of changes, controls, etc. If you long-tap a device, you will get a pop-up window with quick controls.
Additional information is available in the Devices page on this site.
Events
This section of the app lets you view and run events that you have created on your HomeSeer server. There is a tab for Favorites which gives you quick access to events that you have selected as favorite.
If you tap on the green run button, HSBuddy will trigger the event on your HomeSeer service. If you tap anywhere else on an event item, you will be taken to a section that shows more details about the event, including when it was last run.
Additional information is available in the Events page on this site.
Cameras
This feature requires installing the HSBuddy plugin on your HomeSeer server
This section of the app lets you view images from cameras that you have configured on your HomeSeer server. You can view cameras that have been added to HomeSeer using its built-in camera support. You can also view cameras that have been configured using other plugins such as UltraNetCam3 and UltraSighthoundVideo3
If you tap on the image from one of the cameras you will be taken to a full-screen view that supports auto-refreshing every 1, 3 or 5 seconds.
Additional information is available in the Cameras page on this site.
Shortcuts
This section of the app lets you create shortcuts on your phone’s home screen to quickly access any section of the app with a single tap. There is also support for creating Siri shortcuts (if you have an iPhone or iPad). Finally, you also have the option to set what section of the app to open by default.
Additional information is available in the Shortcuts page on this site.
Server
This section of the app lets you set the Connection options that allow HSBuddy to talk to your HomeSeer server. It also has a section to access the Log of your server.
Additional information is available in the Server page on this site.
Feedback
This section of the app lets you submit bug reports in case you run into any issues while using HSBuddy. When entering a new bug report, please provide a detailed description of what you were doing at the time that the error occurred. This will be very helpful when investigating the root cause of the issue.
Additional information is available in the Feedback page on this site.