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Home Assistant’s Android Companion App has several home-screen widgets—not one all-purpose widget. Choose an action button to run a command, Entity State to check a value, Media Player for playback, Picture for an image snapshot, Template for custom text, or To-do for a configured list. They make frequently used controls and information easier to reach, but update timing and Android background-data settings affect how reliably they work.
Which Home Assistant widget should you use?
The widgets are part of the Home Assistant Companion App for Android. The official documentation describes them as a way to perform actions, display entity state, or render a template. [Home Assistant Companion Docs: Android Widgets]
| Your goal | Widget | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Run a script, scene, or other action | Action button | Triggers an action and reports whether it succeeded or failed. Authentication may be required. |
| Check a value at a glance | Entity State | Displays an entity’s state and, optionally, an attribute. You can adjust text sizing and separators; supported entities may toggle or refresh when tapped. |
| Operate audio playback | Media Player | Controls selected media-player entities. Options include seek, skip, source label, and volume controls. |
| See a camera or image | Picture | Displays the latest snapshot. The documented refresh is hourly or on tap, depending on the configured tap action. |
| Format or combine data | Template | Renders Home Assistant template text and supports basic HTML formatting. Rate limiting can delay updates. |
| View and complete list items | To-do | Displays items from a configured to-do list and provides completion checkboxes. |
Think of a widget as a focused shortcut or glanceable view, not a replacement for a full dashboard. For information that must be current at the moment you act, open Home Assistant and check the entity there rather than assuming a widget is an instant feed.
How to add a Home Assistant widget to your Android home screen
You need the Home Assistant Companion App and an existing Home Assistant server. The documented minimums are Android 6 or later for the app (Full or Minimal flavor) and Home Assistant server version 0.104.0 or later. [Home Assistant Companion Docs: Getting Started]
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- On the Android device where you want the widget, open your launcher’s widget picker. The exact gesture and menu names vary by launcher; commonly, you long-press an empty area of the home screen and choose Widgets.
- Find Home Assistant in the widget list, then choose the widget type and size that fit your use.
- Place it on the home screen. Follow the configuration prompts to select the entity, action, media player, list, or template relevant to that widget.
- For later changes, open Settings > Companion App > Manage Widgets. On Android 12, the documentation also describes editing an existing widget by long-pressing it and tapping the edit icon.
With Home Assistant 2025.12 or newer, compatible entity detail pages can offer an Add to flow for adding a widget. Start that flow on the Android device where the widget should appear; initiating it elsewhere will not place the widget on the intended device. [Home Assistant Companion Docs: Android Widgets]
Why is my Home Assistant widget not updating?
Check Android’s data restrictions first. Home Assistant widgets do not work with Data Saver enabled, and background data must be allowed for the app. The Home Assistant documentation gives this troubleshooting order for missing or stale widgets. [Home Assistant Companion Docs: Android Widgets]
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- Turn off Data Saver, or allow Home Assistant unrestricted data use if your Android version offers that option.
- In Android’s app data settings for Home Assistant, enable Background data.
- Check the widget’s own refresh behavior. The documented default update interval is every 30 minutes while the screen is on; this is not a promise of immediate updates.
- If you need real-time updates and use a recent Android version, enable Home Assistant notification access in Android’s notification settings. The documentation says the Real-time item can remain the only selected option. This can increase battery use, particularly if the source entity changes often.
- If the widget still fails, remove and recreate it, as the official documentation recommends.
Different widget types can have their own behavior on top of the default interval. For example, Picture documents hourly refresh or refresh on tap depending on its tap action, and Template updates can be delayed by rate limiting. A displayed value is therefore useful for convenience, but it should not be treated as guaranteed live status.
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Yes. An Action button can invoke an action, and supported Entity State widgets may toggle an entity when tapped. Media Player offers playback controls. Which controls are available depends on the widget type, its configuration, and the entity.
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Android also offers two related features that are not home-screen widgets. Choose based on where you want the control to live:
| Feature | Where it appears | Best suited to | Availability and setup |
|---|---|---|---|
| Home Assistant widgets | Android home screen | Glanceable state, a focused action, playback, an image, a template, or a to-do list | Uses the Companion App’s widget picker or its widget-management settings. Android 6+ and Home Assistant server 0.104.0+ are the documented minimums. |
| Android Device Controls | System surfaces such as Quick Settings, the notification drawer, or the power menu | Operating compatible Home Assistant entities from Android’s system control surface | For compatible Android 11+ devices; supported domains include lights, locks, switches, media players, climate, covers, fans, scripts, and scenes. The available surface depends on the device maker and OS version. Lock-screen behavior differs: controls can be added while locked on Android 11, not on Android 12, and Android 13+ has a setting for this. |
| Quick Settings tiles | Notification shade | Invoking selected actions or toggling supported domains from a tile | Available on Android 7.0+ according to Home Assistant’s documentation, with up to 40 configurable tiles. |
Device Controls and Quick Settings tiles are system-level routes; they do not turn a home-screen widget into a dashboard. Their exact placement and behavior can vary by Android version and device. [Home Assistant Companion Docs: Android Device Controls] [Home Assistant Companion Docs: Android Quick Settings]
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