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Use the Home Assistant Companion app when you want your phone or tablet to contribute location, device sensors, or app-linked notifications to Home Assistant. Use a web browser when you only need to open and control the Home Assistant frontend. You can also use both: the app can provide device features while you open dashboards in whichever interface suits you.
What’s the difference?
A browser gives you access to the Home Assistant frontend. The Companion app also connects the mobile device to Home Assistant, exposing certain device features as integrations. The official documentation describes those app capabilities but does not provide a complete browser-versus-app feature matrix, so it does not establish that every dashboard task works identically in both.
When should you use the Companion app?
For presence and location-based automations
The app can create a device_tracker entity and send location updates to Home Assistant. Its location settings distinguish between exact location, zone-name-only reporting, and disabling location data. Zone-name-only reporting can support presence automations without sharing GPS coordinates.
For device sensors and operating-system integrations
The app can expose device information such as battery and network status. Available capabilities differ across Android, iOS, and macOS; check the official feature and sensor documentation for your platform and the specific data you need.
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For app-linked notifications
The Companion app’s notification platform works with registered devices and supports actionable notifications. A notification can open a relative Home Assistant URL or a full URL when tapped. See the notification documentation for setup and available actions.
When is a browser enough?
Browser access is a practical choice if your task is simply to reach the Home Assistant frontend and you do not need the device integrations described above. The official pages reviewed do not comprehensively document browser access against every app feature, so treat this as a task-based choice—not a guarantee of full feature parity. Home Assistant’s installation documentation covers ways to access an installation; the frontend experience can depend on how your instance is set up.
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What changes by device and permissions?
Android location access
For Android background location updates, the setup guide calls for “Allow all the time” location access and nearby-devices permission. Grant only the access that fits the automations you intend to use, and review the app’s location settings if you want zone-level presence rather than coordinates. The Android setup guide explains the requested permissions.
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Do not rely on iOS sensors updating continuously or instantly. The app documentation describes updates in limited situations, including location changes, foreground use, background updates scheduled by iOS, and manual or notification-triggered updates. Background timing is determined by iOS, not a fixed cross-platform refresh interval. See the sensor documentation.
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Android widget refreshes
As a platform-specific example, Android widgets update every 30 minutes by default while the screen is on. More frequent updates may require notification access and can affect battery life. That widget behavior is not a measure of general app-versus-browser speed or performance. Details are in the Android widgets documentation.
How should you decide?
| Your need | Practical choice |
|---|---|
| Location-based presence or device sensor data | Companion app, subject to platform support and permissions |
| Push or actionable notifications tied to a device | Companion app |
| Only opening and controlling the frontend | Browser access may be sufficient |
| Dashboards in one interface, plus device data or notifications | Use both where useful |
For a mixed setup, the app’s URL handling can open frontend deep links, while browser access remains available for dashboards. The URL handler documentation describes supported links.
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What should you know about location privacy?
According to Home Assistant’s location documentation, the app sends no location data when location permission is withheld or removed. You can choose exact coordinates, zone-name-only reporting, or no location data. The documentation says location data goes directly to configured Home Assistant instances or through Home Assistant Cloud, depending on the URLs configured, and is not sent via other servers or organizations.
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