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4 cool projects you can do with Home Assistant on Raspberry Pi

Engadget staff@engadget.com (Husain Parvez)

19 Sept 2026 23:00 AEST 1 min read Rewritten in plain language

Show what we removed Rules applied: A1×5 A2×2 A3×5 A4 D2×7 D3×26 D4×2 E3×41 F2×2 all 30 rules

Overview

From NFC movie cards to a washing machine that knows when it's done, Home Assistant gives a Pi plenty to do.
Home Assistant is a free, open-source smart home platform that can integrate devices and services from different manufacturers and use things like place, power usage, NFC tags or a device changing state to trigger automations.
Home Assistant OS officially supports the Raspberry Pi 4 and Pi 5, with a minimum of 2GB of RAM and a 32GB microSD card, and it is the recommended installation for most people who bring their own Pi.
In the simplest version, you can assign individual stickers or cards to albums, playlists, movies or other actions, and then scan one of them with the Home Assistant app on your phone.
The Companion app can tell Home Assistant if your phone is charging, so plugging your phone in at night can become the trigger for a bedtime routine.

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The software is free, and there is no subscription or feature paywall.

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The article, shortened and in plain language

From NFC movie cards to a washing machine that knows when it's done, Home Assistant gives a Pi plenty to do.

Home Assistant can start innocently enough.

Home Assistant is a free, open-source smart home platform that can integrate devices and services from different manufacturers and use things like place, power usage, NFC tags or a device changing state to trigger automations.

You don't need any of Home Assistant's hardware to get started, either. Home Assistant OS officially supports the Raspberry Pi 4 and Pi 5, with a minimum of 2GB of RAM and a 32GB microSD card, and it is the recommended installation for most people who bring their own Pi. The software is free, and there is no subscription or feature paywall, though optional services like Home Assistant Cloud cost extra.

In the simplest version, you can assign individual stickers or cards to albums, playlists, movies or other actions, and then scan one of them with the Home Assistant app on your phone. The automation can be set up through Home Assistant's visual editor, so this doesn't need diving straight into YAML.

Place a card on the reader and Home Assistant can respond instantly, without anyone picking up a phone.

Insert one and Home Assistant can use Plex to start the corresponding movie.

A phone charger typically has one job, but Home Assistant can give it another one.

The Companion app can tell Home Assistant if your phone is charging, so plugging your phone in at night can become the trigger for a bedtime routine.

Shortened to 1 minute of reading, this version reads 11 on the Niral Score.

You are reading our version, not theirs. This is Engadget's report shortened to its most important sentences, in plainer words, with verdicts and loaded words taken out. Plain description stays, and so do adjectives that carry a fact, such as "former" or "federal". The reporting, the facts and the quotations are theirs — quotations are never edited — and the indicators beside it measure this version. Hover or tap Adjectives to see every one left in the text.

Indicators

Niral Score 14.3was 18.4 mundaneloaded

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phone11trigger8need7automation6different6use6app5list5smart5you're5movie4part4appliance3cards3charger3concept3devices3machine3night3power3reader3shopping3washing3actions2already2another2automations2become2becomes2bedtime2card2charging2conditions2device2directly2done2enough2feel2few2free2fun2gear2get2going2house2idle2job2lights2location2lower2make2monitor2movies2notification2people2physical2plug2plugging2remembering2require2

Sentiment +0.1was 0.1 hostilefavourable Mood 64.5 sorrowjoyful

6 read zero: political diction, generational, gender, jingoistic, religious, sourcing

Political diction 0 left-codedright-coded Generational 0 harder on the oldharder on the young Gender 0 no gendered framingframing throughout Jingoistic 0 reports to a readerwrites from a camp Religious 0 not invokedovert Sourcing 0 unattributednamed sources

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Outlet	Niral Score	Adjectives	Sentiment	Happiness
Engadgetas they published this story	18.4	32	0.1	64.5
Mundane Readneutralized from Engadget	14.3	27	0.1	64.5

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