Getting Started
There are 2 parts to the View Assist Companion App solution, a Home Assistant custom integration (known as VACA integration) and an Android application (known as VACA app). The VACA integration is not the same thing as the View Assist integration and to use your device with View Assist, you will also need to install the View Assist integration. See the Troubleshooting section below if you have issues.
Important
If you have previously used other applications such as Hassmic, Stream Assist, Fully Kiosk etc on your device, it is advisable to remove these first to prevent potential conflict issues caused by apps competing for device resources ie the microphone, camera etc.
Important
Do not confuse this with the View Assist integration. If you do not install this VACA integration, you will not be able to use your device with the VACA app installed for View Assist or standalone.
Tip
It is recommended to install the integration first before installing the app on your devices.
Important
Ensuring the version of the app you are running on your devices and the version of the VACA integration are the same is important for a reliable experience.
The app is not currently available in the Play store but can be downloaded from the latest release in our Github repository by clicking the image below
Once you have the components installed, setup is fairly easy.
The first thing you should notice when you go to Settings -> Devices & Services to add your VACA device is that it has already discovered it for you.
Click add here and you will be taken to a setup Wizard with a few configuration steps. Once these steps are complete and you have logged your device into Home Assistant, your device is now setup and ready to be added to View Assist.
My device is not being discovered
Some network setups will block the mDns traffic needed to do this discovery. As long as your device is showing the 'Waiting connection' blue screen, you can just add your device manually.
From the same screen, click Add Integration, search for View Assist Companion App and select it. You will be prompted to enter the IP address and Port of your device. These are displayed on the 'Waiting connection' screen of your device. Enter these here and click submit. If these details are correct, you will be taken to the setup wizard, your device will play a welcome tune and the blue 'Waiting for connection' screen will change to the Home Assistant login page.
If you have correctly installed and setup this integration for the first time, you should expect your device to be displaying the Home Assistant login page. If it is displaying the 'Waiting for connection' screen, it is likley you have not correctly added the device to the VACA integration.
Once you have logged in to Home Assistant on your device, it will display your default Home Assistant dashboard. If you have already installed the View Assist integration, you can select the View Assist dashboard now and you will see the below. If you haven't already installed the View Assist integration, you can install it now.
Only when you have reached this stage, can you add your device to View Assist.
You have been too eager to play and not read the instructions or the above text carefully! I know it's exciting but, just like flat pack furniture, if you don't read the instructions properly, you will spend all day on it and still end up with a big pile of bits on the floor!
The VACA app needs the VACA integration to be installed in Home Assistant and your device added to it. This is not the same as the View Assist integration. Go back to the top of this page and try again.
I have added my device to the VACA integration, it is displaying the dashboard but still cannot select it to add to View Assist
View Assist (and Home Assistant too) uses a lot of javascript to create the user experience. It is common for people to repurpose old devices to use as their device for VACA (which is great and saves these going to landfill) but sometimes they have old software. A key component to VACA is the Android Webview component. Old versions of this component do not support the necessary javascript to make this work. We recommnd the latest version available for your device but this should be an absolute minimum of 87.xx.xx.xx and a recommended minimum of 110.xx.xx.xx. You can update your webview from the Google Play store or sites like APK Mirror.
VACA uses the configured local url in Home Assistant if available. Sometimes this is set wrong (often if you have SSL setup for HA). Go into Settings -> System -> Network and ensure that your local url is correctly set to how the app should reach your Home Assistant server.
Don't worry. We want you to enjoy using this app and integration and help is never far away. The best place to find like minded people willing to help you get going is on our Discord channel.