What’s Happening In Your Home?

The Custom Notification feature inside the Sense apps for iOS and Android is a powerful tool for keeping an eye on your home. For each device that Sense has discovered or integrated with, you can to set notifications to monitor that device. Notifications about energy use bridge the gap between insights and actionable information, helping you become more aware of your home activity and make changes that can conserve energy and save money in the long run!

How can Custom Notifications help you?

We’ve been really impressed by all of the inventive and creative approaches our customers have come up with to to utilize custom notifications. Safety, energy conservation, security, and even heads-up parenting are just some of the reasons cited for how this feature has helped make things easier.

For example, you might set up a notification for when your stove is left on for over an hour, in case you forgot to shut it off. You could set another one to alert you when the heat turns on, just in case you've left the windows open during the day but things have cooled down again at night. No use heating the outdoors! If your TV has been detected using NDI or connected to a compatible smartplug, you could even monitor your kids’ TV time by setting a notification for when the television has been on for a certain amount of time. We've heard some great stories from our customers about using custom alerts to help alert them if their refrigerator or freezer hasn't turned on in a few hours, and even the same for aquarium heaters and pumps what are critical to the health of their pets!

Your connected smart devices can also be used in tandem with this feature. The more smart technology you have integrated with Sense, the more you can automate the actions inspired by the info you get from custom notifications. For instance, with our Philips Hue integration, you can set reminders for when lights have been left on too long, so you can get a heads up and shut them off right from the Sense app. You could even set up a notification if your Hue lights have been off for a couple of days, just in case the cat sitter forgot to stop by while you're away on vacation. Our integrations with smartplugs from Wemo and TP-Link make it easy to instantly monitor devices with Sense, so you can take advantage of these custom notification features with nearly any device in your home!

How to set a custom notification

Navigate to the Devices screen and select one of your detected devices. Next, tap on the gear icon in the top right corner to view the Device Settings page for that device. Now go to the Manage tab to reveal the different options for notifications.

The most basic notifications will allow you to receive a push notification when a device is turned on or off. Setting a custom notification allows you to select a window of time after which you will be notified that the device has been on or off. For example, you can be alerted when your curling iron has been on for more than an hour, if an aquarium heater has been off for more than fifteen minutes, or if your central heat has been off for multiple days in a row You can also set a combination of different notifications for one device.

If you’re looking for a way to manage the goings-on of your home on a more holistic level, check out the Goals feature to set notifications surrounding your total home energy use, always on, or solar production.

Have a great custom notifications story? If this feature has been helpful for you, or you’ve used it in a way we haven’t even thought of yet, please let us know! Join the forum and share your Sense story with whole community.