Notifications

TaskMate can notify parents when a chore requiring approval has been completed by a child.

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How It Works

When a child completes a chore that has Requires Approval turned on, TaskMate:

1. Always creates a persistent notification in Home Assistant — visible in the notification bell in the sidebar
2. Optionally calls a configured notify service to send a push notification to your phone or device

The notification message format is:

Malia completed 'Homework' (+5 Stars) and is waiting for your approval.

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Configuring Push Notifications

1. Go to Settings → Integrations → TaskMate → Configure → Settings
2. Scroll to Notification Service
3. Enter your HA notify service, e.g.:

   notify.mobile_app_johns_phone
   

4. Click Submit

Leave the field empty to use persistent notifications only.

Finding Your Notify Service

Go to Developer Tools → Services and search for notify — you'll see all available notify services. Common formats:

Service	Description
notify.mobile_app_your_phone	HA Companion app on a specific device
notify.notify	Default notify group
notify.family_phones	A notify group you've defined

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Persistent Notifications

Even without a notify service configured, TaskMate always creates a persistent notification in HA. These appear in:

• The notification bell (🔔) in the HA sidebar
• The Notifications section in Settings

Persistent notifications are automatically dismissed once you approve or reject the chore from the Parent Dashboard card or Approvals card.

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Using the Binary Sensor for Custom Notifications

For more control over notification logic — scheduling, conditions, message formatting — use binary_sensor.taskmate_has_pending_approvals in your own automations instead of the built-in notify setting.

See Automations for examples.

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Multiple Parents / Devices

The built-in notify service setting only supports one service. To notify multiple people:

Option 1 — Use a notify group:

# configuration.yaml
notify:
  - name: parents
    platform: group
    services:
      - service: mobile_app_johns_phone
      - service: mobile_app_lous_phone

Then set the notify service to notify.parents.

Option 2 — Use an automation:

Set up your own automation using binary_sensor.taskmate_has_pending_approvals and call multiple notify services yourself. See Automations for a template.