I Started Using This Home Assistant Add-on To Help Me Sleep (And It Actually Worked)

I went through three sleep apps before I found one that stuck. The first was a phone-only tracker that worked for a week before I forgot to open it. The second was a wearable that died on my wrist during a run. The third was a Home Assistant add-on called Sleep as Android Integration that ties together a sleep tracker, smart lights, a smart thermostat, and a weekly report. After six months of daily use, the data is clear: average sleep onset dropped from 28 minutes to 11 minutes, and the morning grogginess is gone. This is what the add-on does, what it does not do, and the trade-offs.

What the add-on actually does

The add-on is a small piece of Home Assistant glue. It connects three things: Sleep as Android (an open-source sleep tracker for Android that uses the phone’s accelerometer to detect when you fall asleep and when you wake), the Philips Hue lights (which can dim, change color temperature, and trigger sunrise routines), and a smart thermostat. The integration creates automations that: dim the bedroom lights to 10% at 10:30pm, shift the light color to red, lower the bedroom temperature to 65F, and start ambient rain sounds. At the smart alarm time, the lights ramp from 0% to 30% over ten minutes, the temperature rises to 68F, and gentle music starts. The whole system is automated. I do not have to remember to do anything.

What I actually use it for day to day

Three workflows have become part of my routine. The bedtime sequence runs every night at 10:30pm. The lights dim, the color shifts, the thermostat drops, the rain starts. I have been doing this for six months. The routine is part of my wind-down now. The morning sequence runs at the smart alarm time (6:30am on weekdays, 7:30am on weekends). The lights ramp up over ten minutes, the temperature rises, gentle piano music starts. I wake up more naturally than with an alarm. The third workflow is the weekly report. Every Sunday, Home Assistant sends me a summary of the previous week: average sleep onset, average wake time, sleep quality trend, any anomalies. The data is honest. The decisions about whether to adjust the routine are mine.

Why Sleep as Android specifically

There are other sleep trackers. Most require a wearable. Sleep as Android uses the phone’s accelerometer, which means I do not have to charge or wear a separate device. The phone stays on the bed, and the app detects movement, breathing patterns, and micro-awakenings through the mattress. The accuracy is good enough for trend tracking. I have tried Oura, Whoop, and a Garmin watch. All three gave similar data. The phone-based approach wins on convenience: I do not have to remember to put anything on. The downside is that the phone must be on the bed. If I forget, the data is wrong. The fix is the phone stays in the bedroom, always. After six months, the habit is automatic.

What I learned about color temperature

I was skeptical that light color would matter. It does. The 10:30pm sequence shifts the lights to red, which is supposed to be less disruptive to melatonin production. I cannot prove it from my data alone (the confounders are too many), but the qualitative effect is clear: I fall asleep faster on nights when the routine completes. I also tried blue light. Blue light at 10:30pm made me more alert, not less. The interaction between light color and circadian rhythm is real even if I cannot measure it precisely. The right combination is dim, red, and consistent.

The temperature piece

I expected the lights to be the main factor. They are not. The temperature drop from 68F to 65F at bedtime has a larger effect on my sleep onset than the light color. The literature on this is mixed (some studies show no effect, others show a clear effect), but my data agrees with the studies that find a clear effect. The smart thermostat is a 20-minute project to set up. The benefit is real. If you have a smart thermostat and a sleep tracker, this is the first thing to automate.

What this does not solve

The add-on does not fix the underlying issue. I am a night owl by nature. The add-on makes the transition smoother. The transition is from “I am trying to force myself to be a morning person” to “my body is being told it is time to wind down and time to wake up, consistently.” The body learns. The mind follows. The change is real. The change is also small. If you have a serious sleep disorder (sleep apnea, chronic insomnia, restless leg syndrome), this is not the answer. A sleep specialist is the answer. The free tools are the right call for the routine case. Professional help is the right call for the medical case.

The honest trade-offs

Three things to know before you set this up. The first is that the Sleep as Android app is Android-only. If you have an iPhone, the equivalent is a different app with a different integration. The Home Assistant side is the same, but the sleep tracking data source is not. The second is that the sleep data depends on the phone being on the bed. If you forget, the data is wrong. The fix is the phone stays in the bedroom, every night. The third is that the smart alarm is not the same as a regular alarm. The smart alarm wakes you during light sleep within a 30-minute window before your target wake time. If you need to wake up at a specific minute (for a flight, for example), the smart alarm is not the tool. Use a regular alarm. The smart alarm is for everyday use, not for specific appointments. None of these are dealbreakers. All of them are real.

What the data actually shows

After six months, the data is unambiguous. My average sleep onset dropped from 28 minutes to 11 minutes. My average wake time on weekdays shifted from 7:15am (with a regular alarm) to 6:45am (with the smart alarm, no grogginess). My sleep quality score, which Sleep as Android calculates from motion data, went from 67 out of 100 to 81 out of 100. The change is real and measurable. The cause is the combination of the bedtime sequence, the morning sequence, and the weekly feedback loop. Any one of these alone would not be enough. Together they are the answer.

What to set up first if you only have a weekend

If you have a Saturday to spend, set up the system in this order. Here is the priority list for the first weekend:

• Saturday morning: install Home Assistant on a Raspberry Pi or use an existing install
• Saturday afternoon: install the Sleep as Android app on your phone, give it the permissions it needs, leave the phone on the bed overnight
• Saturday evening: install the Sleep as Android integration in Home Assistant
• Sunday morning: write the bedtime and morning automations (YAML examples in the Home Assistant docs)
• Sunday afternoon: write the weekly report automation

By Sunday night, the system is running. The first week’s data is the baseline. The second week’s data tells you whether the routine is working. Give it a month. The data does not lie.

What I would do differently

If I were starting over, I would do two things differently. The first is to start with the temperature change before adding the lights. The temperature has a larger effect than the lights, and the temperature change is a one-time setup. The lights require a smart bulb and a smart hub, which is more infrastructure. Start with the temperature. The second is to add the weekly report automation earlier. The weekly report is the feedback loop that makes the routine improve. Without it, you are flying blind. The setup is 20 minutes. The benefit is real. If you are going to do this, do it right.