ZoxoHome Helper

Free, optional, for a computer that stays on

Your home hub (an Apple TV or HomePod) runs most ZoxoHome rules by itself, but it can’t wait between steps, send a notification or check the date. The ZoxoHome Helper adds those. It’s a small program for a Mac, Linux or Windows computer at home that stays on, and once it’s in the Home app your hub runs every rule even when ZoxoHome is closed. For your rules it never controls your lights or locks: your hub does.

Want to see it first? Try the helper’s page with a made-up home: its timers, alerts, devices and log, nothing to install. Its Home tab shows the whole Apple home, rooms, doors, locks and temperatures, once a coming ZoxoHome update sends it there.

Install on a Mac or Linux

Open Terminal and run:

curl -fsSL https://zoxohome.com/download/install.sh | sh

It asks for your password, installs the helper, starts it now and after every restart, and prints the address of the helper’s page with a one-time code. Open that page to get the QR code for Apple Home. Run the same line again to upgrade. On a Mac, allow it to accept incoming connections and find devices on your network when macOS asks. You can read the script first.

Helper version 1.0.359. Prefer an installer on a Mac? ZoxoHome-Helper-1.0.359.pkg does the same thing.

Add it to Apple Home

In the Home app, tap + › Add Accessory and scan the QR code.
Apple Home says the helper is uncertified (certification costs a fee every year). Tap Add Anyway.
Open ZoxoHome. Rules with a wait, a notification or a date range now run on the home hub. Save an older rule again to move it over.

Keep the computer awake. A laptop that sleeps will miss the end of a wait.

Bring more devices into Home

If you want, the helper can also put devices into Apple Home that Home can’t add by itself. Turn on its HomeKit bridge in the helper’s page (Settings), then open Add a device and pick the maker. For some you sign in with the maker’s account, the same email and password as the maker’s app:

Ring cameras and doorbells (live view, motion, rings and recordings), lights, the alarm and its sensors
Reolink cameras, set up straight from the box without the Reolink app
Moen Flo water shutoffs and leak detectors
Rain Bird sprinkler controllers with a LNK WiFi module, each zone as a valve
Levoit humidifiers (VeSync)
SimpliSafe 3 alarms, sensors and locks (new, not yet tried on a real system)
Philips Hue fades, and switches or outlets that are only for your automations

New, and not yet tried on real devices:

TVs and consoles: LG webOS, Samsung, Xbox, Denon and Marantz receivers, Logitech Harmony
Plugs, switches and lights: TP-Link Kasa, Shelly, Meross, Govee, and your own MQTT broker
Heating and cooling: Mitsubishi heat pumps (Kumo Cloud), Midea air conditioners, Google Nest thermostats, Dyson fans
Garage doors with a ratgdo board, Roborock vacuums, Sonos speakers, Broadlink IR remotes, Hatch sound machines
UniFi Protect cameras as motion sensors and doorbells, and Enphase solar production

The helper only does what Home asks: it never runs a device on a schedule of its own. Its page also scans your network and lists the devices you can add to Home directly, with no helper at all. Works with ZoxoHome has our picks, with and without the helper.

Windows

The Windows version is new and hasn’t been tried on a real home yet. Download windows-amd64 (most PCs) or windows-arm64, unzip zoxobit-server.exe into C:\Program Files\Zoxobit Helper, and run this in PowerShell as Administrator:

$exe  = "$env:ProgramFiles\Zoxobit Helper\zoxobit-server.exe"
$data = "$env:ProgramData\ZoxobitHelper"
& $exe -dir $data -pin -open
New-NetFirewallRule -DisplayName "Zoxobit Helper" -Direction Inbound -Program $exe -Protocol UDP -Action Allow -Profile Private
New-NetFirewallRule -DisplayName "Zoxobit Helper" -Direction Inbound -Program $exe -Protocol TCP -LocalPort 8750 -Action Allow -Profile Private
$set = New-ScheduledTaskSettingsSet -ExecutionTimeLimit 0 -RestartCount 999 -RestartInterval (New-TimeSpan -Minutes 1) -AllowStartIfOnBatteries -DontStopIfGoingOnBatteries
Register-ScheduledTask -TaskName "Zoxobit Helper" -Action (New-ScheduledTaskAction -Execute $exe -Argument "-dir $data") -Trigger (New-ScheduledTaskTrigger -AtStartup) -Settings $set -User SYSTEM -RunLevel Highest
Start-ScheduledTask -TaskName "Zoxobit Helper"

The third line shows the QR code. If Windows says the publisher is unknown, choose More info › Run anyway. Set your home network to Private.

Other downloads

The one-line install picks the right one of these for you. Each Linux file has the program and its systemd unit, if you’d rather set it up by hand: linux-amd64 (x86_64), linux-arm64 (aarch64), linux-arm (armv7l). Checksums: SHA256SUMS.txt, signed in SHA256SUMS.txt.sig. The helper’s Update button installs a new version only when that signature is ours.

The helper’s page

The helper has its own page at port 8750 of its computer, for example http://192.168.1.20:8750 from your phone. The first visit asks for the one-time code, then for a password. After that it shows the QR code, the rules the home hub is waiting on right now (with how long is left and a Cancel button), your timers, alerts and date ranges, and the log, and lets you change settings such as an ntfy topic for notifications. Keep it on your home network; don’t open port 8750 on your router.

Lost the code? Run zoxobit-server ui code on a Mac, or sudo zoxobit-server ui code -dir /var/lib/zoxobit-server on Linux. Forgot the password? Use ui reset the same way.

Remove it

First remove the ZoxoHome Helper bridge in the Home app (its settings › Remove Bridge), then:

Mac: launchctl bootout gui/$(id -u)/me.zoxobit.server; sudo rm /Library/LaunchAgents/me.zoxobit.server.plist /usr/local/bin/zoxobit-server; rm -rf ~/.zoxobit-server
Linux: sudo systemctl disable --now zoxobit-server; sudo rm /etc/systemd/system/zoxobit-server.service /usr/local/bin/zoxobit-server; sudo rm -rf /var/lib/private/zoxobit-server
Windows (PowerShell as Administrator): Unregister-ScheduledTask -TaskName "Zoxobit Helper" -Confirm:$false; Remove-NetFirewallRule -DisplayName "Zoxobit Helper", then delete the two folders.

Privacy

The helper has no account and sends nothing to us. It talks to devices on your home network, and contacts the internet only for an ntfy topic you give it, or for a device whose maker only works through its own servers (Ring, Moen Flo, VeSync, SimpliSafe, Hatch, Google Nest), with the account you sign in with. Mitsubishi Kumo Cloud, Meross and newer Enphase gateways need that sign-in once, to fetch the device’s keys. Its settings and pairings stay on its computer. See the privacy policy.

Questions: see Support or email support@zoxobit.com. The helper is free; if it’s useful to you, there’s a tip jar.