QuickBars for Home Assistant iconQuickBars

Release Notes

What's new in QuickBars - features, improvements, and fixes by version.

v1.2.4
2025-09-29
Get it on Google Play

Improvements

  • Improved Camera PiP performance - less stutter, lower resource usage, and more responsive behavior.
  • Improved QuickBar performance - faster state loading for entities and smoother behavior, including when Camera PiP and QuickBar are shown simultaneously.
  • Greater stability when showing Camera PiP or QuickBars over video streaming apps - resolves crashes seen on some older devices/Android versions.
  • Home Assistant quickbars.open event now toggles QuickBars: if a QuickBar is already open, the event will close it.
  • General performance and stability improvements.

Bug Fixes

  • Opening a second Camera PiP while one is already visible (in a different corner) now shows the correct stream.
  • Fixed a case where long-pressing to trigger an action (Camera PiP / entity) could cause the button's original action to fire on release.
  • On certain devices/apps (e.g., Netflix, Plex), pressing "Back" to close a QuickBar no longer also triggers "Back" in the background app.
  • Potentially fixed an issue (notably on some Android 11 devices) where triggering a QuickBar via a Home Assistant event did not work.
  • Potentially fixed unreliable DPAD_CENTER on some devices when the Accessibility Service is enabled (reported mostly on older Sony Bravia models).
  • Potentially fixed a case where, after closing a QuickBar with the in-app back button, some buttons (e.g., DPAD_DOWN) were unresponsive until pressing "Back" again.
v1.2.3
2025-09-18

Bug Fixes (hotfix)

  • Fixed a bug that prevent the PiP stream from loading on some devices.
  • Fixed a bug that prevented some users from setting up a camera_alias, or changing an entity's name.
v1.2.2
2025-09-15

Improvements

  • Performance and stability of QuickBar and PiP overlays have been improved. QuickBars should now also open slightly faster.
  • The Entity Importer is now more stable, preventing focus-related crashes while loading entities on some devices.
  • Improved app reliability during a "cold start," especially on slower hardware.
  • The Trigger Key failsafe (5-second hold) will no longer accidentally trigger an action when you release the button.
  • General improvements to the reliability and stability of the Trigger Key engine.
  • QuickBars will now automatically try port 443 as a fallback for HTTPS connections, improving compatibility with standard reverse proxy setups.
  • To prevent unusable remote configurations, the Center D-Pad button can no longer be assigned as a Trigger Key.

Bug Fixes

  • Fixed an issue where local DNS addresses (like homeassistant.local) would report a successful connection but fail to load entities.
  • Fixed a bug that could cause the app to crash in the background when showing a QuickBar or PiP overlay.
  • Fixed an issue where a QuickBar assigned to a long-press action would close immediately and incorrectly trigger the failsafe.
  • Fixed a rare crash on the initial connection screen when entering an invalid URL.
  • Fixed a crash that could occur when using a Trigger Key to launch an app that was not found on the system.
  • Addressed a bug where the Center D-Pad button could become unreliable while the Trigger Key engine was active. Note: If you experienced this, please let me know if this fix helped!
v1.2.1
2025-09-12

Bug Fixes

  • Fixed a rare crash where the Accessibility Service could stop when starting the QuickBar or PiP overlay.
  • Fixed a layout issue in vertical grid where the button inside Climate and Light cards got squished.
  • Lights: fixed detection and capabilities mapping. If a light still looks wrong, delete and re-import it. If issues persist, please contact me.
v1.2
2025-09-07

New Features

  • Media Player entities. With these control options (after expanding the card):
    • Play / Pause
    • Skip Next / Previous
    • Volume controls
    • Toggle on/off
  • Added a clear icon click animation on action buttons inside expanded QuickBar cards.
  • QuickBars close on same key that triggers them. After opening a QuickBar (single / double / long press), a single press on the same key will close it (BACK still closes it as well).
  • Trigger Keys - press behavior upgrades.
    • Long press fires without needing to lift your finger.
    • If no action is assigned for single / double / long press, and you attempt to trigger it - a toast will say: "No X-press action assigned".
  • New Trigger Key Actions. You can now control climate & fan entities (with state memory), and covers and locks directly from a Trigger Key.
  • Failsafe for custom Trigger Keys. Hold a trigger key for 5 seconds to enable/disable key remapping. Note: this only toggles the remaps, it does not disable the Accessibility service. It is used for cases where users record important keys such as Center DPAD and lose its functionality.
  • Added a "What's New" dialog that appears after each app update with the major changes.
  • Settings → Support Development now includes a "Review App on Play Store" button.

Improvements

  • Trigger Keys dialog shows an explicit warning to not record important / risky keys.
  • Light card now uses a single consistent 'on' color; the current light color (if available) is shown in a small circle instead of tinting the whole card.
  • Entity picker (Manage Entity → Click Actions → Single/Long Press → Control Entity) is clearer and no longer clips/glitches on some devices.
  • When triggering entities via a Trigger Key action, the toast now uses your entity's custom name (not the entity's ID).

Bug fixes

  • Scenes now trigger correctly inside a QuickBar with grid layout.
  • Fixed an issue where some users could not change the Camera Alias — it now opens a dedicated dialog.
  • Fixed a crash on Manage Entity when setting different actions for single vs. long press.
  • Fixed an issue where, with Background Connection enabled, some entity actions occasionally wouldn't trigger. (Please report if it still happens.)
  • Attempted fix for lights reporting 100% brightness as 254 showing as 0%. (Please report whether this helped.)
  • Fixed an issue where some users couldn't rename an entity in Manage Entity. (Please report if it still happens.)
  • During initial manual setup, http/https prefixes are now allowed in the base URL field.
v1.1
2025-08-25

New Features

  • Experimental — Background Connection. Optionally keeps a persistent WebSocket connection to your Home Assistant instance. When enabled you get:
    • Live state updates in the background (fans, climate states, etc.) without relying on the app's last known state.
    • Faster QuickBar loading (state is already known when you open it).
    • Home Assistant automations can trigger a QuickBar or open a Camera PIP. Learn how.

    Note: This feature is experimental. It may not work on all Android TV devices (some OEMs may restrict background activity) and could affect performance on some hardware. You can turn it off anytime in the app's settings.

  • Camera PIP. Add camera entities and control:
    • Screen position (any corner)
    • Size (3 presets)
    • Auto-hide timer (15s, 30s, 1m, 5m, never)
    • Show title on PIP
    • Camera Alias (to trigger from HA automations; requires Background Connection)
    • ONLY MJPEG camera streams are supported for now.

    Launch PIP from a QuickBar, a Trigger Key or from a Home Assistant event. Press again to hide.

    Limitations: one PIP stream at a time; only MJPEG camera stream are supported for now. Learn more

  • Experimental - Manual Backup & Restore. Create a single .json file with your QuickBars, Trigger Keys and saved entities(no HA URL or token). You can also try backing up on one device, and restoring on another to avoid setting up twice.

    Note: It's a new feature, and may not work correctly. Please report success/failure experiences. Learn more

  • New QuickBar options.
    • Show current time in the title row.
    • Trigger a QuickBar from a Home Assistant automation (requires Background Connection).
    • Auto-close the QuickBar after actions from selected domains (configurable).
  • Automation entities. New entity type:
    • Execute an automation's actions directly (bypasses its trigger), or
    • Enable/disable the automation and its triggers. Configurable in Entity Settings.

Improvements

  • Climate cards: unified 'on' background color (mode is shown via the icon, not background color).
  • Smoother light brightness/temperature/color controls and climate temperature adjustments.
  • Entity focus border on the QuickBar: clearer white border when focused.
  • Trigger Keys: warning shown to not record risky keys (power, D-pad, etc.).
  • Back press on the main screen now shows "Press Back again to exit" instead of exiting immediately.
  • App menus are more compact and easier to navigate; focused button borders are more visible.

Bug fixes

  • Right after importing a light with extra attributes, the controls now appear immediately on the QuickBar.
  • Fan entity cards no longer appear scrollable; visuals align with other entities.
  • Fixed an Android quirk that could show an extra menu when launching an app from the launcher. (Thanks to @tvdevv from tvQuickActions Pro!)
  • Long-press on a Trigger Key now executes without needing to release first.
  • Other minor bug fixes and performance improvements.

Not changed in this update, but still on my radar

  • Navigation keys get overridden on Nvidia Shield 2019, even without configuring anything that may cause it.
  • When configuring long press to expand an entity, it doesn't work as expected and may trigger an action on a different entity.
  • Some reports on not being able to change entity's name
  • Light entity cards' buttons for control may not be very visible with some background colors
  • Add support to "number" entities
  • Change it so that when a QuickBar is present, and clicking on the same Trigger key - it will do a different action rather than what happens now, which is restore initial key action.
  • Add support for different card sizes inside the QuickBar
v1.0
2025-08-15

Initial Release

  • Initial public release of QuickBars for Home Assistant.

Looking for setup help? See Using the App.