Is there a working privacy/security friendly “voice assistant” that can be configured in HA?
I don’t want to use home appliances from Amazon/Google/Apple etc.
I’d like to give voice command even through a hidden microphone or something like that. Anyone tried to do so?
You’re in luck! 2023 is Home Assistant’s “year of voice” in which lots of development is being focused on a functional voice assistant that is run locally. Some links to what is available and what is in the works:
https://www.home-assistant.io/voice_control/
https://www.home-assistant.io/voice_control/voice_remote_local_assistant/
https://www.home-assistant.io/voice_control/thirteen-usd-voice-remote/
It’s a lot of DIY still as there still isn’t much of a market for voice assistant hardware that isn’t already part of an existing platform (Google home, Alexa, Sonos, Siri, etc). There is much more out there but these should get you started.
This is fantastic news. I’m currently using HomeKit + Homebridge for all my smarthome stuff but I have HA Core running on a Proxmox host in the event I need/want to migrate. Apple continues to let me down year after year with their minimal Home updates but convincing my family to switch is a hurdle I’m not ready to tackle yet.