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Install HKI 7

Requirements

  • Android 12 or newer (minSdk 31). On Android 12 the language picker in HKI 7's own settings is the only way to change language, because Android had no system-level per-app language screen before Android 13. Everything else behaves the same.
  • A Home Assistant instance you can reach from the phone — on the local network, at a remote URL, or through Home Assistant Cloud (Nabu Casa).
  • Google Play Services if you want geofence-based presence, Google Drive backups, or in-app updates. The app runs without them; those specific features do not.

Family sharing has one extra requirement — the HKI 7 Cloud integration on your Home Assistant. See Family sharing.

Where to get it

HKI 7 is published on Google Play as HKI 7 (com.jimz011apps.hki7). Installing from Play is what makes in-app updates work, including the family "please update" prompt described in Family sharing.

The community source is on GitHub under MPL-2.0. Open the project in a recent Android Studio and run the app configuration, or from a terminal:

./gradlew assembleDebug

The debug APK lands in app/build/outputs/apk/debug/. See Contributing for the full development setup.

Sideloaded builds and updates

A copy that did not come from the Play Store cannot use Play's in-app update flow. If your family admin requires a minimum version, you will get an explanation and a way past the prompt for that session rather than a working update button.

Try it without a server

You do not need a Home Assistant instance to look around. On the welcome screen, choose Try the demo home — no server needed.

The demo runs entirely on the device against an in-memory sample house. Everything else in the app behaves normally: dashboards auto-generate, states update in real time, and service calls appear to work. Nothing is sent anywhere, because there is nowhere to send it.

To leave the demo, open Settings › Connection and add a real Home Assistant instance.

What happens on first launch

HKI 7 stores nothing about you before you tell it something. On first launch it:

  • Reads no location, contacts, or accounts.
  • Asks for no permissions until the permissions step, which you can skip entirely.
  • Creates no server registration until you have signed in and named the device.

The details of what the app collects and where it goes are in the Privacy policy.