Getting alerts while sleeping... looking for ideas

105437

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I'd like to hear from some of you who may have found a way to receive alerts from Blue Iris overnight while sleeping.

Now that I have AI working with Deepstack, I would like to send notifications to my iPhone and Apple Watch while sleeping if a person is detected outside my home. The reason I'm asking this question is because, I would like to leave the Do Not Disturb feature active, but still get notifications only from Blue Iris.

Just looking for ideas to try and I have also emailed Ken and asked if he wouldn't mind checking into getting Blue Iris approved to send "Critical Updates". If Blue Iris can be approved, then I could set Blue Iris to override the Do Not Disturb feature.

Thanks!
 

105437

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Blue Iris has the capability to send text messages with .jpg snapshots during triggered alerts on a camera by camera basis.
If you want extreme notifications at 3am in the middle of the night... look up the 5442 in birdhouse forum posting.
Thanks @Holbs, I'll check it out!
 

aesterling

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I'd like to hear from some of you who may have found a way to receive alerts from Blue Iris overnight while sleeping.

Now that I have AI working with Deepstack, I would like to send notifications to my iPhone and Apple Watch while sleeping if a person is detected outside my home. The reason I'm asking this question is because, I would like to leave the Do Not Disturb feature active, but still get notifications only from Blue Iris.

Just looking for ideas to try and I have also emailed Ken and asked if he wouldn't mind checking into getting Blue Iris approved to send "Critical Updates". If Blue Iris can be approved, then I could set Blue Iris to override the Do Not Disturb feature.

Thanks!
@105437, I totally agree. I'd love support for critical alerts added to the BI iOS app. I've requested it a number of times and will do so again. :)
 

mikeynags

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What about using "Favorites" with DND? Would that get you past the alerts? I thought if you had a favorite contact in iOS, it would be able to bypass DND. It's been a while since I looked into that.
 

brianegge

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I don’t know how difficult it is for you to integrate with Alexa or Google. I have my setup to announce vehicles any time and people when my security system is armed.
 

aesterling

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What about using "Favorites" with DND? Would that get you past the alerts? I thought if you had a favorite contact in iOS, it would be able to bypass DND. It's been a while since I looked into that.
That’s a good suggestion, though I think the “favorites” exception only allows phone calls through and not texts.
 

105437

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I tried adding the email address that is sending me the text message for the Alert to my favorites last night. Once do not disturb was enabled, I would not receive a notification.
 

aesterling

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I tried adding the email address that is sending me the text message for the Alert to my favorites last night. Once do not disturb was enabled, I would not receive a notification.
Not sure if you're interested in 3rd party solutions, but I've been using Pushover to test this. Their iOS app supports Critical Alerts and they generate a unique email address for you to which you can send your BI alerts. I think I paid a one-time $5 for the iOS app and the rest is free.
 

105437

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Did some testing today. Set my iPhone to DND and I didn't get any Pushover notifications on my iPhone or Apple Watch. I have Pushover set to create "Critical Alerts" but it's not overriding DND. This would be so much easier if the BI app would push "Critical Alerts".
 

aesterling

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Did some testing today. Set my iPhone to DND and I didn't get any Pushover notifications on my iPhone or Apple Watch. I have Pushover set to create "Critical Alerts" but it's not overriding DND. This would be so much easier if the BI app would push "Critical Alerts".
Did the Pushover app prompt you to allow "Critical Alerts" permission? Here's a screenshot of my settings from the Pushover website. I think the Priority setting is important.

Screen Shot 2021-02-18 at 04.56.45 PM.png

For what it's worth, I did recently email BI support requesting Critical Alerts again. So the more people who request it the better.
 

105437

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Did the Pushover app prompt you to allow "Critical Alerts" permission? Here's a screenshot of my settings from the Pushover website. I think the Priority setting is important.

View attachment 82915

For what it's worth, I did recently email BI support requesting Critical Alerts again. So the more people who request it the better.
Thanks for the reply, my settings look different.
Screen Shot 2021-02-18 at 6.03.02 PM.png
 

aesterling

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Thanks for the reply, my settings look different.
View attachment 82917
Further down on that webpage there's a "Your E-mail Aliases" section where you can click, "Create an E-mail Alias." That next page should look like my screenshot.

To be clear, I've been testing with their email service (where BI sends the alert to Pushover as an email, then Pushover sends the notification) but I think you might have better/faster results if you use Pushover's API with AI Tool.
 

105437

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Further down on that webpage there's a "Your E-mail Aliases" section where you can click, "Create an E-mail Alias." That next page should look like my screenshot.

To be clear, I've been testing with their email service (where BI sends the alert to Pushover as an email, then Pushover sends the notification) but I think you might have better/faster results if you use Pushover's API with AI Tool.
Appreciate it. I’ll check on that later tonight. I agree, sending direct from AI Tool is what I prefer. Just need to get these alerts to come through to my iPhone or Apple Watch while I sleep.
 

105437

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UPDATE:
Sending emails from BI to the Pushover email alias works. The notification comes through with my iPhone set to Do Not Disturb. It also comes to my Apple Watch which is great. The obvious weak link is if my email provider is down and BI can't send the email. I really wished the API would work like the email alias does.
 

105437

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Great news, I spoke to Ken earlier today and he said that he had received approval from Apple for "Critical Events" for the iOS app. He said all that's left, is for him to get it implemented. This will be a great feature addition for sure!
 

aesterling

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Awesome, looking forward to it! Glad you got a response from Ken about it because I never did on any of my "Critical Alerts" email requests.

I assume it'll be added as new option on the BI Alerts > Configure Push Notification page? I'm curious if it'll simply be a checkbox to send as a Critical Alert, or if there'll be more granular options. For instance, I'd only want Critical Alerts at certain times, from certain cameras, and only for certain objects. Hopefully the combination of AI Tool preferences and BI profiles/schedules allows for enough control.
 
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