Beta Testing Program

[hiall-fyi]

Alright, here we go. I've put together a beta build and a plan for how this is going to work. If you're in, read on.

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Beta Tester Guide

Installation

1. Download the latest beta build (I'll share the link below)
2. Copy the custom_components/yale_smart_alarm_ce/ folder to your HA /config/custom_components/ directory
3. Restart Home Assistant
4. Go to Settings → Devices & Services → Add Integration
5. Search for "yale" and select Yale Smart Alarm CE
6. Enter your credentials and complete MFA verification

Enable debug logging

Add this to your configuration.yaml and restart:

logger:
  default: info
  logs:
    custom_components.yale_smart_alarm_ce: debug

Leave this on for the entire beta period. It doesn't generate much noise, and it saves us a round trip when something needs investigating.

How to report an issue

Open a new issue on the repo with:

1. What happened — what you did, what you expected, what actually happened
2. Diagnostics download — go to Settings → Devices & Services → Yale Smart Alarm CE → ⋮ → Download diagnostics and attach the JSON file. This contains your full device data with sensitive info automatically stripped out (emails, passwords, tokens, device names, serial numbers, etc. are all redacted). It's the single most useful thing you can provide.
3. Relevant logs — go to Settings → System → Logs, filter by yale_smart_alarm_ce, and copy anything relevant. Include full tracebacks.
4. Your device list — what Yale devices you have, especially any from the untested list

Privacy note

Diagnostics downloads are safe to share — sensitive data is automatically redacted before the file is generated.

Logs are NOT automatically redacted. They may contain device IDs and device names (e.g. "Front Door", "Kitchen Sensor"). If your device names contain anything personal — like your address or real names — give your logs a quick scan before sharing and redact anything you're not comfortable with.

Important

This is pre-release software that controls security devices — locks, alarms, sensors. I've put a lot of care into making it reliable, but no software is bug-free.

• Don't rely on it for critical security — keep using the Yale Home app as your primary control
• Check your locks manually after testing lock/unlock commands for the first time
• Report anything weird — even if it seems minor

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Test Plan

The beta runs for at least two weeks, likely longer depending on what we find. I'm expecting 3–4 beta releases minimum during this period, possibly more. When a new beta drops, please upgrade as soon as you can so we're all testing the same build.

Week 1 — Setup & daily use

Day 1–2: Installation & discovery

• Install the integration and complete MFA setup
• Confirm all your devices appear in Settings → Devices & Services
• Check each device has the expected entities (sensors, switches, controls)
• Note any devices that are missing or show unexpected types

Day 3–7: Core functionality

• Arm home / arm away / disarm from the HA dashboard — does the state update?
• Open/close a door or window — does the contact sensor respond?
• Walk past a motion sensor — does it trigger?
• Check battery levels — do they look reasonable?
• Check online/offline status — are all devices showing as online?
• If you have locks: lock/unlock from HA — does it work? Check manually the first time.
• If you have sirens: change the volume setting — does it stick?
• If you have smoke sensors: what state do they show normally?
• If you have outdoor devices: do they behave the same as indoor equivalents?
• Leave it running for a few days — any entities going unavailable unexpectedly?

Week 2+ — Edge cases & stability

• Restart Home Assistant — do all entities come back correctly?
• Change the polling interval in integration options — does it take effect?
• If possible, test with your internet briefly disconnected — does it recover?
• Check Settings → Repairs — any unexpected repair issues?
• Review your logs for any recurring warnings or errors
• If you have multiple alarms: do both appear and work independently?
• If you have multiple locks: do all of them work?

Bonus (if you're feeling adventurous)

• Try the reconfigure flow (change password/region without removing the integration)
• Try removing a device from the integration and see if it cleans up properly
• Check the diagnostics download — does it look complete and properly redacted?

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Release Cadence

This is a spare-time project — I have a day job, so don't expect responses during working hours. Here's how the weekly cycle works:

	Weekday evenings	Weekends
You	Use the integration, report issues	Keep testing, report issues
Me	Triage & respond after work	Write fixes & release update

• Beta releases on Sundays — high-impact issues (crashes, data loss, security) get prioritised. Not everything will make it into every release — lower-priority items may roll into the following week.
• Report issues any time — don't wait, just open an issue when you spot something
• I'll triage and respond in the evenings, fixes land on the weekend
• When a new beta drops, upgrade promptly — we need everyone on the same build to keep feedback useful

The goal is to keep momentum going. A few weeks of focused testing with real hardware across different setups will tell us a lot more than months of me testing alone.

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Who's in? Drop a 👍 on this comment and I'll share the beta build.

[simonrb2000]

👍

That was super fast :)

I look forward to testing. I'll wait paitently for the link :)

[tombaptist]

👍

Super grateful for this and really excited to be involved! Ready when you are! Have a great weekend!

[lleraman]

👍

[Nomad73]

👍

[hiall-fyi]

The first beta build is live — v0.1.0.

You can install it right now via HACS or manually. Full setup instructions are in the README.

Quick recap of what's in the beta guide above — please read through it before installing, especially the Privacy note and Important sections. The test plan and release cadence are all there.

A few things to keep in mind:

• Enable debug logging from day one and leave it on — instructions are in the guide above
• If you have locks, check them manually after your first lock/unlock from HA
• Report issues as separate GitHub issues with diagnostics download + logs — that's 90% of what I need to help
• Upgrade promptly when new betas drop (Sundays) so we're all on the same build

@simonrb2000 @lleraman @AlexBrown92 @tombaptist — you're up. Looking forward to hearing how it goes.

@MarcusCBLam — build will be here waiting when you're back from holiday on the 18th.

Tagging everyone else who's been following along — @Narakuku @alxmnghn @wzxmxds95w-cell @krisvani2 @rchiileea @GTunney @Adammmorrison @Nomad73 @fabrizyo @w1ldthing @RFuhlendorf @ppcastella @PV-44 @kickasskingy @lennartHavrestigen @DavidSim80 — the beta is open, jump in if you fancy it.

[simonrb2000]

Brillaint.. I'm in and stuff is running.. I'll do some testing and get back to you. Thanks again :)

Update:- All devices seem to be there and operating correctly. I have exported the Alarm to Homekit and it shares two alarms. One that will only arm when all doors/windows closed etc.. and the other will override and arm regardless.. pretty neat so far.. Colour me impressed, thank you.

[hiall-fyi]

Brillaint.. I'm in and stuff is running.. I'll do some testing and get back to you. Thanks again :)

Update:- All devices seem to be there and operating correctly. I have exported the Alarm to Homekit and it shares two alarms. One that will only arm when all doors/windows closed etc.. and the other will override and arm regardless.. pretty neat so far.. Colour me impressed, thank you.

That's great to hear @simonrb2000, and the HomeKit export is a nice touch!

Quick question — could you list out exactly which devices showed up? You mentioned earlier you have:

• 1 × Smart Hub Alarm
• 2 × PIR sensors
• 5 × Internal door sensors
• 2 × Internal Sirens
• 4 × Conexis Locks
• 1 × Outdoor Main Siren
• 2 × Smoke Sensors

Did all of those appear? Particularly interested in whether the Conexis locks, outdoor siren, and smoke sensors came through correctly — those are ones I haven't been able to test myself. If you can confirm which ones are working, I can start marking them as community-verified in the docs.

[simonrb2000]

All of them have shown up correctly. The door locks do not appear to update via PubNub (I assume this was the instant update), however do update via polling (currently set to 15 secs).

The motion sensors don't seem to be detecting motion; they constatnly show clear.. will test more.

I also have outdoor contact sensor and thats showing up correctly.

[hiall-fyi]

Thanks for confirming all those devices @simonrb2000 — that's a huge help. Conexis locks, outdoor siren, smoke sensors, and outdoor contact sensor all working is great news.

On the locks — there's no instant update, everything runs on polling. PubNub was removed before this beta because it was unreliable. So your 15-second polling interval is as fast as it gets. The lock command itself goes through immediately, but the state in HA updates on the next poll.

On the motion sensors — I'm not sure yet what's going on. I want to understand whether this is a Yale API limitation or something we need to fix on our side. Could you do a quick comparison for me?

1. Open the Yale Home app on your phone
2. Walk past one of your PIR sensors
3. Check if the Yale app shows the motion event

If the Yale app also doesn't show motion when the alarm is disarmed, then it's a Yale platform limitation — the PIR sensors might only report to the cloud when the alarm is armed. If the Yale app does show it but HA doesn't, then we've got a bug to fix.

Would be really helpful to know either way — saves me guessing.

[PV-44]

Hi all the PIRs all go in to power save when the system is not armed to improve battery life.

[AlexBrown92]

Quick update, not been able to do much in the way of testing other than saying everything from my stack has appeared and all the states look as good, including my outdoor contact sensor.

I'll give things a bit more of a thorough test through the week.