Getting started

2 min read·PorchIQ 1.1

An Apple silicon Mac running macOS 14 or later, left on and connected to your home network.
Home Assistant running at each house, with your devices already added to it.
A Google account for each person who will use PorchIQ.
Tailscale (free for households) if you want to use PorchIQ away from home.

Install PorchIQ. Open the PorchIQ installer package and follow the steps. Everything it needs is inside the package, so it installs without an internet connection. When it finishes, PorchIQ is running and starts by itself whenever the Mac starts.
Make a Home Assistant token. In Home Assistant, open your profile, go to Security, and under Long-lived access tokens choose Create token. Name it “PorchIQ” and copy it.
Add your house. Open PorchIQ and go to Settings → Connections. Under Houses, choose Add a house, give it a name (for example “Main house” or “Lake house”) and its time zone, then save. Paste the Home Assistant address and token into that house's panel and save again. The badge turns to live within a few seconds.
Check what's showing. Go to Settings → Dashboard to switch off kinds of devices you never use and hide anything you don't want to see.
Invite your household. Go to Settings → Accounts, add each person's Google email, and choose what they can open and change. See People, roles and sign-in.
Save your recovery key. Go to Settings → Backup, copy the recovery key into your password manager, and choose a second place for backups. Without the key, backups can't be opened.

PorchIQ works best as an app on your home screen. It opens full screen and can send notifications.

iPhone and iPad: open PorchIQ in Safari, tap Share, choose Add to Home Screen, then Add. Open it from the new icon from then on. iPhones only allow notifications for apps added this way.
Android: open PorchIQ in Chrome, open the menu, and choose Install app or Add to Home screen.

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