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Intro

At home, the tablet on the hallway wall and the one on the kitchen counter are used by everyone who lives there. At a commercial property, the panel at reception or in a meeting room is used by whoever is there that day. These devices belong to the property rather than to one person, so Zendo keeps them in device groups. A device group decides which accessories its devices show on the floorplan and in the Tiles view:
  • At home, the hallway tablets can show the front door lock, the porch lights and the doorbell, while the kitchen tablet shows the kitchen.
  • At a commercial property, the reception panel can show the entrance and the lobby lights, while each meeting room’s panel shows only that room.
Your automations can target a group too, for example to ring every panel near the entrance when someone’s at the door. You manage device groups in “Control Panels”, in Settings.

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How device groups work

  • Name each group after where its devices are, such as Hallway at home or Reception at a commercial property.
  • The devices in a group can’t open admin settings such as “People & Invitations” or “Control Panels”. They can’t change the accessories either. You don’t have to worry about someone accidentally changing the settings.
  • You choose what it shows. Each accessory can be shown to or hidden from a device group. See Choose what a device group shows.

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Open Control Panels

  1. Tap
  2. Tap “Settings”
  3. Tap “Control Panels”.
The devices are grouped by device group, so you can see at a glance which devices are in which group. Under the device groups is “Set Up via Link”, for adding a tablet with a link.

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Create a device group

Create one device group for each set of devices that should show the same accessories, or ring together. You create a device group while you add a device to it, with Add Device or with a setup link. When Zendo asks which group the device will join, on “Choose Device Group”:
  1. Tap “New Device Group”
  2. Enter a Name, such as Hallway, Meeting Rooms or First Floor
  3. Tap “Continue”.
Zendo creates the group, then carries on adding the device, or creating the setup link, for that group.

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Add a device to a group

Use Add Device: scan the QR code on the new device from a device that’s already on your Zendo, then choose the device group. If the two devices can’t reach each other, you can use a setup link for the group and open it on the new tablet instead.

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Rename or delete a device group

  1. Tap
  2. Tap “Settings”
  3. Tap “Control Panels”
  4. Tap the pencil next to the group’s name
  5. Change the settings and tap “Save”, or tap “Delete” to delete the group.
You can only delete a device group that has no devices. If it still has some, remove its devices first. The group’s setup links that haven’t expired are deleted with it.
Remove a device you’ve replaced or no longer use:
  1. Tap
  2. Tap “Settings”
  3. Tap “Control Panels”
  4. Under the device group, tap the device
  5. Tap “Delete Device”.
A deleted device is deactivated straight away, and the app on it stops working. To stop a setup link you no longer need, open “Set Up via Link” in “Control Panels”, tap the link, then tap “Delete Setup Link”. It stops working straight away. A device can’t move from one device group to another. To move one, delete it from its group, then add it to the other group with Add Device.

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Choose what a device group shows

A tablet in the hallway needs the front door, not the bedroom lights. A panel in a meeting room needs that room’s lights and blinds, not the whole floor. You choose what each group’s devices show with Family Sharing (Access Control). In an accessory’s settings, under “Family Sharing” at home or “Access Control” at a commercial property, the list shows the people you’ve invited first, then your device groups, each with “Device group” under its name:
  • Show to: select a device group to show the accessory on its devices. Only the people and device groups you select can see the accessory, so select the people who should keep it too.
  • Hide from: select a device group to hide the accessory from its devices. Everyone else still sees it.
See Set up Family Sharing for an accessory for the steps, which are the same for Access Control.

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Push notifications and location-based automations

A device group’s devices stay at your property, so device groups have no push notifications and no location-based automations:

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Use device groups in your automations

Target a device group rather than a single device where you can. When you replace a tablet, add the new one to the same group, and automations that target the group keep working. Please make sure you’ve installed the latest version of the Homey or Home Assistant (HACS) integration.

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Ring the devices in a group

A doorbell ring can target a device group. It rings every device in the group that has Always-On Display on and the Zendo app open.
In the zendo.ring_doorbell action, target the device group’s event entity, such as event.zendo_door_panels. Each device group has one, and it records every ring sent to the group. Device groups have no notify entity, since they don’t receive push notifications.
In the Ring doorbell on Zendo card, choose the device group as the Target.
See Ring only some panels for an example.

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Control the devices in a group

Wake the screens, lock them or change their brightness, for every device in a group at once.
The zendo.managed_device_* actions take a list of devices, so add each device in the group to the action’s device field.
In the cards for always-on displays, the Kiosk Device picker has a Devices for… entry for each device group. Choose it to control every device in the group from one card, such as Wake up Kiosk Device screen or Lock Kiosk Device. Conditions always target a single device.
See Automate always-on displays for more.