Maybe this already exists, but I haven’t found it: My goal is being able to control the entertainment functionality (mainly - but not only - the sync one) from another device, using something like a RESTful API. This functionality cannot be triggered via the Hue Bridge API because it’s a feature in the Hue Essential app (which I guess it’s why it was decided not to include it as an “action” in automation - only “stop entertainment area” can).
I know that there’s the ways to control this from another app IN THE SAME device (e.g. Tasker) through a Plugin or Intents/android broadcasting, but this is not what I am looking for.
I think it would be great that everything that can be done via the Plugin/Intents could also be done via network (additionally, and because REST is not OS based, this would also work in the Windows version of Hue Essentials).
I’m not the Hue Essentials developer, so I can’t answer your question directly… but thinking of it… what setup are you thinking of? Hue Essentials installed on a mobile phone? Hue Essentials installed on some server? Where should the client be installed?
I guess having the REST API on a mobile phone doesn’t make much sense, since you probably take your mobile phone frequently out of home. And you can’t install Hue Essentials on a linux-based server.
My goal is controlling Hue Eseentials (no matter where it’s installed) from another device, not just from another application in the very same device (Tasker, Automate).
Let’s say you have HE on your TV, or on your Tablet. You are already playing whatever on it, and then you realize that you forgot turning Sync on. You have to stop what you are watching, go to HE, start sync, go back to the player app, resume whatever you were watching (if you can, maybe you were watching a live event). If I could start/stop HE sync on the TV/tablet from a different device (e.g. my phone) I wouldn’t need to stop the show.
So what I am asking for is a remote control/server functionality. The client app is not that important (as long as the server’s architecture follows some established standard, like REST API), it could be HE on the phone (HE would work as server on the TV and as client on the phone), or such functionality could be left to other remote control applications that allow the user to configure the devices & commands they want to control (e.g. Yatse).
That’s what I am asking for: not only local-Android-stream/plugin API, but network API as well.
EDIT: It does make sense on the phone too. If you are playing music from your phone via bluetooth to some speakers, you may face the same situation: stop the player, start Dance Station or Disco, go back to player, resume music (yes, some music players can play on back-ground, but not all of them. e.g. Kodi, YT without premium). This wouldn’t be a problem if you could start sync on the phone from your tablet, or from someone else’s phone.