🏡 Breaking Up with Google: Making Nest Hubs Default to ImmichFrame in Home Assistant

This post continues my “Breaking Up with Google” series — a journey to reclaim everyday smart home features from big tech.

In my previous post about installing Immich, we set up a private photo server to replace Google Photos. Now, let’s take it a step further and make our Google Nest Hubs automatically show our Immich photo dashboard — without relying on Google’s cloud.

By combining Home Assistant, Immich, and the Google Cast integration, we can turn every Nest Hub into a personal, private photo frame powered entirely by our own infrastructure.

🎯 Goal

We’ll configure Home Assistant so that our Nest Hubs automatically cast the ImmichFrame dashboard whenever we choose — for example, when someone arrives home, or when the display has been idle.

Here’s the dashboard URL we’ll be using:

https://<homeassistant>/lovelace/immich

The code to create the dashboard is simply added on to your existing default dashboard.

  - title: immich
    type: panel
    path: immich
    icon: mdi:image-frame
    cards:
      - type: iframe
        url: https://<immichframe>
        aspect_ratio: 100%

🧩 Step 1: Enable Google Cast Integration

First, Home Assistant needs to know about your Nest Hubs.

1. Go to Settings → Devices & Services → Integrations
2. Click “Add Integration”
3. Search for Google Cast
4. Follow the setup wizard — it should automatically discover your Nest Hubs on the network

Once added, you’ll see new entities like:

media_player.living_room_display
media_player.kitchen_display

We’ll use these entities in our automation next.

🧪 Step 2: Test Casting Manually

Before automating, confirm that casting works:

1. Visit https://cast.home-assistant.io
2. Log in with your Home Assistant account
3. Select your Nest Hub
4. Enter this URL:https://<homeassistant>/lovelace/immich
   
5. If it shows your Immich dashboard — perfect ✅

If it doesn’t, make sure:

• You’re using an HTTPS or Nabu Casa URL
• The Nest Hub and Home Assistant are on the same network

⚙️ Step 3: Create the Automation

Now we’ll make it automatic.
Go to Settings → Automations & Scenes → Add Automation → Edit in YAML, and paste:

alias: "Show ImmichFrame on Nest Hub"
description: "Automatically cast the Immich dashboard to Nest Hubs"
trigger:
  - platform: state
    entity_id: person.your_name
    to: "home"
    # Example trigger — you can change this to motion, time, or another event
action:
  - service: cast.show_lovelace_view
    data:
      entity_id: media_player.living_room_display
      dashboard_path: lovelace
      view_path: immich
mode: single

For multiple Nest Hubs, just add additional cast.show_lovelace_view calls:

action:
  - service: cast.show_lovelace_view
    data:
      entity_id: media_player.kitchen_display
      dashboard_path: lovelace
      view_path: immich
  - service: cast.show_lovelace_view
    data:
      entity_id: media_player.living_room_display
      dashboard_path: lovelace
      view_path: immich

🔍 Step 4: Confirm Dashboard Paths

Your dashboard URL gives away the correct paths:

• Dashboard path = lovelace
• View path = immich

You can also confirm these under Settings → Dashboards in Home Assistant.

🧠 Step 5: Add Conditions and Enhancements

Make your automation smarter by limiting when it runs:

Only during the day:

condition:
  - condition: time
    after: "07:00:00"
    before: "22:00:00"

Recast periodically (e.g. hourly):

trigger:
  - platform: time_pattern
    hours: "/1"

Trigger from motion or presence:

trigger:
  - platform: state
    entity_id: binary_sensor.hallway_motion
    to: "on"

✨ Result

Now your Nest Hubs will automatically show your ImmichFrame dashboard whenever your chosen trigger occurs — creating a dynamic, privacy-respecting photo frame that updates itself.

No cloud. No Google Photos. Just your own data, your own dashboard, and your own control.

💡 Bonus Tip

You can even make the ImmichFrame the default dashboard whenever your Hubs return to idle mode.
Just add another automation that re-triggers the cast.show_lovelace_view service whenever the device’s screen saver starts or after inactivity.

🔒 Why This Matters

This small setup is another step toward independence from cloud services.
Your photos stay on your own server, and your devices become truly yours again.

Home Assistant and Immich together provide the best of both worlds — powerful automation and full ownership of your memories.

Next up in the Breaking Up with Google series:
Exporting your photos from Google, importing them in to Immich and keeping them in sync.

About the author

Tim Wilkes is a UK-based security architect with over 15 years of experience in electronics, Linux, and Unix systems administration. Since 2021, he's been designing secure systems for a telecom company while indulging his passions for programming, automation, and 3D printing. Tim shares his projects, tinkering adventures, and tech insights here - partly as a personal log, and partly in the hopes that others will find them useful.

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