home-assistant
Blank black screen when opening the app
Home Assistant Android app version(s):
Android version(s): 16
Device model(s): Google Pixel 8 (Graphene OS)
Home Assistant version: 2025.11.4
Last working Home Assistant release (if known): ?
Description of problem, include YAML if issue is related to notifications: After the last update of the Android app, there seems to be a problem when the app is opened after being inactive for some time. In that case only a blank black screen is shown. After ~ 10 to 15 seconds, a dialog pops up (see image).
When selecting "Refresh external URL" (freely translated), the Home Assistant UI finally comes up. Sometimes it doesn't work on first try, and the whole process has to be repeated.
The problem occurs on WiFi as well as on 5G networks. Opening the HA website directly via a web browser always works correctly.
This is quite annoying, since I control many things via the app. Now almost every time I open the app, it takes me a very long time until I can access the controls.
Companion App Logs:
Screenshot or video of problem:
Additional information:
Same happening here. It started after updating the HAOS Core to 2025.12.x. I'm using Android 13, WebView is 143.0.7499.34 (updated to latest) and using latest companion app version (2025.11.4-full). I tried to clear all data, uninstall/reinstall, but still having issues. It never happened before.
This seems to happen on my Google Pixel Tablet running Android 16 (build number BP4A.251205.006) as well. I use the Home Controls screensaver with Home Assistant set to show a dashboard.
Same here on OnePlus 10 pro Android 15 Core 2025.10.2 Frontend 20251001.2 Companion app 2025.11.4-full (19134) Black screen
Installed 2025.11.3-full (18924), works fine.
Same happening here. It started after updating the HAOS Core to 2025.12.x. I'm using Android 13, WebView is 143.0.7499.34 (updated to latest) and using latest companion app version (2025.11.4-full). I tried to clear all data, uninstall/reinstall, but still having issues. It never happened before.
Try 2025.11.3-full version, should work for you
I don't see anything obvious that would cause this coming from .3 to .4. Would you mind sharing some logs when it fails? Also double check that your internal/external URLs are properly configured.
The behavior is that whenever we can use internal if it doesn't load after 10s it shows this popup and you can switch to external. But it's a temporary workaround to be honest you need to find why your internal URL is not working or remove it if it doesn't work.
In my case, I'm not using the internal/external URLs feature. I'm in my home network, only one URL set up in the app, and getting the blank page and the message when running it. I need to close and reopen the app several times in order to make it work. If I open HAOS in the browser, it always work fine. Android widgets also work always fine. It's only the app when relaunching it. This was working fine for months until last week. It started with the last Core update.
Could you share some logs, unfortunately it needs to be before you actually kill the app otherwise the logs are wipe. Just open the settings and go to the troubleshooting section.
Let me know if this helps. In this example, it failed twice in a row, then worked at the third attempt.
homeassistant_companion_log_11-10-2025_16-41-36.txt
For what it's worth, I'm still on Home Assistant Core 2025.4.1 (I haven't updated in months) but I'm also experiencing it, so it must have been a recent companion app update. I see #6031 changed something related to URL handling in the last patch, could that be the cause?
Same problem here. Galaxy S24 with Android 16 and companion app 2025.11.4-full.
Running Home Assistant 2025.12.2 and accessing from internal and external on the same address.
Home Assistant is accessed trough a Caddy reverse proxy that handles SSL.
For what it's worth, I'm still on Home Assistant Core 2025.4.1 (I haven't updated in months) but I'm also experiencing it, so it must have been a recent companion app update. I see #6031 changed something related to URL handling in the last patch, could that be the cause?
Yeah, this one also got my attention when checking the changelog.
For what it's worth, I'm still on Home Assistant Core 2025.4.1 (I haven't updated in months) but I'm also experiencing it, so it must have been a recent companion app update. I see #6031 changed something related to URL handling in the last patch, could that be the cause?
Seems like Claude made a mistake 😧
I'm not using the internal/external URL. My url is normal https://home.example.com so it must be this commit
Quick update, I've installed the version 2025.11.3-minimal and it's still happening, so now I think #6031 has nothing to do with the issue.
Let me know if this helps. In this example, it failed twice in a row, then worked at the third attempt.
A bit of log analysis
- 16:39:04 App starts
- 16:39:05 WebSocket connection is established in background using external URL
- 16:39:52 Webview is connected to the frontend through the external bus and you should see the frontend.
We have an internal timeout when the connection to the frontend takes more than 10s to established. Is it possible that your connection is slow? or you server is under some load that would prevent it to serve the frontend fast enough?
I don't see anything strange happening otherwise.
#6031 is not impacting this flow it is used when opening a deep link mostly. If you can take a look at your server stats and maybe rollback to see if the issue could be on core or frontend.
Don't hesitate to go in the troubleshooting section and clear the Webview cache that might help.
Still the same from the logs Websocket connection opened quickly but frontend connection seems to take more than 10s hence leading to show the timeout dialog. But this time it took 13s to load, 3s bellow and it would load normally. Which might from your perspective sound inconsistent since some times it might load quick enough and some time not :/
Still the same from the logs Websocket connection opened quickly but frontend connection seems to take more than 10s hence leading to show the timeout dialog. But this time it took 13s to load, 3s bellow and it would load normally. Which might from your perspective sound inconsistent since some times it might load quick enough and some time not :/
This one log I'm using 2025.11.3-full version
homeassistant_companion_log_11-11-2025_14-19-33.txt
I have also tested with an older version and the latest 2025.12.1-full and with all versions there is the same problem. I think it is some kind of bug in core or frontend and not in the app.
I have also tested with an older version and the latest 2025.12.1-full and with all versions there is the same problem. I think it is some kind of bug in core or frontend and not in the app.
Could you try to clear the cache of the frontend from the Settings -> Companion settings -> Troubleshooting -> Clear cache
I’ve been experiencing the same issue for the past few days. I suspect the problem is in the app itself, since many users suddenly started encountering it, even though some of us (myself included) haven’t updated or changed the core/frontend in a while.
However, if @Flappiee is seeing the same issue on older versions, that would contradict that theory…
Still the same from the logs Websocket connection opened quickly but frontend connection seems to take more than 10s hence leading to show the timeout dialog. But this time it took 13s to load, 3s bellow and it would load normally. Which might from your perspective sound inconsistent since some times it might load quick enough and some time not :/
This one log I'm using 2025.11.3-full version
Yep the logs look exactly the same except that this time the frontend did load within 2s. Did you install the app side by side? If it is a fresh install of an old version that would correlate with my cache theory.
Also please check the server load 🙏🏻.
I have also tested with an older version and the latest 2025.12.1-full and with all versions there is the same problem. I think it is some kind of bug in core or frontend and not in the app.
Could you try to clear the cache of the frontend from the Settings -> Companion settings -> Troubleshooting -> Clear cache
This seems to fix the problem on my end. Previously, the app would start only occasionally, but now I’ve been able to launch it six times in a row without any issues.
Thank you!
Resetting the Front End cache from within the companion also worked for me. Can you elaborate on why that works when multiple clearing of data and cache plus complete Reinstallation on Galaxy Sxx settings does not? I don't think I have ever encountered this. Seems there is a lingering and separate cache area that survives reinstall?
Could you try to clear the cache of the frontend from the Settings -> Companion settings -> Troubleshooting -> Clear cache
This is weird. So, I've tried to clear the cache following @TimoPtr instructions here, and it seemed to have worked, but after leaving the phone at the desk for a while, it's failing again.
I found a similar issue opened yesterday in the Home Assistant Frontend project here: https://github.com/home-assistant/frontend/issues/28475 . Could it be related?
I tested it loading the FE several times from a browser over WiFi, with the Inspector opened and cache disabled to add some extra stress. This is what I found:
- Firefox: It never fails. I can open it 100 times and it always work fine. DOM is loaded under 60ms and the full FE with all the assets is loaded under 900ms.
- Chrome: Similar loading times (DOM in less than 60ms, full page loaded in less than 900ms), but it sometimes get stuck in "Loading data". This happens every 5-6 attemps and, when happens, it's always timing out.
Yes, spoke too soon. Cache reset within companion seems to help initially, however time and / or device reboot reverts to timeout behavior. No issues on desktops, lastest builds and core on promox 9. Has been stable for over a year until recent companion app update. Moved HAOS VM to faster server yesterday with no change in behavior except expected slightly faster responses from all devices. Wife and son's identical Galaxy do not seem to be affected however I can't look at them atm.
Encountering this issue myself. I've attached logs from the app. Not affecting my iOS users.
homeassistant_companion_log_11-11-2025_15-3-52.txt
Not sure when it started happening. I reinstalled the app completely today, did not help. Running a CMF Phone 2 Pro, Android version 15 (Nothing OS 3.2)
Home Assistant, Core 2025.12.2, Frontend 20251203.2
I'm seeing the same issue. Makes no different if I'm connected via WiFi or directly. This seems to happen nearly every time I open the app. If I switch to Chrome on that device, it opens the dashboard immediatly.
Tried Settings -> Companion settings -> Troubleshooting -> Clear cache but no luck, the problem still reoccurs.
Versions:
Core -> 2025.12.2
Frontend -> 20251105.1
Companion App -> 2025.11.4-full
I also tried clearing the cache, but the problem is still persists. When I open HA via the web browser at the same time, it loads immediately (while the app is still stuck on the black screen).