home-assistant.io/source/_integrations/blink.markdown

---
title: Blink
description: Instructions for how to integrate Blink camera/security system within Home Assistant.
ha_category:
  - Alarm
  - Binary Sensor
  - Camera
  - Hub
  - Sensor
ha_release: '0.40'
ha_iot_class: Cloud Polling
ha_codeowners:
  - '@fronzbot'
ha_domain: blink
ha_config_flow: true
ha_platforms:
  - alarm_control_panel
  - binary_sensor
  - camera
  - sensor
ha_dhcp: true
ha_integration_type: integration
---

The `blink` integration lets you view camera images and motion events from [Blink](https://blinkforhome.com/) camera and security systems.

## Setup

You will need your Blink login information (username, which is usually your email address, and password) to use this module.

## Configuration

The preferred method for setting this up is by using the configuration flow. Go to the integrations page in your configuration and click on new integration -> Blink.  When you are prompted for your pin, there are (currently) two possibilities:

1. You are sent an email asking for you to allow Home Assistant to access Blink.  In this case, leave the pin field blank and hit `Submit`.

2. You are sent an email or SMS containing a 2FA pin.  In this case, please enter the pin and hit `Submit`.

Your integration will then set up.  Given that setup is asynchronous, you may see your sensors before they have finished extracting data from the Blink servers.  After a few minutes (at most) this information should populate.

Once Home Assistant starts and you authenticate access, the `blink` integration will create the following platforms (note: Blink Mini cameras do not currently support any of the sensors, nor the battery status binary sensor):

- An `alarm_control_panel` to arm/disarm the whole blink system (note, `alarm_arm_home` is not implemented and will not actually do anything, despite it being an option in the GUI).
- A `camera` for each camera linked to your Blink sync module.
- A `sensor` per camera for temperature and Wi-Fi strength.
- A `binary_sensor` motion detection, camera armed status, and battery status.

Since the cameras are battery operated, setting the `scan_interval` must be done with care so as to not drain the battery too quickly, or hammer Blink's servers with too many API requests.  The cameras can be manually updated via the `trigger_camera` service which will ignore the throttling caused by `scan_interval`.  As a note, all of the camera-specific sensors are only polled when a new image is requested from the camera. This means that relying on any of these sensors to provide timely and accurate data is not recommended.

Please note that each camera reports two different states: one as `sensor.blink_<camera_name>_status` and the other as `binary_sensor.blink_<camera_name>_motion_enabled`. The `motion_enabled` property reports if the `camera` is ready to detect motion **regardless if the system is actually armed**.

## Services

Any sequential calls to services relating to blink should have a minimum of a 5 second delay in between them to prevent the calls from being throttled and ignored.

### `blink.blink_update`

Force a refresh of the Blink system.

### `blink.trigger_camera`

Trigger a camera to take a new still image.

| Service Data Attribute | Optional | Description                            |
| ---------------------- | -------- | -------------------------------------- |
| `entity_id`            | yes      | Camera entity to take picture with.    |

### `blink.save_video`

Save the last recorded video of a camera to a local file. Note that in most cases, Home Assistant will need to know that the directory is writable via the `allowlist_external_dirs` in your `configuration.yaml` file (see example below).

| Service Data Attribute | Optional | Description                              |
| ---------------------- | -------- | ---------------------------------------- |
| `name`                 | no       | Name of camera containing video to save. |
| `filename`             | no       | Location of save file.                   |

```yaml
homeassistant:
  allowlist_external_dirs:
    - '/tmp'
    - '/path/to/whitelist'
```

### `blink.send_pin`

Send a new pin to blink.  Since Blink's 2FA implementation is new and changing, this is to allow the integration to continue to work with user intervention.  The intent is to handle all of this behind the scenes, but until the login implementation is settled this was added.  To use it, you simply call the service with the pin you receive from Blink as the payload (for a simple "Allow this Device" email, you may keep the `pin` value empty).

| Service Data Attribute | Optional | Description                  |
| ---------------------- | -------- | ---------------------------- |
| `pin`                  | no       | 2FA Pin received from blink. |

### Other Services

In addition to the services mentioned above, there are generic `camera` and `alarm_control_panel` services available for use as well. The `camera.enable_motion_detection` and `camera.disable_motion_detection` services allow for individual cameras to be enabled and disabled, respectively, within the Blink system. The `alarm_control_panel.alarm_arm_away` and `alarm_control_panel.alarm_disarm` services allow for the whole system to be armed and disarmed, respectively.  Blink Mini cameras linked to an existing sync module cannot be armed/disarmed individually via Home Assistant.

## Examples

The following are some examples showing how to correctly make service calls using Blink:

### Snap Picture and Save Locally

This example script shows how to take a picture with your camera, named `My Camera` in your Blink app (this is **not necessarily** the friendly name in Home Assistant).  After snapping a picture, the image will then be saved to a local directory called `/tmp/my_image.jpg`.  Note that this example makes use of services found in the [camera integration](/integrations/camera#service-snapshot)

```yaml
alias: "Blink Snap Picture"
sequence:
  - service: blink.trigger_camera
    target:
      entity_id: camera.blink_my_camera
  - delay: 00:00:05
  - service: blink.blink_update
  - service: camera.snapshot
    target:
      entity_id: camera.blink_my_camera
    data:
      filename: /tmp/my_image.jpg
```

### Arm Blink When Away

This example automation will arm your blink sync module to detect motion on any of your blink cameras that have motion detection enabled.  By default, Blink enables motion detection on all cameras so, unless you've changed anything in your app, you're all set.  If you want to manually enable motion detection for individual cameras, you can utilize the [appropriate camera service](/integrations/camera#service-enable_motion_detection) but please note that motion will only be captured if the sync module is armed.

Here, this example assumes your blink module is named `My Sync Module` and that you have [device trackers](/integrations/device_tracker) set up for presence detection.

```yaml
- id: arm_blink_when_away
  alias: "Arm Blink When Away"
  trigger:
    platform: state
    entity_id: all
    to: "not_home"
  action:
    service: alarm_control_panel.alarm_arm_away
    target:
      entity_id: alarm_control_panel.blink_my_sync_module
```

### Disarm Blink When Home

Similar to the previous example, this automation will disarm blink when arriving home.

```yaml
- id: disarm_blink_when_home
  alias: "Disarm Blink When Home"
  trigger:
    platform: state
    entity_id: all
    to: "home"
  action:
    service: alarm_control_panel.alarm_disarm
    target:
      entity_id: alarm_control_panel.blink_my_sync_module
```

### Save Video Locally When Motion Detected

When motion is detected, you can use the Blink Home Assistant integration to save the last recorded video locally, rather than relying on Blink's servers to save your data.

Again, this example assumes your camera's name (in the blink app) is `My Camera` and your sync module name is `My Sync Module`.  The file will be saved to `/tmp/videos/blink_video_{YYYMMDD_HHmmSS}.mp4` where `{YYYYMMDD_HHmmSS}` will be a timestamp create via the use of [templating](/docs/configuration/templating/).

{% raw %}

```yaml
- id: save_blink_video_on_motion
  alias: "Save Blink Video on Motion"
  trigger:
    platform: state
    entity_id: binary_sensor.blink_my_camera_motion_detected
    to: "on"
  action:
    service: blink.save_video
    data:
      name: "My Camera"
      filename: "/tmp/videos/blink_video_{{ now().strftime('%Y%m%d_%H%M%S') }}.mp4"
```

{% endraw %}