`video` element from camera not in focus

[Crivella]

Home Assistant Android app version(s):

2026.6.5-full

Android version(s):

12

Device model(s):

Galaxy S10e

Home Assistant version:

2026.5.4

Last working Home Assistant release (if known):

Description of problem, include YAML if issue is related to notifications:

Sorry in advance if the issue is not with the app.
I am trying to debug why the barcode reader implemented in https://github.com/blaineventurine/simple-inventory-card is not properly focusing.

The reason i suspect the app's WebView being involved is that the the camera stream works fine if i open it from the browser (both on desktop with a webcam and on the phone) but from the app i get a blurry image (still visible but not focused enough for the barcode reader to do its job).

i repost here my attempt to debug this from blaineventurine/simple-inventory-card#59 (comment) where i see that in the videoElement.srcObject.getVideoTracks()[0].getCapabilities() only the manual is advertised as a focusMode

video element details

> ({
  resolution: [$0.videoWidth, $0.videoHeight],
  settings: $0.srcObject.getVideoTracks()[0].getSettings()
})

{
    "resolution": [
        1080,
        1920
    ],
    "settings": {
        "aspectRatio": 0.5625,
        "colorTemperature": 0,
        "deviceId": "33732aea93b8dfdcccc4e12808ee6ab86afa7c2e2053e867ebd89448ccdb8750",
        "exposureCompensation": 0,
        "exposureMode": "continuous",
        "exposureTime": 0,
        "facingMode": "environment",
        "focusDistance": 0,
        "focusMode": "continuous",
        "frameRate": 10,
        "groupId": "58cbef99395df8b9e30ed27dabca4efdda44e98993409325d3d2687ea8eb7802",
        "height": 1920,
        "iso": 0,
        "resizeMode": "none",
        "whiteBalanceMode": "continuous",
        "width": 1080
    }
}

video element capabilities

> $0.srcObject.getVideoTracks()[0].getCapabilities()

{
    "aspectRatio": {
        "max": 4608,
        "min": 0.00028935185185185184
    },
    "colorTemperature": {
        "max": 7000,
        "min": 2850,
        "step": 50
    },
    "deviceId": "444a21636d3ee0d41f1e2325d24b610c9b4876400035bdd1655287370ac706dc",
    "exposureCompensation": {
        "max": 2,
        "min": -2,
        "step": 0.10000000149011612
    },
    "exposureMode": [
        "continuous",
        "manual"
    ],
    "exposureTime": {
        "max": 1000,
        "min": 0.6,
        "step": 0.1
    },
    "facingMode": [
        "environment"
    ],
    "focusDistance": {
        "max": 9223372036854776000,
        "min": 0,
        "step": 0.009999999776482582
    },
    "focusMode": [
        "manual"
    ],
    "frameRate": {
        "max": 60,
        "min": 0
    },
    "groupId": "13c7b9cbaef3bbc60a4de22ab4a4cb322e57771aa50cac086b4b07add6359e4b",
    "height": {
        "max": 3456,
        "min": 1
    },
    "iso": {
        "max": 800,
        "min": 40,
        "step": 1
    },
    "resizeMode": [
        "none",
        "crop-and-scale"
    ],
    "whiteBalanceMode": [
        "continuous",
        "manual"
    ],
    "width": {
        "max": 4608,
        "min": 1
    }
}

Companion App Logs:

Screenshot or video of problem:

Additional information:

[jpelgrom]

The app's webview does not have any specific camera APIs or settings, so I'm not sure this is something we can fix. Anything media related might be impacted by the autoplay video setting, have you tried toggling that to see if it makes a difference?

Note the app includes a native barcode scanner available via the external bus: https://developers.home-assistant.io/docs/frontend/external-bus?_highlight=bar_code#messages-from-app-to-frontend

[Crivella]

Will try to debug more the existing and also see if i can move it to the native reader.

Is there more docs or examples on how this messaging framework works?
I tried implementing it but the native reader is not getting opened.

I also tried running in the WebView ADB debugger.
I can see the function window.externalAppV2.postMessage but nothing happens with any type or payload that i throw at it.

msg = {id:114, type:'config/get'}
window.externalAppV2.postMessage(JSON.stringify(msg))
// https://github.com/home-assistant/frontend/blob/bcd13fcaf74799b9445e1a832c546dbe7fde9761/src/external_app/external_messaging.ts#L528
window.externalAppV2.postMessage(JSON.stringify({type: 'externalBus', payload: JSON.stringify(msg)}))

// https://developers.home-assistant.io/docs/frontend/external-authentication/
msg = {id:114, type:'config/get', payload: callback: (e) => {console.log(e)}}
window.externalAppV2.postMessage(JSON.stringify(msg))

Using bar_code/scan as a type also does not open a scanner on my app

I also tried to override window.externalBus to try and log a response but also there i see nothing.

Wanted to ask in case it is something simple that i am missing before digging more since i am not familiar with the framework and codebase

[Crivella]

Guess the double stringfy might've been part of the problem.

Using

window.externalAppV2.postMessage(JSON.stringify({type: 'externalBus', payload: {id:114, type:'config/get'}}))

plus an override of window.externalBus did the trick, was also able to get the native scanner work (TBH would've been better to have an error in the adb logcat logs when title and description are not provided instead of failing silently).

Also i guess the docs provided are for a not yet released version of the app.
Being on 2026.6.5 the mechanism of having to wrap every message with {type: 'externalBus', payload: realMessage} was not described anywhere and only inferable by looking at the source code

Will also try to see if i can get the original one to work better by playing with the video settings.