Display message

The Display message action shows a message on one of your Apple devices. It can also play a sound at the same time.

This is useful for getting a note to a device, for example to leave instructions on a lost device or to alert whoever has it.

Using this action from the user interface

If you prefer building automations and scripts visually, Home Assistant walks you through this action step by step. You pick what to target, tweak a few options, and save. No YAML knowledge required.

To display a message from an automation or a script:

1. Go to Settings > Automations & scenes.
2. Open an existing automation or script, or select Create automation > Create new automation.
3. If you’re setting up a new automation, add a trigger in the When section. Scripts don’t need a trigger. They run when something else calls them.
4. In the Then do section, select Add action.
5. From the search box, search for and select Apple iCloud: Display message.
6. Enter the Account, the Device name, and the Message to show. Optionally, enable Sound.
7. Select Save.

This action does not support targets. In the UI, you are not prompted to choose an area, device, entity, or label.

Options in the UI

Using this action in YAML

If you work directly in YAML, or you want to know exactly what Home Assistant does under the hood, this section has the technical reference. It lists the field names you use in YAML, their types, and which ones are required.

In YAML, refer to this action as icloud.display_message. A basic example looks like this:

action: icloud.display_message
data:
  account: "[email protected]"
  device_name: "Bob's iPhone"
  message: "Time to head home!"
  sound: true

This shows the message on the device and plays a sound.

Options in YAML

Try it yourself

Ready to test this? Open Developer tools > Actions, search for this action, fill in the fields, and select Perform action. You see what happens on your actual entitiesAn entity represents a sensor, actor, or function in Home Assistant. Entities are used to monitor physical properties or to control other entities. An entity is usually part of a device or a service. [Learn more] without writing a line of YAML.

More examples

Real scenarios where this action shows up in automations and scripts. Copy any example and adapt it to your setup.

Automation: remind a family member to come home for dinner

When dinner time arrives, show a message on a family member’s phone.

• Trigger: A daily time trigger
• Action: Apple iCloud: Display message

alias: "Dinner reminder"
triggers:
  - trigger: time
    at: "18:00:00"
actions:
  - action: icloud.display_message
    data:
      account: "[email protected]"
      device_name: "Bob's iPhone"
      message: "Dinner is ready!"
      sound: true

Still stuck?

The Home Assistant community is quick to help: join Discord for real-time chat, post on the community forum with the action you’re calling and what you expected to happen, or share on our subreddit /r/homeassistant.

Related actions

These actions work well alongside this one:

• Play sound: Plays the Lost device sound on an Apple device.

• Lost device: Puts an Apple device into Lost Mode.

• Update: Requests a location and state update for the devices on an Apple Account.