Remote is off

The Remote is off condition passes when a remote entityAn 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] is currently off. Use it to gate an automation so it only runs when a specific remote (or every targeted remote) is already inactive.

When you target more than one remote, the condition’s behavior option controls how the check combines results. You can require any targeted remote to be off, or demand that all of them are.

Using this condition from the user interface

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

To use this condition in an automation:

1. Go to Settings > Automations & scenes.
2. Open an existing automation, or select Create automation > Create new automation.
3. In the And if section, select Add condition.
4. Select what you want to check. Under By target (see Targets), pick the remote you want to check. You can also select an area, a floor, a device, or a label.
5. From the conditions shown for that target, select Remote is off.
6. Under Condition passes if (see Behavior), pick Any or All.
7. Under For at least, set how long the remote must have been off.
8. Select Save.

Options in the UI

Using this condition 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 condition as remote.is_off. A basic example looks like this:

condition: remote.is_off
target:
  entity_id: remote.living_room

This passes when the living room remote is currently off.

Options in YAML

YAML sometimes provides additional options for more complex use cases that are not available through the UI.

Targets of the condition

This condition requires a target. The target is the object that Home Assistant will check. You can point the condition at a single entityAn 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], a device, an area, a floor, or a label, and Home Assistant will evaluate every matching remote entity behind that target.

• Entity: one specific remote entity, such as remote.living_room.
• Device: every remote entity that belongs to a device.
• Area: every remote entity in a room or area.
• Floor: every remote entity on a floor.
• Label: every remote entity that shares a label.

You can also select different target types in one condition. For example, you can add a specific entity and an area as targets in the same condition to check both of them at once.

Behavior with multiple targets

When you target more than one entity (or select an area, floor, or label that contains several), the Condition passes if option controls how the results combine:

• Any (default): the condition passes if at least one of the targeted entities matches. For example, if you check three smoke sensors and only one of them detects smoke, the condition still passes. This is useful for questions like “is there smoke anywhere in the house?”
• All: the condition passes only when every targeted entity matches. For example, if you check the same three smoke sensors, the condition passes only once all three report cleared. This is useful for “is the entire house safe now?” checks, so your automation does not send an all-clear while one room still has a reading.

Good to know

• Remotes that are unavailable (unavailable) or have an unknown state (unknown) are skipped and do not count as off. With Any behavior, if all targeted remotes are unavailable or have an unknown state, the condition fails. With All behavior, if all targeted remotes are unavailable or have an unknown state, the condition passes.
• To gate an automation on a remote being on instead, use Remote is on.
• Pair with the Remote turned off trigger to react only when a transition to off happens.

Try it yourself

Ready to test this? Go to Settings > Automations & scenes, open an automation, and add this condition. Trigger the automation with and without the condition met, and watch whether it continues or stops.

More examples

Real scenarios where this condition gates an automation. Copy any example and adapt it to your setup.

Automation: only run the bedtime scene when every remote is off

When the bedtime scene runs, this skips it unless every remote in the house is already off, so the scene does not interrupt anyone still watching something.

• Trigger: Time: 23:00
• Condition: Remote is off
  • Target: All remotes (by label)
  • Condition passes if: All
• Action: Activate scene
  • Target: Bedtime scene

alias: "Bedtime scene only if every remote is off"
triggers:
  - trigger: time
    at: "23:00:00"
conditions:
  - condition: remote.is_off
    target:
      label_id: all_remotes
    options:
      behavior: all
actions:
  - action: scene.turn_on
    target:
      entity_id: scene.bedtime

Automation: turn on the living room remote in the morning only if it is off

When your morning routine runs, this avoids sending another power-on command if the living room remote has not been off for at least one minute.

• Trigger: Time: 07:00
• Condition: Remote is off
  • Target: Living room remote
  • For at least: 00:01:00
• Action: Turn on remote
  • Target: Living room remote

alias: "Power on living room remote at 07:00 if off"
triggers:
  - trigger: time
    at: "07:00:00"
conditions:
  - condition: remote.is_off
    target:
      entity_id: remote.living_room
    options:
      for: "00:01:00"
actions:
  - action: remote.turn_on
    target:
      entity_id: remote.living_room

Still stuck?

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

Related conditions

These conditions work well alongside this one:

• Remote is on: Tests if one or more remotes are on.