Best way to turn security camera on when I leave the home and turn off when I arrive (before motion detection detects me)?

Does Proximity work due to my phone (will always be with me when I leave the house) having WIFI turned on? I am not sure how quickly my phone would reconnect to the WIFI when I am near home (my WIFI signal barely leaves the house).

Hi @terryb1

How about a simple Bluetooth detection of your phone? What make is it, which OS is it running?

I use my Apple Watch for exactly this purpose, to deactivate/activate my alarm system whenever I approach my front door, or leave the house. You could install our Theengs Gateway (HA Add-on) along on the Pi Zero, to have it auto-discover your phone as a device_tracker, and with the the scan time setting make it as responsive as you need it for your purpose, without any possible WiFi or other cloud service lag.

No, not exactly. It uses whatever method your device tracker uses (easiest is the HA companion app installed on your phone exposing location).

Is this add-on the same or better?

So I need to allow location services for HA iOS app? Couldn’t that be used to track me anywhere I go?

No idea to be honest, as I’ve never tried that one. I suppose you could try all the different options which implement a similar local blueooth presence detection, and see which one works best :wink:

So I take it you have an iPhone. Have a look at how your iPhone would appear with its presence device_tracker and the unlocked state - although there is an issue with the correct unlocked state for some users, which we haven’t tracked down to which settings difference is causing this for some.

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If I understand correctly, I could have location services enabled for that app, only when the app is open? So when I get home I unlock my phone and it tells HA OS to turn off the security camera?

Now I think of it, could I make a iOS shortcut using the Shortcuts app/feature and HA iOS app, and add it to my phone’s home screen and just press that button when I get home?

Which app are you talking about now, I don’t know if that works for the HA iOS app, to only allow for location services when running in the foreground, but even then I would expect quite a lag in the actual location being broadcast through the cloud to your HA instance.

With the Theengs Gateway Add-on running on your RPi, the bluetooth presence of your iPhone is detecting HOME as soon as you come into bluetooth range of your home, if and how you then implement to also require the unlocked state to be unlocked (just be unlocking the iPhone, there is no separate app required on the iPhone for this) to disable your camera is totally up to your automation - and the unlocked state being correctly recognised on your iPhone.

The only problem I could see you running the Theengs Gateway Add-on is that your stated the even the Web connection to HA running on your Pi Zero is already flakey.

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This is probably the simplest solution.

Thanks! I will try this and report back. It will kind of suck having Bluetooth on all the time, but it is a simple solution (if it works with a Pi Zero 2 W).

Alternatively, and assuming that you also have your keys with you whenever you leave the house, is a small cheap simple bluetooth beacon tag on your key chain. Something I also used before switching over to the Apple Watch.

Something like this?

For example, or even this if you want to save even more money :wink:

That looks good, but I don’t think you can order only one. :grin:

Not on Alibaba, but on Aliexpress you can.

https://de.aliexpress.com/item/32959007199.html?spm=a2g0o.productlist.main.27.7e3aZWPwZWPwR1&algo_pvid=81489b9e-2265-40bf-9df8-8dd3037cfde0&algo_exp_id=81489b9e-2265-40bf-9df8-8dd3037cfde0-13&pdp_npi=4%40dis!EUR!2.23!2.23!!!2.31!2.31!%40211b801617137137941848048eb047!66477908996!sea!DE!0!AB&curPageLogUid=444I0eRQUg1v&utparam-url=scene%3Asearch|query_from%3A

Just an idea and suggestion with the above, there are so many different small Bluetooth trackers around to chose from, and depending on where in the world you are located you might also want to go for a more well known brand like Tile, Blue Charm, Nut etc.

Just out of curiosity - What are your reasons thinking that having Bluetooth on all the time sucks?

I Agree with terryb , I only turn on Bluetooth when i need it. Why ?, 1. It drain battery. 2. i find no reason that other devices should be able to “poll/poke” my Phone, just because i have Bluetooth on for No reasons, when i leave the home ( or do you fancy going through a Shopping Mall, thinking it’s relevant to have your Bluetooth running, so your phone can “react” on every other broadcasting Bluetooth Devices ? )
Beside Bluetooth talk on the 2.4gHz frequency , Same as your Zigbees and Other Wifi Devices. ( Another good reason to only turn on Bluetooth when you need it )

While I agree with some of your points, the big advantage of using an iPhone as a Bluetooth beacon is its continually changing Bluetooth MAC address, so that the iPhone can never be uniquely identified by shops in malls etc. as they like to do to track specific customer returns, or even your flat mates, neighbours, colleagues or anyone else trying to track your presence at home, work or anywhere else locally.

This is also why the Identity MAC address and its related Identity Resolving Key is required to track any iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch or any Android phone with a recent Android OS version.

With hardware beacons I do not know any which have this changing random MAC address feature. so they will always be uniquely identifiable by anyone else who so wishes.

@BlueCharmBeacons - do you know of any hardware Bluetooth beacons with a random MAC feature?

As for battery drainage all I can say is that with modern BLE the LE stands for Low Energy, and from my experience any additional battery drainage to not having Bluetooth enabled is negligible. The same, from my experience, with any interference, or real world lack thereof, with 2.4gHz WiFi or ZigBee.

But sure, everyone is free to turn Bluetooth on or not whenever they wish, I was just curious as to the reason why @terryb1 felt it would suck.

Or hack you through bluetooth, regardless, the “activity” drains battery
LowEnergy is for the devices, not Your Phone, beside many Hardware and Security experts/companies recommend you turn off Bluetooth when you dont use it, Why is that ?

Good to hear you don’t experience Network issues on 2.4gHz , however it seems like alot people in here does, without knowing why

Same as i also doubt you are aware how and when your bluetooth actually will contribute, or suffer, in a crowded 2.4gHz network
Imagine a family, transferring files, streaming music etc, from 3-5 devices, to another 3-5 device, spread all over the House ( Just an example ) :wink:

The additional battery drainage, i also doubt you have ever “tested/monitored”, compare 24 hours (on for no reasons) and 1 hour for a purpose ( Just another example )

PS: I don’t even need to use Bluetooth 1 hour a week( On my phone ! ), only use it for manual syncing, and occasionally transferring files