HA App Based Presence Detection - Without GPS

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1

Hey guys,

even though there are lots of topics here about presence detection, I found nothing which helped me.
The HA app always runs in the background on my Android mobile, but surely enough only reaches my server when I’m in my home network. That is, no external connection over the internet is allowed.

I never leave the GPS on longer than I must and can therefore not use the WiFi sensor to get any data about the device. Yet I was wondering whether there’s another way to use one of the other sensor the mobile regularly reports for presence detection.
Something like “if the last signal from the device’s brightness sensor was less than 5min ago -> user x is home”

It sounds like something I should be able to configure in NodeRed, but I’m not sure how.

What do you think? Would such a scheme be reliable enough?

Cheers,
Ido

2

Without wifi it is not possible to get data from any other sensor from the mobile, :face_with_raised_eyebrow:
But I assume you ment to say GPS?
If not, I guess the only option is to check for a Bluethooth connection?

Regarding ‘other sensors’ (using wifi)
Many options have been opted here:

  • DHCP reservation → ping (no need to use HA app)
  • Phone SSID connected sensor (requires HA app)
3

Thanks for the quick reply. I meant that I can’t get any information from any of the WiFi sensors when the GPS is inactive.

So I have, for example, tried to activate the SSID “sensor”, but without the GPS activate on my mobile, I can’t get any data from the sensor

4

@idofr
Whether your GPS is activated or not, it should not affect the SSID sensor data; GPS and Wifi are 2 different things:

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5

Google still wants to log my exact position every time I try to use this sensor.
In the printscreen you can see how trying to turn on the “sensor” automatically asks for GPS permissions

Screenshot_20201130-170427_Permission controller
Screenshot_20201130-170427_Permission controller720×1520 156 KB

6

I have the same problem, do you have fixed it?

7

location permissions are required for apps to read the connected SSID, your GPS location is not being requested however if you turn off location on your device then indeed the app wont be able to get teh SSID.