Just installed iCloud3, but 3 out of 4 tracked devices I get Excessive Errors on after a while. I can see that the Discarded Updates all have passed 400…
Is there anything to do about this ?
@larronni
The discarded events, with the reason, is in the Event Log. It can be anything from GPS Accuracy errors, old location data or something else. If it is GPS Accuracy, set the value to a higher number and restart iCloud3 on Event Log > Actions > Restart. See the iCloud3 docs here.
Hi Gary, thanks again, couple of questions if I may?
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Sometimes, not very often, (at random) I get iCloud authentication requests on my iPhone “a device is trying to sign into iCloud near XYZ, do you agree?” now because this is totally unexpected - I always deny these. I then login to HA and see that, based on the log, it most likely was iC3 making the request. How would you recommend I deal with these in future? I can’t always login to HA when they come in and I THINK they dominate the focus until you answer the question.
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I frequently find when I try to login to iCloud on a web browser that my account is locked and has to have its password reset. Do you think this is because sometimes I’m not answering those iC3 questions?
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Is there any way to re-fire the multi factor authentication request if you’ve had one that you’ve ignored for whatever reason (eg being unsure WHO was making the request?)
thanks
- The authentication request is being sent by iCloud are normal and part of the authentication process used by iCloud3. You should accept them rather than serving them. They will then give you the 6-digit code that is entered into the HA Notification window that authorizes access to your iCloud account. Remember, you have 2fa on on your account so no one unauthorized can access it.
- When you deny them, it will lock your account. iCloud3 will continue to be able to access your location info but if you don’t authenticate the access, the requests will continue. iCloud will ask for a authentication every few month or so. This is normal.
- Request a reauthentication are Event Log > Actions > Reset iCloud Interface. That will delete the cookie files iCloud3 uses for authentication and immediately request a new authentication code from Apple that is entered into the HA Notifications screen.
You may also get an email from Apple that someone has accessed your account. You can tell it’s iCloud3 because it says a browser accessed it, not an app. Ignore those emails. I have set up an email filter that atomically delete them.
I presume iCloud3 needs an update before allowing you to track Airtags? (hopefully it will be possible!) I don’t seem to be able to do it at the moment, presumably because they are categorised separately as “Items” and not “Devices” in iCloud?
Regarding Tracking Airtags…
There have been a few questions of tracking Airtags. I have read some of the technical details about how Airtags work in several articles and I do not think it will be possible to track them. From what I have read, they use a Low Energy Bluetooth to broadcast their signal to broadcast their signal range is about 300-400m. More importantly, they are not located by iCloud, that is, they do not have wifi or cell service so iCloud does not locate them so it does not have their GPS location. This means they can not be tracked like an iPhone, iPad or watch.
At some time, I will get one and see if it can be used for detecting when a phone enters a zone. I suspect that will require an update to the iOS App to detect that and fire off the appropriate triggers but do k=not know at this time.
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I haven’t read up on iCloud3 yet as I only discovered/installed it today, but the other iCloud integration works by scraping the iCloud web page I believe - where the tags are visible (so iCloud does track them in that sense) so hopefully it’s possible!
@zil0g
@Actually, iCloud and iCloud3 do not scrape the iCloud web page. They use the pyicloud module to request location information from your iCloud account. Both components use access the account after being authenticated using Apple’s 2fa security protocols.
The tags would be visible, just like all devices in the Family Sharing list, since they are a valid device within the account. Just because they are listed as a valid device does not mean the location is available. This will need further investigation after getting (and dumping) the raw data that is returned from iCloud in response to a location request.
iCloud3 has a debug option that lets you dump the raw data to the HA Log file for your account. You might want to install it and take a look at the data to see if anything is available. Let me know what you find out.
thanks, it doesn’t look like the tags are visible (they’re listed separately to devices including Family Sharing devices on the Find My app).
Hi Gary
I am just starting up with IC3. Hit my first problem and I can’t progress any further. I hope you can help me out. Many thanks
I installed IC3 from HACS.
Setup Event Log settings
Setup Configuration.yaml as follow:
device_tracker:
- platform: icloud3
username: !secret icloud3_username_br
password: !secret icloud3_password_br
tracking_method: iosapp
config_ic3_file_name: "/config/config_ic3.yaml"
event_log_card_directory: "www/custom_cards"
In the config_ic3.yaml, I have following:
devices:
- device_name: my_iphone
email: !secret icloud3_username_br
name: my_name
noiosapp: true
... other parameters after this
no matter what I do, I keep getting this error:
My device name matches with what I have on my phone
Do you have any suggestions or do you spot anything wrong with what I have done so far? Sorry it is a very noobie question but I just cannot go pass this hurdle.
I am running the latest 2.4.2 software
Just saw this in the log file:
File "/config/custom_components/icloud3/device_tracker.py", line 8577, in _get_recds_from_config_ic3
error_msg = (f"{EVLOG_ERROR}iCloud3 Error > Invalid configuration parameter > "
IndexError: list index out of range
And this:
2021-05-07 12:20:57 ERROR (SyncWorker_1) [custom_components.icloud3.device_tracker] iCloud3 Error
- Try without the !secrets. I remember reading somewhere in a HA update that is going to be changed so it will only work from configuration.yaml and not from other files.
- You have ‘tracking_method: iosapp’ and then have ‘noiosapp: true’. That says to track with the iOS App and not use iCloud. The noiosapp: true means the iOS App is not installed on the phone. You need to correct this.
Thank you for your quick reply, I will look at this and give you any feedback
Hi, different error message now
The see service is not supported for this entity device_tracker.my_iphone
@scooby
The icloud3 device_tracker.entity (my_iphone) can not have the same name as the iosapp device_tracker entity. See here for more info on changing the iosapp device_tracker entity name. Also see Chapter 1.2 for info on how the name ties things together.
You are a star. Thank you very much. No errors so far in the log.
Since yesterday I noticed that only two devices show on the map at a time, it didn’t happen before. Is anyone else facing same problem?
Been using iCloud3 now for a couple of weeks and it is working pretty well for me. The one thing I have not been able to figure out is how to stop the error message:
Logger: homeassistant.components.device_tracker
Source: components/device_tracker/legacy.py:507
Integration: Device tracker (documentation, issues)
First occurred: 12:01:36 PM (99911 occurrences)
Last logged: 3:16:56 PM
The see service is not supported for this entity device_tracker.my_iphone
The see service is not supported for this entity device_tracker.wifes_iphone
These started when I installed and configured iC3. If anybody has any hints or directions on how to get them to stop, it would be appreciated. They seem like no big deal, but it takes no time for 10s of thousands of entries to build up.
Thanks,
Bill
Does icloud3 use a high amount of cellular data?