HA 0.42.4, iOS10.3.1 HA app 1.0.4
I have been testing the Location tracking of the app since the official release and get varying results…Sometimes it updates location but most of the time it doesn’t. I use owntracks on the same device and it’s pretty reliable.
Is this poor reliability normal? I was hoping to use the HA app instead of owntracks but can’t at the moment…
Manual update from the app works perfectly.
BTW- I get similar results with wife’s phone (she has an iPhone 6).
May be effective
Hi all,
I’ve observed very similar behavior, i.e. sometimes it updates on time and others it has a significant delay (especially when I arrive home). I may be missing something though…
BR
I created a different method to get location / battery info from your iphone when requested. Once setup, it takes no maintenance afterwards as I have been using this for 3 yrs without modification. Please take a look if you want an alternative.
I’ve had the opposite problem. Owntracks will report that I’m leaving a zone within a few meters of it actually happening, but the HA app reports leaving the same zone at a much greater distance, or it could be that there is a delay on when it reports doing so. Either way, the automations that I have setup to trigger from entering/leaving the zone are not firing as quickly as they did when I used Owntracks.
I’ve added a simple extension to my automations that when our garage or house external doors open it does a request of my wife and my iPhone for location. This has been working pretty well so far and ensures when we are home HA knows.
Same problem for me I am afraid, the location are not reliable, often when I arrive home as above mentioned.
I use Apples home app for location. Its not the most elegent solution but it works.
Here’s what I do:
As of now, I have a dlink w215 switch connected with homebridge. Leaving home turns on the switch, witch trigger automation in HA. Coming home turns off the switch, which triggers automation in HA.
I’ve used philips hue before instead of w215. I used a certain rgb color as trigger for HA.
I used that method with homebridge to control my homekit only Schlage Sense with HA and vise versa. You can use homebridge if you don’t want to use an actual switch as a signal.
That is genius.
I might go write a software switch (ie one that looks like a switch to home bridge), but really just triggers the location status in home assistant.
Thanks for the responses guys!
Interesting there are alternative methods to get location tracking and everybody seems to have their own way to get things working. Thanks for sharing.
I like many (I presume) don’t use location tracking to open close doors, I do use it to turn the Alarm on/off and lights etc. But it really sucks when the tracking isn’t working 
So should we simply give up on location tracking using the APP- atleast for now?
I will investigate using bluetooth when I have more time.
Is it possible to create a ‘virtual device’ in home assistant that’s visible in the home app for triggering as opposed to a real device?
Does that even make sense lol
input_boolean works fine.
Works great. This seems an odd request but is there anyway to show the input as disabled (greyed out) in the HA UI, as in not switchable?. I only want it to be switchable from the home app not the HA UI. Maybe a customisation entry?
You could probably create a sensor that would display ‘Enabled/Disabled’, ‘Home/Away’ or whatever in Home Assistant instead of the Input Boolean switch.
That sounds like a better solution, could you point me in the right direction in terms of docs?
It could be something like this:
sensor:
home_away_sensor:
value_template: '{% if is_state("input_boolean.YOUR_INPUT_BOOLEAN_SWITCH", "on") %}Home{% else %}Away{%- endif %}'