Hello I’ve googled and found many posts that contradict whether tracking works over VPN. I’ve setup a wireguard server at home so that I can use my companion app outside my network which works well. However my geo tracking seems react very slow i.e. my displayed location is not where I am it takes ages to catch up. I have some small zones that I want to use, this way it will never work. My companion app has background location enabled with all permissions setup in my android app. High accuracy sensor is enabled, high accuracy interval 5seconds, location zone enabled, single accurate enabled, high accuracy trigger range 10meters, minimum accuracy 200 tried this on 10 didnt make any difference. Could VPN be causing this issue?
Thanks in advance.
Why should location tracking not work?
SSIDs can still be detected and GPS still works.
Some methods might not work, like ARP table look up on your locale network, because your VPN connection actually tunnels you into your local network.
Ping might also be an issue.
Ping can be solved by using another IP for when connecting over VPN, so it is only really ARP table lookup that is an issue.
But when you are connected over VPN, then you might also have extra information on your phone, like an extra IP addresses and gateways.
Your phone will need an IP address and gateway on your mobile network for the VPN client to use.
The VPN client will need an IP address and gateway for your local network.
You can use those to determine if you are home or away.
Home and away not the issue. Because my automation is set to close a garage door when i leave and open when i return. Wifi from my router works but because the wifi is strong it doesnt disconnect to over 30-50 meters. Where i live its too long to leave door open for that long, besides i wanna see my garage door close in my revsion mirror. Thats why i tried a relatively small zone but it seems it wont work well because of the inherit time delay from gps. As a test i put some bluetooth head phones in my garage and use the connect and disconnect to trigger the door.So far this works the most reliable. I just wanna do things using the best practices before i expand my house automations.Appreciate your help and direction
Your issue with the garage door is really not with VPN, because without VPN it would still be the same.
The issue is with GPS.
The garage door issue can be solved in many other ways, but it is better to ask for a solution to the problem then, than the way forward for your chosen solution.
The forum have many users that have been in the same situation and have solved it. The brainstorming of a crowd is amazing in finding solutions you could never think of, like camera with object detection, hall/radar/lidar sensors or even bluetooth devices, like your current solution.
Yeah I know…my original question was whether VPN impacted the speed at which gps updated. But if i can find a better and reliable method of triggering the door i can do without the tracking side
GPS is updated as normal on the phone, since it is a completely separate system.
The VPN encryption might a single millisecond to the transfer of the data from the phone to HA.
Ok so its likely the gps is working fine…as i was driving the reported location i.e the street i was suppose to have been on was delayed by about 5mins…so this is normal behaviour?
If you are watching in the HA map, then it can of course both be the GPS system and the internet connection.
VPN should not add any noticeable delay.
GPS can at times make wild drop outs, when satellite signals are lost, so that could also be what you saw.
I agree with @WallyR, it’s probably not a VPN/Wireguard issue.
BTW:
I came across a great little Android App the other day that connects Wireguard automatically when I leave my Home Wifi: WGTunnel - zaneschepke/wgtunnel: An alternative Android client app for WireGuard® and AmneziaWG
Yeah its great thats what im using and you can split tunnel as well.
Thanks
Hey Wally i get what your saying, if so then google maps should experience the same issues but it doesnt…
If there is a network issue, then VPN will be affected too, but it should not be the VPN services specifically that pulls the response time up.