I have a Samsung Galaxy S21 and my wife has an iPhone 12.
Both have the latest version of the HA companion App with location permission set to “Allowed all the time” and background battery usage set to “Unrestricted”.
Still, my presence sensor appears very nervous compared to my wife’s, when we walk together into town, a 3km walk from home:
The upper line is mine.
Here’s the state information for me:
Any ideas or advice on what could cause it to be so nervous is highly appreciated. As it is now, it ruins all my automations which depends on presence. I’m not sure when this began, but it hasn’t been like this in the past. My HA version is 2023.11.1
Did you by any chance also install a companion app on an ipad that was left at home? I had several occasions where the ipad decided to automagically link itself to my person in HA. As it stays home, it reports its home location from time to time, while you are on your way.
So check to see what device trackers are linked to you in HA, and remove all but those associated with your phone.
Good point, but we don’t have an iPad. Besides, this companion App is installed on a Samsung Galaxy S21+
I suspected it to be the Samsung Watch that had been left at home, but bringing it didn’t make any difference.
The ipad was just an example. Look what device trackers are linked to your person in settings. If there is one that should not be used, remove it. If there’s nothing weird there, it is something else entirely.
Yes, I have checked that, and the only device tracker there, is correct. I can see from the map in HA that my user icon moves with me, but it keeps skipping and jumping between my actual location and my home. So yes, HA does get coordinate data, but something is causing it to ‘hick-up’ quite frequently.
Well, WiFi presence detection can only serve as a home/away binary_sensor.
That’s a subset of what I need. A device tracker follows you around the world quite accurately (assuming it works as it should)
