Presence sencing is frustrating and shouldn't be

Configuration
1

3 days now. 3 days i am trying to figure out how to properly set up presence detection for my home with no luck. (not counting my previous attempts)
I have no idea why is it so hard to set it up. All I want to know, is if my phone with HA companion app is at home or not. that’s it.
Please can we have some simple way to set it up so HA can see if my phone is in the apartment?

Why doesn’t the HA see if my phone is connected to the same WiFi? Why doesn’t it see that it has been offline for some period of time. Why if I set up device tracker it finds 500 BT devices but can’t see my phone? (I use the new shelly bluetooth proxy as well and my phone has beacon turned on)
Why only working solutions I can find are through paid services or online connected services? Why can I see the smartwatch, but not phones?

I am super frustrated with this. I was hoping that with the shelly proxy integration this will be easy since I have those everywhere. But I can’t even see what devices are currently around.
Oh hey, and having those 500 entities it finds as a permanent part of my HA is great bonus.
Glad we have new colors tho.

2

I checked your recent posting history and didn’t see you asking for assistance with presence detection. When your tantrum is over, post a question in the Configuration section of the forum, containing the sober details of what you tried, and perhaps the community can help you.

Reference: How to help us help you

4 Likes
3

Moved out of feature requests since this isn’t an actual feature request.

4

Ok, I was frustrated after reading bunch of post and watching bunch of videos. I didn’t ask since from what I’ve gathered this is not any easy way. :frowning:
I tried again in my post how do i use bluetooth to track presence

5

I have been using this for years now, extremely reliable! GitHub - andrewjfreyer/monitor: Distributed advertisement-based BTLE presence detection reported via mqtt

6

Have not used myself but below may be an option

7

This example shows how to use WIFI to detect your members home. And some extra…

My family members are not happy to install a tracker app. However, they do use the HA app, since it really adds value. Some family members also disable bluetooth and Wifi from time to time, especially at night. So I was looking for a solution that simply uses WIFI as indicator but stays stable when users turn it off at night.

Finally have fixed this using an additional simple door sensor. The idea is that as long as no door has been opened, people still must be in the house. When the door is opened, the presence status of each user is uncertain, until it is confirmed. And it gets confirmed when a user switches on the WiFi. As long as the door is not reopened, the status remains in tact even if the WiFi is turned off.

First of all, I created a helper drop down (input_select) list for each member you want to track. Give it two options: At home and Away (or however that is in your language)
This can be used for display in the UI and is restored after reboot.

Then I create a simple automation for each user. I should turn it in a blueprint but had no time to do so yet.

replace user1 by your user and sensor.phone_user1_wifi_connection by the wifi_connection sensor of the users app.

- alias: smart presence user1
    mode: restart
    trigger:
    - platform: state
      entity_id: sensor.phone_user1_wifi_connection
    - platform: time_pattern
      minutes: "/10"
    - platform: state
      entity_id:
      - binary_sensor.door_frontdoor
      to: 'off'
      id: door
    action:
    - if:
        - condition: trigger
          id: 'door'
      then:
        - delay: '00:05:00'
        # Probably away? (door had been opened)
        - condition: template
          value_template: '{{ states("sensor.phone_user1_wifi_connection") != "WIFISSID" }}'
        - service: input_select.select_option
          target:
            entity_id: input_select.user1
          data:
            option: "Away"
      else:
        - condition: template
          value_template: '{{ states("sensor.phone_user1_wifi_connection") == "WIFISSID" }}'
        # Confirm present
        - service: input_select.select_option
          target:
            entity_id: input_select.user1
          data:
            option: "At home"

Result (in my case): The selection is updated per user (and can be updated manually as well). The anybody home indicator is a template sensor that combines the two

afbeelding