Dont want to get in the fan boy debate here. I have relied on the HA app for precense for the past year, but I just ditched my iphone and am curious what you Android users are using for detection?
I thought about the Unifi compenent but I doubt that will be good. Im looking for a solid solution that is dependable…
Thanks!
Bluetooth has been faultless here on my android (for home/not_home), and owntracks was mostly OK for where in the world I was (I’m only using Bluetooth currently).
What are you using to connect to when you leave / arrive ?
I have an august lock that connects when i get close…i wonder if i could somehow make that work
thank you
Bluetooth dongle attached to the computer I’m running homeassistant on.
What is your concern about the Unifi component?
I’ve used it for together with nmap and am pretty happy with it although I must admit that I hope there will be a component for my FingBox soon.
Hmm I dont think the dongle in a computer would work for me, my computers arnt near the front of the house unforunitly. I would like to find another way to use bluetooth though, Im going to look into using the august lock somehow.
With the unifi component it is too slow. I want my garage to be open by the time I hit my driveway, and i want it to close once im 3-4 houses away. It was pretty good with the ios app so I got use to not worrying about it
I am using Happy Bubbles trackers and BLE attached to everyone keys. It works flawlessly. Not the cheapest way.
I decide to go that route because Andriod phones disable wifi when sleeping.
YES! now that looks awesome, exactly what i want!!!
I got a few questions if you dont mind.
Its been awhile but from what I remember it was pretty easy to setup mqtt in HA…is that right?
Other than that I just need to install the happy software and let that run on a vm or whatever…
How do you have yours placed? Im thinking I could put one in my garage (i always come and go from the garage) to cover home and away, and then place the other 3 around my house…they look small Im guessing you can just hide one behind a piece of furniture?
Is it quick? I would think this would be very reliable and fast. My august lock is the same way, it talks bluetooth to my phone and then to that august connect to talk wifi and it hasnt failed me more than 2 times in about a year now.
You just got me excited, I spent a lot of time looking for something like this a few months back and didnt see this. thank you!
I think the most comparable device tracker to iOS and or iCloud is OwnTracks. Works on both Android and iOS. You will need an MQTT broker however.
I actually used owntracks for a couple months before I started using the ios app. it was ok, but not reliable enough to trust. I really like this bluetooth idea. thank you though
Since you are now using android, I would check out zanzito. I have been using it for presence detection and it has been working flawlessly for me. I have my phone connect to my mqtt server locally when at home and over the internet when not on home network and it detects very quickly. It also allows for ‘find’ integration (I haven’t tried setting that up yet). The app also allows for pushing alerts, tts, and texts to your phone!
I use a combination of WiFi, Bluetooth, and app (GPS Logger on Android, which uses the HTTP API). OwnTracks also has an HTTP option, so you’re not limited to MQTT.
Bluetooth means that when the phone turns off the WiFi, I’m not suddenly away. I do also use the state of other entities (for example the TV) once I’m already home to remain “home”.
I think the most comparable device tracker to iOS and or iCloud is OwnTracks
+1 to this. Owntracks is fantastic on Android when set up correctly with zones.
Just watch - the current version of OwnTracks on Android has a known bug that causes it to randomly stop reporting.
Yes, I’ve encountered this myself. Very annoying. Just need to keep an eye on it.
Or if you’re using OwnTracks HTTP, move to GPSLogger and it’s component. If you’re using MQTT just switch to Zanzito 
Eventually V2 of the OwnTracks app will come out, and hopefully fix that.
Does either of those support the friends list like Owntracks MQTT does?
GPS Logger doesn’t, don’t know about Zanzito since I don’t run it
Yes, they use MQTT to report its findings.
You can run the happy sw wherever you want. I have Hass.io running in a docker in a Ubuntu host. Happy sw is also running in a docker in that same host.
I have four: entry, kitchen and two rooms. The one in the entry detects us a few seconds before we get into the house. I plan to write an automation to disarm the alarm and some welcome TTS when that happens.
You can define in the sw some timeouts for considering home or not_home.
Be careful with the BLE you choose. Not everyone works with this setup.
I’m using Unifi and iOS app.
Unifi tells me if a device is home or not really well. iOS app tells me locations (zones) when away from home; for example school, work, local airports, etc, etc.
For the iOS app I do also use beacons in the house for it to “find home” quickly and that also works; but some bugs in the iOS way beacons work prevent that from being as good as it could.
Prior to Unifi I used a special iOS ping device tracker that would use the iTunes wake to sync capabilities of an iPhone which worked well. I disabled it after Unifi provided to be just as good.