Recommendations for presence detection? just ditched ios

Configuration
21

@rusg323

thanks man! i ended up staying up till 4am setting that up lol. I just went out and it put my away status perfectly. Just a couple houses out I love it. When I got home though, i had to open up chrome and refresh the page (home assistant was already up) to get it to realize I was home.

I had to do the exact thing with ios app though, id have to open it and hit the send location button. Id love to get away from having to touch my phone. Have you experenced this or have any recommendations I could try?

thanks again!

22

Actually Scratch that. I was using unifi device id on accident. Ive switched it and will test here shortly. Im digging it though, just trying to figure out how to get my notifications now. Looks like I can do it with zanzito app. I used those for a few things with the ios app and miss it already. thanks again for all the great suggestions everyone

23

Replaced OwnTracks with Life360 on both my Android and my girlfriends iPhone a few months ago. GPS based tracking has never worked better/been more accurate. Not a single false positive or false negative since the day I set it up.

I use the ASUSWRT component in conjunction with that, just on the off chance that if Iā€™m coming back from the local shops (for example) and donā€™t travel enough distance to trigger an immediate update, HA will still pick up that Iā€™m home before I reach the front door.

24

that zanzito is awesome. few times i have tested it ha worked perfect. garage closes 3 houses away and i can see it opening as im pulling up. best thing that has happened to me lol

25

How do you actually use the Unifi method? Iā€™ve set up the config for my controller, but do I have to do anything to the devices in known_devices? I donā€™t see anything ā€˜unifiā€™ show up in HASSā€¦

26

Itā€™s on the component page

27

@Darbos glad itā€™s working out for you! Not sure if you have already, but if your liking it, itā€™s definitely worth getting the paid version. Also, Itā€™s sharable on the Google play family thing so you can get it once and pass it to all the devices in your household even on separate google accounts.

28

Yea buddy, Ive tested it a few times and its spot on. Better than before, thank you very much sir!

I bought the full version for 5.99. Best spent 6 bucks all year:)

29

Life360 works with HA? I didnā€™t find any info about API or mqtt.
I have gpslogger setup on all mobile devices to show battery, and passive locations to save battery life. While not realtime it works pretty good for presence at other locations other than home.

30

Look up ā€œdr zss ā€œ on YouTube
In one if his recent videos he has a very interesting way of triggering the garage door.
He put an esp8266 in his car that connects to his wifi. He makes sure that it is connected to a USB port that is connected to the ignition.

  • when device is on the wifi open the door
  • when device is off the wifi close the door

So when he starts the car, the device powers up and connects to wifi, door opens. When he drives away, device is out of range of wifi - door closes.
When he comes home, device gets in range, open door. Park in the garage and turn off engine, door closes.
It even works if you have two garage doors as the devices in each car will be different.

It is not a full on device tracker but it might be a good addition to what your looking for. I thought it was quite ingenious!

1 Like
31

I know it is, and Iā€™ve added the configuration. But it doesnā€™t seem to ā€˜doā€™ anything. I have devices with MAC addresses but I canā€™t see any evidence that unifi is adjusting them rather than nmap.

32

Yep it does. Thereā€™s a custom component that pulls data from Life360 then converts it into the format read by the OwnTracks device tracker.

Can see it here.

33

does it work with iBeacons?

34

Hm, I didnā€™t think about that as I havenā€™t started using them. I imagine not, since itā€™s the OwnTracks app on your phone that sees the iBeacon and Life360 doesnā€™t have that ability.

35

I have a menagerie of tracking going on.

  • Life 360
  • Owntracks with iBeacon on my Android (Beacons around the house)
  • HA App for wifes Apple
  • Unifi with static IP for devices

I have all of those weighted into switch for validation. My tracking is spot on, can show me where in the house I am. The wifeā€™s is OK when sheā€™s around the house, but due to Appleā€™s sleepiness, it doesnā€™t update as often, thus tracking around the house is no bueno for her.

36

how do you mix them both together please?

37

Its builtin to owntracks. http://owntracks.org/booklet/features/beacons/

Put iBeacons around the house, adjust their power level as needed. Instead of showing HOME, it will show the name of the latest iBeacon it saw.

I have one in my Truck too so when Iā€™m driving it shows that as well.

38

yeah thanks I already use OwnTracks with beacons, but I have 3 beacons in the house but just for coverage and all using the same UUID. Mainly used for home not_home when GPS is crap.

I was just wondering how you use Life 360 with OwnTracks, but sounds like you just use them separately?

39

Each iBeacon has its own UUID, so I can tell WHERE in the house I am. To combine Life360, Owntracks and Unifi, I use a bayesian binary sensor, which lets me input all trackers for each user, basically any 2 of them have to mark the user at home, for it to be considered home. I then push that status into a sensor that updates the location displayed value based on some if/then logic

40

Did you bought a happy bubbles presence beacon?
How long it work on battery?