Yea you got it, it was Track Device Location, sorry was on a call. There should be a new global variable for HA_PERSON now. It uses your state to set the state of the device tracker since there’s no way for tasker to know which HA Zone you are in and HA does not use the latitude/longitude information to determine that for custom device trackers.
Yes, that’s the one. You can also give it the entity id of the device tracker for your phone if you prefer. It doesn’t enforce that its a person.* entity, it just wants something to set the state of the tracker from.
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@CentralCommand I changed the profile to “bluetooth connected” rather than “bluetooth near”, as it started the task during my drive rather than when I parked. I’ll comment back if it helps.
I have another question: if I restart home assistant, the location is lost, is there a way to make it persistent between restarts?
Also, I noticed that you always send 100m in the “gps_accuracy” field, even though tasker has a variable with the accuracy available.
I have adapted your task to send tasker’s accuracy measurement, so that the circle in HA is not so huge, it should work the same as you:
Updated “Track device location”
Hm ok. Yea I thought I was actually having better success with BT near then BT connected but I’ll keep an eye on it. If you’re phone is the only one that connects to the car then BT connected is the way to go. In my case sometimes my phone is connected and sometimes my wife’s is so I switched to BT near to try and keep tracking even when my phone wasn’t the one directly connected.
Is that what that is? I actually didn’t know, I thought it was a percent lol. That totally makes sense though. I remember in my testing I was getting really confusing readings from Tasker’s Location Accuracy variable and so I just put 100 in and figured I’d come back to it if it caused an issue. Thanks!
Ah crap, I forgot about this. Unfortunately there’s no OOTB way to do this. I remember discovering this and creating a feature request for it. I do have a workaround but it involves Node RED. Basically what I do is any time the device_tracker.see service is called, Node RED picks up on it and stores that info in a sensor it creates. Then on HA start-up it calls device_tracker.see for each data backup sensor.
If you have Node RED I can share my code with you. You’ll have to change the sensor names but its pretty straightforward otherwise.
If you don’t have Node RED you can build restore functionality using two automations and the variables custom component. With that component you just need to add this:
variable:
car_tracker_backup:
restore: true
value: home
attributes:
friendly_name: 'Car tracker backup'
automation:
- id: backup_tracker_data
alias: Backup custom device trackers
description: Use a variable to persist custom device tracker data across resets
trigger:
- entity_id: device_tracker.car
platform: state
condition: []
action:
- service: variable.set_variable
data:
variable: car_tracker_backup
value_template: {{ trigger.to_state.state }}
attributes_template: >
{
"source_type": "{{ trigger.to_state.attributes.source_type }}",
"latitude": "{{ trigger.to_state.attributes.latitude }}",
"longitude": "{{ trigger.to_state.attributes.longitude }}",
"gps_accuracy": "{{ trigger.to_state.attributes.gps_accuracy }}",
"host_name": "{{ trigger.to_state.attributes.friendly_name }}"
}
- id: restore_trackers_on_startup
alias: Restore custom device trackers
description: Restore data for custom device trackers on startup
trigger:
- event: start
platform: homeassistant
condition: []
action:
- service: device_tracker.see
data_template:
dev_id: car
host_name: "{{ state_attr('variable.car_tracker_backup', 'host_name') }}"
location_name: "{{ states('variable.car_tracker_backup') }}"
gps:
- "{{ state_attr('variable.car_tracker_backup', 'latitude') }}"
- "{{ state_attr('variable.car_tracker_backup', 'longitude') }}"
gps_accuracy: "{{ state_attr('variable.car_tracker_backup', 'gps_accuracy') }}"
Also alternatively since this requires the variable component anyway you could just track the car location using restorable variables and drop the device trackers. Just basically switch the service call on taskers side from device_tracker.see to variable.set_variable and adjust the parameters accordingly.
I can’t really think of any other options unfortunately. Other then upvoting the feature request and hoping custom device trackers get native restore.
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If you can share your nodered flows, that would be great!
Sure! So here’s the flows I have which handle saving and restoring the trackers:
[{"id":"581a5f86.3054f","type":"switch","z":"dc93c609.7a6e5","name":"On dev_id","property":"data.dev_id","propertyType":"msg","rules":[{"t":"eq","v":"headset","vt":"str"},{"t":"eq","v":"car","vt":"str"}],"checkall":"true","repair":false,"outputs":2,"x":710,"y":700,"wires":[["de0e2780.084cb8"],["d5b19a86.01522"]]},{"id":"de0e2780.084cb8","type":"ha-entity","z":"dc93c609.7a6e5","name":"Headset","server":"cc03735a.94933","version":1,"debugenabled":false,"outputs":1,"entityType":"sensor","config":[{"property":"name","value":"Tracker Headset"},{"property":"device_class","value":""},{"property":"icon","value":"mdi:crosshairs-gps"},{"property":"unit_of_measurement","value":""}],"state":"data.location_name","stateType":"msg","attributes":[],"resend":true,"outputLocation":"","outputLocationType":"none","inputOverride":"allow","x":880,"y":680,"wires":[[]]},{"id":"fded4805.d50cb","type":"change","z":"dc93c609.7a6e5","name":"Store attributes","rules":[{"t":"set","p":"data","pt":"msg","to":"payload.event.service_data","tot":"msg"},{"t":"set","p":"payload","pt":"msg","to":"{}","tot":"json"},{"t":"set","p":"data.tracker_backup","pt":"msg","to":"true","tot":"bool"},{"t":"set","p":"data.gps_accuracy","pt":"msg","to":"$number(data.gps_accuracy)\t","tot":"jsonata"},{"t":"set","p":"data.gps","pt":"msg","to":"[$number(data.gps[0]), $number(data.gps[1])]\t","tot":"jsonata"},{"t":"set","p":"payload.attributes","pt":"msg","to":"data","tot":"msg"}],"action":"","property":"","from":"","to":"","reg":false,"x":540,"y":700,"wires":[["581a5f86.3054f"]]},{"id":"d5b19a86.01522","type":"ha-entity","z":"dc93c609.7a6e5","name":"Car","server":"cc03735a.94933","version":1,"debugenabled":false,"outputs":1,"entityType":"sensor","config":[{"property":"name","value":"Tracker Car"},{"property":"device_class","value":""},{"property":"icon","value":"mdi:crosshairs-gps"},{"property":"unit_of_measurement","value":""}],"state":"data.location_name","stateType":"msg","attributes":[],"resend":true,"outputLocation":"","outputLocationType":"none","inputOverride":"allow","x":870,"y":740,"wires":[[]]},{"id":"7b8864b0.1652c4","type":"comment","z":"dc93c609.7a6e5","name":"Store device tracker info","info":"Device trackers created via device_tracker.see do not automatically restore. Stash their location info so we can manually restore with it.","x":130,"y":640,"wires":[]},{"id":"602d92b6.a42fa4","type":"ha-get-entities","z":"dc93c609.7a6e5","server":"cc03735a.94933","name":"Get trackers","rules":[{"property":"attributes.tracker_backup","logic":"is","value":"true","valueType":"bool"}],"output_type":"array","output_empty_results":false,"output_location_type":"msg","output_location":"payload","output_results_count":1,"x":330,"y":800,"wires":[["7609b15f.8a9e28"]]},{"id":"7609b15f.8a9e28","type":"split","z":"dc93c609.7a6e5","name":"","splt":"\\n","spltType":"str","arraySplt":1,"arraySpltType":"len","stream":false,"addname":"","x":470,"y":800,"wires":[["490c0eab.946d5"]]},{"id":"fc26191b.157f","type":"api-call-service","z":"dc93c609.7a6e5","name":"Restore tracker","server":"cc03735a.94933","version":1,"debugenabled":false,"service_domain":"device_tracker","service":"see","entityId":"","data":"","dataType":"json","mergecontext":"","output_location":"","output_location_type":"none","mustacheAltTags":false,"x":780,"y":800,"wires":[[]]},{"id":"490c0eab.946d5","type":"change","z":"dc93c609.7a6e5","name":"Make data","rules":[{"t":"set","p":"service_data","pt":"msg","to":"{}","tot":"json"},{"t":"set","p":"service_data.location_name","pt":"msg","to":"payload.attributes.location_name","tot":"msg"},{"t":"set","p":"service_data.dev_id","pt":"msg","to":"payload.attributes.dev_id","tot":"msg"},{"t":"set","p":"service_data.host_name","pt":"msg","to":"payload.attributes.host_name","tot":"msg"},{"t":"set","p":"service_data.host_name","pt":"msg","to":"payload.attributes.mac","tot":"msg"},{"t":"set","p":"service_data.gps_accuracy","pt":"msg","to":"payload.attributes.gps_accuracy","tot":"msg"},{"t":"set","p":"service_data.gps","pt":"msg","to":"payload.attributes.gps","tot":"msg"},{"t":"set","p":"payload","pt":"msg","to":"{}","tot":"json"},{"t":"set","p":"payload.data","pt":"msg","to":"service_data","tot":"msg"}],"action":"","property":"","from":"","to":"","reg":false,"x":610,"y":800,"wires":[["fc26191b.157f"]]},{"id":"321799bf.493f66","type":"server-events","z":"dc93c609.7a6e5","name":"Service called","server":"cc03735a.94933","event_type":"call_service","exposeToHomeAssistant":false,"haConfig":[{"property":"name","value":""},{"property":"icon","value":""}],"x":150,"y":700,"wires":[["cffde61f.b769a8"]]},{"id":"cffde61f.b769a8","type":"switch","z":"dc93c609.7a6e5","name":"device_tracker.see","property":"payload.event.domain","propertyType":"msg","rules":[{"t":"neq","v":"device_tracker","vt":"str"},{"t":"jsonata_exp","v":"payload.event.service = 'see'","vt":"jsonata"}],"checkall":"false","repair":false,"outputs":2,"x":350,"y":700,"wires":[[],[]]},{"id":"57ee725d.2b2644","type":"server-events","z":"dc93c609.7a6e5","name":"HA start up","server":"cc03735a.94933","event_type":"custom_homeassistant_started","exposeToHomeAssistant":false,"haConfig":[{"property":"name","value":""},{"property":"icon","value":""}],"x":130,"y":800,"wires":[["602d92b6.a42fa4"]]},{"id":"cc03735a.94933","type":"server","z":"","name":"Home Assistant","legacy":false,"addon":true,"rejectUnauthorizedCerts":true,"ha_boolean":"y|yes|true|on|home|open","connectionDelay":true,"cacheJson":true}]
When you use an entity node to create sensors from Node RED you need to have an entity node per sensor you want to create, you cannot use a template to define the ID of that sensor and have one node make/update multiple. So in this part of the flow:
You’ll need to update the change node to provide your device IDs and then update the entity nodes to have the sensor ID you want. The flow that runs on startup to restore doesn’t need any changes, it finds all sensors with the attribute tracker_backup and then restores a tracker from their attributes.
You will also need one other thing, an automation that on startup of HA fires an event called custom_homeassistant_started, that’s what the second flow listens for. Here’s that automation:
- id: '1587784727281'
alias: Fire start-up event
description: Create an event on start-up that Node-RED can listen for.
trigger:
- event: start
platform: homeassistant
condition: []
action:
- event: custom_homeassistant_started
event_data: {}
I created this automation prior to 0.109 but technically starting 0.109 homeassistant fires its own native event that Node RED can listen for named homeassistant_started. However I still have this automation because I believe I tried switching to that and noticed that HA fires that event before it finishes setting up platforms and restoring states whereas this automation runs after all that is done.
So I’d recommend keeping it but its possible something has changed since then so it might be worth testing the native event again to see. I know personally anytime I can remove custom functionality in favor of native functionality I try to do it.
Oh also there’s one gap I haven’t been able to solve. When you actually restart the host machine (not HA) then the trackers are not restored in my experience. This is because when the host is restated then both HA and the Node RED addon hare starting up at the same time. When this happens my experience has been that HA comes up first and fires the custom_homeassistant_started event before Node RED is up and listening for it thus missing its restore window. I’m not sure if that’s true for everyone or depends on the complexity of your HA vs. Node RED.
Regardless I haven’t managed to solve it yet. I so rarely restart the host I honestly just haven’t worried about it, I can always do a manual restore if truly necessary. If it is a problem for you I think you can solve it by listening for the home_assistant_client event of type connected after Node RED startup and triggering restore off of that. You’d only want to listen for that after startup though because that event also triggers after every redeploy of Node RED and restart of HA. The logic seemed a bit complicated so it wasn’t worth the time to me but if it is an issue for you I think something along those lines could work.
well it seems that now Android companion app support BT natively.
so the whole thing can become more simple isn’t it?
Hi I tried to use your config but I see error in config for automation “backup_tracker_data” related to value_template: {{ trigger.to_state.state }}.
It is still working for you?
Ty in advance!
Actually, yes. 
I finally got it set up using the new bluetooth sensor in the Android app.
first you need to create a device tracker in known_devices.yaml for your car (or you can use the one you already created for this above).
Then you need to see which MAC address you want to use for your car. I found this info by connecting my phone to my car bluetooth and seeing what the mac address showed that it was connected to in the sensor attribute.
Once you know that information you can then set up an automation in HA to set the car location based on when your phone disconnects from your car bluetooth.
here are the pieces as I have them:
In known_devices.yaml:
tacoma_app:
icon:
name: Tacoma Location from App
picture: /local/tacoma.jpg
track: true
In automation.yaml
- alias: Set Tacoma Location
trigger:
- platform: template
value_template: "{{ is_state_attr('sensor.my_mobile_app_bluetooth_connection', 'connected_paired_devices', '[]') }}"
condition:
- condition: template
value_template: "{{ trigger.from_state.attributes.connected_paired_devices == '[84:DD:20:62:FA:FE]' }}" # set this to your car bluetooth so that it only updates the location when you disconnect from your car bluetooth and nothing else
action:
- service: device_tracker.see
data_template:
dev_id: tacoma_app
location_name: not_home
gps:
- "{{ state_attr('device_tracker.my_mobile_app', 'latitude') }}"
- "{{ state_attr('device_tracker.my_mobile_app', 'longitude') }}"
the above trigger will have to be modified if you regularly have multiple bluetooth devices connected when you are using your car - which I haven’t worked out the template for yet. if it becomes a problem I can work on it then but for now this works for me.
And we no longer need Tasker which, TBH, I never really got to work reliably…
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update to above…
I decided to go ahead and update the code to handle the possibility of having more than your car connected to your phone.
here is the updated automation:
- alias: Set Tacoma Location
trigger:
- platform: state
entity_id: sensor.my_mobile_app_bluetooth_connection
condition:
- condition: template
value_template: "{{ '84:DD:20:62:FA:FE' in trigger.from_state.attributes.connected_paired_devices }}"
- condition: template
value_template: "{{ '84:DD:20:62:FA:FE' not in trigger.to_state.attributes.connected_paired_devices }}"
action:
- service: device_tracker.see
data_template:
dev_id: tacoma_app
location_name: not_home
gps:
- "{{ state_attr('device_tracker.my_mobile_app', 'latitude') }}"
- "{{ state_attr('device_tracker.my_mobile_app', 'longitude') }}"
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That’s nice…
But wouldn’t this
set the location to not_home even if you park your car at home?
(I’m new to device_tracker.see)
yeah, but that part really doesn’t matter as much as the location.
If it is important I’m sure you could also template the location_name to set it to home if the zone is the home zone.
the other thing I just noticed is that the device tracker data doesn’t seem to survive restarts.
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I managed this adding the single device to the “include” section of my recorder.
I tested the automation for 2 days and I noticed that the position is not updated sometimes. Maybe it depends from my mobile…I’m thinking to add a repeat to the position so it will be updated more often.
I changed it to
location_name: “{{ states(‘device_tracker.mobiledevice’) }}”
I tried that and it didn’t work. It still loses the state after a restart.
I built a flow in node red which saves the position on a website using GET and pulls it back using a http request when home assistant is restarted.
I assume you could do the same using a input_text.
If it’s wanted then I can post the flow.
I also added a loop to try and pull new data from the phone before it’s saved.
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Thanks for the offer but I don’t use Node-red.
I probably could get creative and save it to a variable if I really needed it.
But hopefully I won’t get into a situation where I need to remember where I parked my truck and in the meantime I’ve restarted HA. Seeing as I’m the only one who ever restarts HA so if I’m home (and presumably so would my truck…) and messing with HA I would have more serious problems to worry about than remembering that I parked my truck in the driveway! 
Not saving the state was more of a WTH than a real need.
Speaking of which…
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