Use home assistant app for presence detection

Configuration
3

I don’t think there is a consensus on this. My presence detection is pretty much rock solid.

I recommend using the composite device tracker custom component so you can use multiple trackers grouped together. Basically, it reports the state of the last tracker that changed. In my case, it works really well.

I have a combination of Bluetooth, Unifi WIFI, ping, Google location GPS, and the Companion app GPS all grouped together with the composite device tracker. I could probably kill off the Google GPS at this point as the app GPS reporting is very reliable for me.

Also Tom pointed out the app also reports the SSID you are connected to with WIFI. You can make a template sensor that detects if you are home if you are connected to your home SSID.

4

I came across this the other day, I’m only 1/4-1/2 through the post but so far it looks promising. I’m going to pickup a pi zero my next trip to the comp store to try this.

5

it seemed to me like a consensus from all the searches but I am glad that there is hope for me!

regarding the composite tracker, I read that it needs the known_devices.yaml file. I thought that the usage of this file has been deprecated. Can I still use it?

6

I have seen this post in my searches! unfortunately, this post needs extra equipment to be setup and also mqtt automations. I don’t want to setup raspberry pis around the house and also I don’t want to rely on pi’s for anything. the SD card corruption due to power cuts makes them very unreliable to me.

all my automations are setup with esphome and I have no mqtts setup. I tried to do it but I couldn’t wrap my head around mqtt so I gave up and settled on esphome

7

Yes. known_devices.yaml will be created automatically when you set up any trackers that use it. Some device trackers are using the new method, most are not. After it is created you can go back and edit it as necessary.

8

I had issues with the HA app (on android at least). My location and my wifes location werent being updated at the same time. Sometimes hours apart even though we were together.

I was told that HA app only updates the location when another app on your phone, such as google maps, requests an update. How often does home assistant check my GPS location on cell phone?

I switched to Life360 for tracking. Im not super thrilled about using a 3rd party, but it works.

9

I did use owntracks for a bit but it was draining the battery way too fast. and life360 is too expensive really.

I have noticed the same thing with the HA app. I am hoping to use the ssid reporting to check if the phone is home or not. It appears that I have to register all the wifi networks in the house with the phone and then i will make some tests.

10

What???
You have different SSIDs?
Why not just one network?

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sorry, my mistake, I was referring to the mac addresses of the routers in the house. I do have the same ssid for all.

12

Then use the SSID.
Entity sensor.<Device_name>_wifi_connection

13

for some reason I do not have that sensor… All I see is:

sensor.oneplus_a5000_wifi_bssid
sensor.oneplus_a5000_wifi_ip_address

And in the app in the sensors section at the bssid it appears that I can add and give names to all the routers in the house with the MAC addresses

14

Perhaps it’s not enabled?
Look in the app configuration and see if it’s there. It should…

15

found it! turns out that at the beginning when I started with HA, I have renamed the phones somehow somewhere and the wifi connection sensor has a different name. as long as it works i guess!

16

I have the same issue actually.
I believe I have two sensors that does not have device name suffix. Don’t know why.

17

do i have to enable location by gps in order for these sensors to send updates to the server? i have just started the HA app on my wife’s phone and a popup appeared asking to enable location. her phone is a samsung a5.

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@luciandf life360 is free for just the basic tracking.

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why does the HA app require location to be enabled to use the wireless ssid sensor? this is not a good feature…

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I don’t know.
Possibly because you could track someone by SSID.

As always, feel free to contribute with something better

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I feel very free but sadly I lack the knowledge to contribute… i would like to be able to create all the features I like.

what do you mean by: you could track someone by SSID? Is this worse that GPS?

22

I’m new to Home Assistant. I’m migrating from SmartThings/WebCore, ActionTiles, Tasker, Hue, etc…
I set up something similar to what you’re asking for in your original post. I have Tasker set up to send a message to WebCore when it “sees” my home network. The system works every time. The issue is that it takes a while to for the message to bounce around the different clouds to make it do anything.
I hope that something similar could be set up in Home Assistant. The phone would know if it can see the home WiFi system and send a notification to HA. At least, I’m hoping I can use Tasker to tell HA that I am home / away…
I’m still working on migrating the basic stuff right now but would love to tackle this one in the not so distant future.