WTH doesn't the proximity sensor refresh values in real time?

Month of "What the heck?!"
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I am using phones as panels in each room and one of their purposes is as a door sensor when the prox sensor is blocked. I have to go through a different app though, cos the companion app doesn’t pull live values. Sometimes that app disconnects… it would be wonderful to just use the HA companion app for the proximity sensor

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Amen.

For the life of me, I can’t understand why proximity detection in HA is so unreliable and unpredictable. (Isn’t one of the mantras of HA supposed to be reliability, otherwise what’s the point?)

I have automation that makes a voice announcement over our SONOS system whenever I or my wife’s phone enters an area that has a radius of over 1/2 mile from the house. I’ve tried the following:

  1. Using the native Proximity detection
  2. Enlarging my Home zone to be 1-mile in diameter (kinda defeats the point of a ‘Home’ zone, but I’ll try anything).
  3. Using iCloud3 (which uses Apple’s native iCloud location services)

None of these are reliable. iCloud3 used to be relatively predictable, but recently even this has been triggering the automation over an hour after either of us arrive home!

I somewhat understand iCould3 having issues, as that is at the mercy of Apple, and if they tweak something the author has to play catchup. But, why can’t the HA Companion app react in real-time?

I recall somebody mentioning the the companion app doesn’t track in real-time because of concerns about battery usage…but, hell I’m more than willing to sacrifice battery consumption for reliability. (As a member of a local Search & Rescue team, we run apps on our phones all the time to track ourselves in real-time, and don’t have battery issues.)

Can somebody responsible for the companion app PLEASE fix this issue??? Please?

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i think this a different type. i was talkin bout the one that makes your phone screen turn off when its close to your ear.

your one uses the app’s gps sensor to track zones. you can click on it in the sensors pane to turn high accuracy mode on and also the refresh time i think.

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