Apple Watch or AirTags as HE C-8 Presence Sensors

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1

I have my iPhone and iPad set up as devices for my C-8 hub. And I have been experimenting with the phone as a presence sensor.

Is there a way to add an Apple Watch or an AirTag as a device on the hub? I'm embarrassed to say I can't remember how I set up the iPhone.

EDIT: To make things a little clearer, (1) I already have my iPhone doing what I want it to do as a presence sensor, (2) my Apple Watch has cellular capability, (3) not sure how I would do the programming to avoid confusion, but I want my Watch to act just like my iPhone as a presence sensor even if the iPhone is not with me; in fact, if I have my phone with me I don't need the Watch to act as a presence sensor.

2

Don’t think so, there was a way to do it with Node Red, but it broke apparently due to changes that Apple made at some point.

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3

I think in your iOS Find My settings, Phone and Watch (cellular) are used for Presence. So the workaround might be to use a Homekit automation to trigger a virtual switch in Hubitat to mirror your presence, then use the state of that switch in a Hubitat rule to determine presence (thus using both phone and watch).

I was setting up a Homekit camera last week and noticed that I could use both phone and watch for presence to determine whether viewing was permitted (internal camera). I'm not sure exactly how it works - I'd hope that both phone and watch have to be home to be considered 'present'

Edit: in iOS it states that you can change which devices determine presence. However it’s greyed out and cannot be edited

4

I'd wager it has to do with requiring an add'l cellular account bound to a device (watch, ipad), to be able to choose one of them to determine presence. Definitely maybe.

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5

To make things a little clearer, (1) I already have my iPhone doing what I want it to do as a presence sensor, (2) my Apple Watch has cellular capability, (3) not sure how I would do the programming to avoid confusion, but I want my Watch to act just like my iPhone as a presence sensor even if the iPhone is not with me; in fact, if I have my phone with me I don't need the Watch to act as a presence sensor.

Still interested if anyone has done the same thing with an AirTag (as a Hubitat hub presence sensor).

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6

As I mentioned above, it’s not currently possible. Although I’d be happy to be proven wrong.

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7

I do have a plan for my watch as well but it’s still not editable.

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8

I think you would maybe need to use a combination of methods and set something up in rule machine. I currently use Locative for presence which is using my iPhones GPS and an associated virtual presence sensor. To use the Watch, I'd maybe have to set up a rule to regularly ping the Watch local IP address (the IP address is reserved in the router). When the Watch was reachable I'd be considered 'Present'. It's not ideal, as if the WiFi connection drops or the watch goes flat, a rule may think I've left. Also GPS is preferred as it allows you to set the geofence to your requirements (our outside lights come on to lighten driveway when we are around 1/4 mile away. With WiFi we'd get to within 20 yds of the Front Door before connecting to WiFi)

9

If you have a mac machine running there are several projects on github that gather findmy data (including airtag) from the cache. I have been running some of them on my old macbook and they work really well.

Still hoping there'll be someone in this community would take on interfacing it with the hubitat

10

To me, the power saving feature of the cellular apple watch makes it painfully slow to respond to presence detection. I have been using apple home with homebridge to hubitat + wifi detection. It kind of work, but not exactly reliable.

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