Hi, I did a search and it seems most of the posts state that geofencing with Hubitat does not work. I have a Pixel 7 pro, and my wife has a pixel 8 pro. I have a C-8 hub, but had issues on a C-7 and a C-5. My thought was getting a new hub would most definitely fix the issue. Not happening.
On the mobile app, in the geofencing area, it shows "out of zone" yet when I go into the pixel 7, it still shows present. In the advaned geofencing options, I have everything turned off right now, but have tried multiple configuations with the same result. I want to utilize presence sensing with the hubitat to automate lights when we are out, etc, If this doesn't work as other posts state, what are people using for presence setting. Or, did you get geofencing to work and what did you do to do so?
Get the HD+ app. Rock solid when it comes to Geofencing. Using on a Pixel 6a and Sony. Has some other nice options too.
The Hubitat presence sensing had been pretty solid for me for a long time, but not 100%. We're using a Pixel 6a and a Pixel 8, so similar generations of devices.
You didn't mention if you've turned off battery optimization for the Hubitat app, but if you haven't, make sure to check that.
Also, I think (not certain) that you have to open the Hubitat app after a phone reboot to get it started. I have a few apps like that and am using an android app called Automate to auto-start then after reboots.
Since I'm also using the Google Home / Assistant integration, and it can do presence sensing, I recently set up the Combined Presence sensor app and am using both Hubitat and Google to determine presence. Google uses it's own logic to determine presence (no customization available). I've found it works pretty well and triggers close to home both for departing and arriving. I created a routine in Google that turns a virtual switch on or off based on presence, and a rule that sets a virtual presence sensor based on that switch.
If both Hubitat apps leave or Google reports away, I change the Hubitat mode to away. When either phone or Google report arrived, I switch the mode to home.
Just for overkill I also set up a routine in Automate that flips a virtual presence sensor to Present whenever my phone rejoins my home Wi-Fi network. I already had the routine turning my VPN on and off depending on Wi-Fi, so adding a http call to a Hubitat endpoint was easy to do.
thanks for the detailed response. I have been seeing that my wife's Pixel 8 is working correctly for presence in the hubitat app. My Pixel 7 is the one having issues. I also am a Google Home/assistant user and I will look around to see how to duplicate your setup. I am very green when it comes to virtural switches, but will look and see if I can figure it out. I used to use the app Automate, but stopped a while ago. I will take another look. I have battery optimization off and I have GPS set to precise and "all of the time".
looking into this, thanks for the reply.
Since you're going to try to set up something similar, here's a few more details:
I just double-checked and I'm not using a switch and a separate presence sensor, but rather a 'Virtual presence with switch' that combines both. From devices -> add new device -> select Virtual Presence with Switch as the device type. Give it a name (I use "Google Assistant Presence") and save it.
Make sure to add the device to the Google Home app so it will be seen by Google. Then in the Google Home app, edit the built-in home/away routines to to turn the switch on and off.
thank you!! I think I have it all set up. I set up the "Im Home" automation in GHome to tun the switch on when I arrive, and turn the switch off when I leave. Did you set up mode manager to change the mode to away with that switch or did you use a rule machine routine to do this?
I'm using Mode Manager.
I have the combined presence sensor setting Away and anything/everything setting home. So the hub mode switches to away when the combined presence logic is satisfied, but either phone, Google, or either of our cars arriving home will set it back to 'home'.
You may have just simplified what you wrote, but 'when I arrive' and 'when I leave' should probably be 'When anyone arrives' or 'when everyone leaves' if you're also using your wife's Google Home presence. Or are you using Hubitat for her presence and Google for just yours?
apologies, yes, I set it when "everyone" leaves or someone arrives as I want the automations to stop if anyone arrives home, but I want them to start when everyone is gone. I will probably set this up on my wifes phone also as it just helps if we do things the same, because, if this works, then I wont mess with it for months. I will report back how this worked as I am in the office right now, and will be watching when I arrive home. Thanks again for the suggestions, I hope this will finally put this to bed for me.
got home and the switch did not change. Looking for input on what I did wrong... here is the mode manager, I bet that is where the issue is....
I don't know if this is the issue, but you don't need both 'Set Mode with Presence Sensors' and 'Set Mode with Switches'. You should be good using just the 'with Presence Sensors' section. Otherwise your setup looks very similar to my setup.
I have a 'guest presence' which is a virtual sensor with switch that is normally 'not present'. If I set the guest presence to 'present' that keeps the home from going into away mode. I mainly set this up for vacation when we have a house sitter and I don't want a lot of automations to run and don't want HSM to arm.
Do you have logging on for Mode Manager and for the Google Assistant Presence sensor? Did the logs show the switch turning on when you arrived?
I'd try removing the 'Set Mode with Switches' entry and turn the Google Assistant Presence switch off and on manually to see if the mode changes.
once again, great ideas... we are going on vacation at the end of the month and have family staying, so... I will be stealing the idea also. I am also thinking that since my phone is the only one that is not working correctly that it may be my phone. I forgot that I am on the Android Beta program, and have had issues in the past. I am opting out on that and will reset my phone to be on a stable release. I did notice that when my wife got home last night, the switch went to "on", or present. Will update after all this work. Thanks again.
You mentioned that you've used the Automate app. As another option, here is a flow that checks whenever the WiFi connection changes and calls one Hubitat endpoint if connected to home Wi-Fi (I have it set up to check two different SSIDs) and a different Hubitat endpoint if not connected to one of those networks. Those endpoints toggle a virtual presence sensor.
I use this to trigger Home but not Away, as I don't want to switch to away if I turn off WiFi for any reason while at home. I could probably use it with a rule that required this virtual presence to remain away for X minutes before changing the house mode, but haven't had a need to do that as Google presence and Hubitat presence are reliably setting Away status for my phone. I don't mind if Away is delayed a few minutes, but I don't want to arrive home and open a door before disarming HSM and my camera-based alerts, so I go a bit overboard with the Arrived sensing.
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