How to create a virtual presence button

Hello,

I am new to Hubitat, but have been deep in the Home Automation for sometime. I just switched over from Homeseer after a brief stop trying to use OpenHAB. Both are pretty awful - so far after an initial challenge with setting up my network, I am really pretty happy with Hubitat.

My question is that I am handling presence two ways, one is via the mobile app on my phone, and another is by creating a virtual presence device - or at least I think that is the way to do it. Problem is that I have not been able to add the virtual presence device as a press-able button on my dashboard.

Basically, I want to allow a guest to set the house in Home or present mode via a dedicated tablet without them installing the app,

Any pointers or guidance would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Cheers,
Bryan

You can use the "Mode Manager" app. It will allow you to set a mode with a button or switch. Add that button or switch to a dashboard.

Hi CAZ,

Thank you! Was not aware of this App - I ended up managing mode changes with a set of Basic Rules, but this is very helpful. Unfortunately I am still not clear on how to map the Mode change to a virtual device that I have set as "Virtual Presence", since it has the two buttons configured already as 'present' and 'away'. When I go to set the On and Off switch, it does not show up in the list.

I was assuming that simply creating a Virtual Device that was set as Virtual Presence would result in something that I could put on the dashboard that I could interact with and change its state.

Thanks again for the help!

Cheers,
Bryan

I would get rid of the virtual presence. It's not in the list as the virtual presence device is not a switch. Create a virtual switch instead. Better yet, I would recommend a virtual button. That way you don't have to deal with the switch being on or using auto disable. Then simply add that button to any dashboard. Having said that, I think there is a way to use mode manager on a dashboard. I'll get back to you.

Yup, you can setup a mode manager tile right on the dashbaord. There are some great tutorials around. This one is for mode manager.

Good timing on this one. I just came across a thread illustrating what I mentioned about using a switch.