Hubitat not updating location on Pixel 6 Android 12 until app is opened

I have a Pixel 6 Pro, my husband has a Pixel 6. I have set the Hubitat app to precise location at all times and turned off battery optimization. However, the app does not seem to update location until it is opened. I cannot figure out what else to change or look at to make sure that the app continues to run in the background. I know that the phone it updating it's location because my nest will function as intended an mark us as not home when we both leave. But, the hubitat app just doesn't seem to update location until I launch it to check my dashboard to see if it shows the phone as present or not.

I can verify this with my husband's phone next to me, not opening the hubitat app and mine opening the app. It will show my phone as away and his phone as still in the geofence. As soon as I open the app, it will show his phone as leaving as well. I wonder if there is something in the app that is not running in the background or if there is a permission I am missing.

3 Likes

You might want to check you have followed this advice:

1 Like

My phone is working as intended now. But still having issues with his. As far as I can tell, settings are all the same.

Hubitat app is set to run in background(battery optimization is turned off), allow background data is in, precise location is on for all times, and inside the hubitat app, I enabled geofencing and validate with network change. It's not a huge deal because he rarely leaves the house since he works from home. But, I am trying to switch to a hubitat driven thermostat so I'd like to have a working home/away setting to save on cooling or heating when we are not home.

I did have to restart at one point to see a difference, perhaps try that ...

His phone would not behave, no matter what I tired. I ended up using GitHub - joelwetzel/Hubitat-iPhone-Presence-Sensor: A virtual presence sensor for Hubitat that checks if an iPhone is on the WiFi network. instead. It's not as ideal as it can take a little longer to register, usually no more than a minute, and it does not have a radius like a geofence since it is based on our wifi radius. But, it'll work for now.

1 Like

Not particularly helpful for your specific issue but figured I'd mention anyway: I've been on android and HE forever and have tried basically every combination of app, presence sensor hardware, third party app, etc. By far my favorite presence solution is forgetting battery intensive and not super accurate gps in favor of Wi-Fi range. You can do this with any phone via a hubitat app that polls the phones IP, but it's even better for us android folks because we can push the updates via Tasker so it's basically instantaneous and doesn't burden the hub with polling. A simple Tasker profile "if Wi-Fi in range of [home network name] then tell hubitat X is present" and the inverse for leaving works faster and more reliably than anything else I've used, works whether or not you even connect to Wi-Fi, just have to be in range. Related, i also have profiles for other locations so the hub/dashboard know if I'm at the office if I'm in range of the office Wi-Fi network (that profile also puts my phone on vibrate and changes my background from a fun photo to our firms logo, etc.)

I would assume you need to have a VPN setup for Tasker to be able to communicate back to the HE hub when you are out of range of your home wifi or at work?

@sburke781 Nope, i just have tasker send an http request and use the cloud MakerAPI links. Crazy simple to set up

1 Like

I'd completely forgotten about the cloud option for Maker API, had always looked at it for local integrations. Thanks.

1 Like