Options to set HSM to Home / Away?

🛡️ Hubitat® Safety Monitor
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Hey all -

I'm looking for a simple way to change my HE hub mode between Home mode and Away mode to automatically arm/disarm HSM and I'm not having much luck. Hoping you guys can shed some light on things.

Ideally, I'd like a simple solution based on either a) presence via geolocation, b) voice command, c) keypad, or d) phone app shortcut.

Here's what I've tried so far...

Presence via Geolocation:
Geolocation on Hubitat app on my Pixel 3 phone: this just isn't reliable for some reason. I have made sure the Hubitat app is not restricted by the Android battery optimization but it still doesn't seem to tell the hub when I've entered or left the geolocation area. Anecdotally, the Arlo app does seem to work pretty well reporting to my Arlo hub when I've left the area, but it sometimes doesn't report when I've re-entered the area. What am I missing? Why is phone geolocation so unreliable? I've seen mentions of Life365... does that solve the problem?

Voice Command:
I've set up IFTTT with Hubitat and Google Assistant to issue a voice command like "OK Google, set mode to Away", but when I say that to my phone it doesn't recognize the IFTTT phrase. Not sure if this is a temporary problem with IFTTT/Google Assistant integration or not. IFTTT can see all my HE hub modes but the recipes never get triggered from Google Assistant.

I've also tried setting up the Google Home assistant integration, and gave the HE app permission to access my modes, but after opening up the Google Home app on my phone, I'm not sure what to say to trigger switching modes. Is there a specific phrasing you need to invoke HE hub mode changes?

Security Keypad
I'd also consider putting a wireless security keypad on my porch to arm/disarm HSM, but it looks like they are hard to come by. Of the 4 keypads officially supported (Iris and Centralite models), are there any available new and not some used eBay garbage? Any more officially supported keypads coming down the pike?

Phone Shortcut
Lastly, if none of the above options are workable, it would suffice to at least have a quick shortcut to change modes built into the Hubitat official app. On Android, a long press on the app could list the available modes and that would be a good alternative to launching the app, navigating to a dashboard and clicking on a HSM mode tile. Maybe that's something that could be added to the Hubitat app in the future.

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I haven't used the official Hubitat app yet as I've found Life360, Pushover, and cloud dashboards to be more than sufficient for all my needs. Life360 in particular has been pretty much rock solid for presence on all phones I've used it on. Might try that.

Also if you're on Android you can create a home screen shortcut to a cloud dashboard with a Mode tile, 2 or 3 taps to set mode that way.

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There are many possible solutions, the one I like (and use) is this: [[RELEASE] iPhone WiFi Presence Sensor
For me it is 100% reliable and will quickly report you are no longer present since it has a very short range. The range is so short that it doesn't always pick up my presence while I am walking up to my door (if your phone is operating on 2.4 ghz wi-fi as opposed to 5 ghz wi-fi you will get better range). So I just program my alarm to dis-arm when the correct unlock code is entered in the door's keypad. You could always use the Hubitat app's geofence as well if you want auto unlock and auto disarm when you arrive home (I am sure someone will be able to help you get it working).

For the Google Home integration, I would just make a virtual switch (Call it "House Alarm"). Make a simple rule that when the switch turns on HSM is armed-away and when the switch turns off HSM is disarmed. Then just tell google to turn on or off the switch. You could also create a dashboard for the Hubitat app that does all of this as well. Or you could put a tablet on wall at your entrance to run a dashboard that does all of this as well.

I can currently Arm my Arm-Away from: a dashboard on a tablet at my entrance, a dashboard on my phone.

I can currently Disarm my Alarm from: a dashboard on a tablet at my entrance, a dashboard on my phone, a correct code being entered to unlock my door, wi-fi presence sensor (also auto unlocks the door), Hubitat's geofence (also auto unlocks the door).

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I use @doug's Presence Governor to set the state of a virtual presence sensor.

I use Mode Manager to set the mode based on the state of the virtual presence sensor, and HSM is set based on the mode.

It works flawlessly. The big advantage of Presence Governor over other similar apps is that it permits setting configurable thresholds for presence detection. If you're using Combined Presence or something else, give Presence Governor a shot - it's incredibly reliable.

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Thanks for all the great suggestions, guys! I think I'll give Presence Governor a shot first as I am using Google Fi for phone service, so WiFi is always on my phone and I also have Schlage smart locks, so combining wifi presence with geolocation and door unlock events should cover all bases, especially in terms of disarming when I get home.

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So am I.

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@aaiyar can you explain how you set up @doug's Presence Governor to set up the virtual presence sensor? I'm missing something thanks?

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Here's my Presence Governor setup. Here's the explanation:

Ashok Life360 = Life360 app on my phone
Ashok's Alexa Presence = virtual presence sensor triggered by geofencing using Alexa app on my phone
Ashok's Pixel Presence = presence sensor triggered by Hubitat app on my phone

Ashok's WiFi presence = @jwetzel1492's iPhone presence sensor (works with Android too)
Ashok's virtual presence = virtual presence sensor set by Presence Governor based on my configuration

For departure, at least two of these three must leave the geofence. For arrival, one of them entering the geofence is enough to trigger arrival.

Finally, if I open my front door using my key-code also sets my presence.

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Screen Shot 2019-11-03 at 8.02.05 AM.png611×590 26 KB

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@aaiyar Thanks so much I missed the proxy that where you put the Virtual Presence.

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My setup now has been rock solid and sets HSM to away and home reliably. Here is my setup 1) WiFi presence sensor 2) Android app Macrodroid and Http shorts cuts, 3) Smartthings presence sensor with the battery hack. And all this is tied together with the presence governor app.

Here is how it all works of course the WiFi presence sensor turns on and off when I connect to my wifi, next is the android app macrodroid and Http shortcuts macro droid scans also for my WiFi when my phone connects to my WiFi it then opens http shortcuts where it opens the http link that I have in the maker app on HE that turns a virtual presence sensor on and off and last the Smarthings presence sensor is also self explanatory. I have the presence governor set as followed if at least 2 of those sensors are considered away each device is considered away when only one sensor is present it is considered home. Has worked 100% since I have set ip up always sets HSM to away when we are all gone and home when at least one of us is present.