I have a wife that is constantly turning wifi and location on/off on her mobile device, prompting away mode to activate unexpectedly, while she is at home.
I use Unifi presence, Hubitat app and combined presence for both of us, and it works almost flawlessly for myself.
What other presence detection options do I have?
Implanted tracking device.
Seriously, does she always take her key chain? If so, there are trackers that can hang off the key chain.
Most of the time. If I drive, she wouldn't normally bring her keys, but that may be the best option, as the smartphone is the only consistent, but weak link here.
Any that you can recommend?
No, perhaps others who use them can chime in. But if you search the forum threads on presence sensing, there are several given there.
I don't have this same situation, so don't really have a need for a more elaborate setup than using Life360 and the Hubitat App, but I think what others have done is try to use a combination of "sensors". E.g. HE geofencing, another third party app like Life360, Wifi connection along with things like motion sensors and fobs. Like @672southmain, I expect the last of these is the extra piece in the puzzle, but I also think it will be the combination of these that will be important as well.
This may also be worth looking at:
Why does she do this? Genuinely curious... 
Did someone tell her that it would help with battery life?
(Just Kidding!)Yes, regarding location. Battery is of concern.
Wifi - Being in Australia, our internet service is patchy, so she turns it off when its not playing nicely, switching to 4G/5G.
She also doesn't (yet) see the value of an additional app on her phone (neither do I, while the services are turned off), but just Hubitat for Geofencing would go a long way, otherwise some sort of keychain presence sensor would be the go, by the sounds of it.
Agreed with the combination. Combined presence is working, with iPhone and Unifi presence apps, but this is solely relying on wifi which is not always on, which is not ideal. I need some location data or a presence sensor to complete the picture
Combined presence sensor using phone and fob(S)
So if one person leaves with key fob and phone, nothing happens (or person specific options happen)
2 phone leave but one key fob stay, initiate option
2 phones and 2 fobs leave initiate option.
This way your phone, and both key fobs and your phone have to not be present but allows one person lets say go down the street or something without keys but with phone without initiating what ever. You both leave and one of you is driving, the other can safely leave their keys at home and still initiate what ever
Can I suggest using a phone app for location services - like OwnTracks, Geofency, or Locative?
Then it won't matter whether your wife's phone is connected to WiFi or 4G/5G - as long as she is at home, it will register her as being at home.
Have you had any experience with these phone apps? Can you make a recommendation? I have an android, my wife has an Iphone.
wifi presence sensor from Hubitat Package Manager works on both
I use OwnTracks exclusively (used it both on iPhone and Android). There is a community integration for it.
Yes, despite the name, iphone wifi presence sensor works with android phones too. But WiFi for presence sensing really only works as an adjunct, or for arrivals only. Battery saving measures will cause iphones to periodically drop their wifi connection while asleep, meaning the presence sensor will think the device has left even though it hasn't. Without an app to combine presence sensors, that's a problem.
And of course it won't work at all when wifi has been disabled by the phone user, as OP has outlined.
Geofency and Locative both work great for me on my iphone and integrate with HE easily enough. I believe geofency and locative are iOS only these days. But Owntracks has an android app.
Geofency and Locative can work with iBeacons, so that might be another option for OP. As long as bluetooth remains on, the phone can continue to function as a presence sensor. It may not be a cost effective solution though; depending on the size of the home and the range of each iBeacon, it could be necessary to buy quite a few of them.
Why I mentioned combined presence do that at least 3 of 4 things need to be gone to trip...
I use a combination of Hubitat Ping and Wifi Presence to "aggressively" monitor the presence of our two phones. Of course if wifi gets shut off neither will work. I find the combination of the two to be good enough, though I also have large timeouts. I really only use them for reminders, like "gee you left 20 min ago and the alarm is not set."
Could there be way to direct the phone to source Internet data via the mobile network while remaining on the local wifi network? (Trying to solve the original reason for turning WiFi off)
Isn't that what the iPhone's "wifi assist" option does? Not sure if it disconnects from wifi or if it leaves both active...
Not sure, I run an Android phone myself. I think the issue is more speed / reliability, depends on what would make it choose one or the other....
I think it switches to cellular. And apparently only when using data in a foreground app, doesn’t do it automatically for background app usage.
Download the Hubitat app
