Will there ever be a solid presence option?

I switched from ST because I was sick of the server issues and presence wouldn't work. I don't have server issues here obviously, but life 360 just isn't reliable on android. It tracks my wife's iphone fine, but I've been home for 6 hours and it still thinks I'm away. This is a daily issue. Is there any option at this point for reliable presence? I don't care what I have to buy or solder. I just need a solution

Try this

Mix that with @Cobra presence central app to combine presence sensors per person into one and your be well on your way.

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I use a combination of:

ST phone presence (linked to Hubitat)
ST presence sensors (connected directly to Hubitat - these work well)
IOS ‘Locative’ with the Maker api and virtual switch/presence driver
L360 - although not so good for me at the moment.

All of these are combined together with Presence Central into one virtual presence sensor which I then use in all my automations

I also have ST presence sensors in my cars (converted to AA batteries) which have been rock solid for quite a while.
Batteries are over a year old :slight_smile:

Andy

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Make an RM trigger that toggles the life360 refresh button every 5 minutes.

Also go into battery settings and make sure life 360 is excluded from battery optimization.

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Life360 works great for me on Pixel 3 and for my wife on iPhone SE.

I had to tweak the geofence tighter but seems fine for the last few weeks

I've never had an issue with Life360 on two Pixels. Just change the battery optimization for the app and it works great.

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X3 on Life 360 on two Android phones. Battery optimization disable for sure. I also enabled driving mode on both phones, very accurate and no problems at all on either phone.

L360 for me has been 100% reliable for several months now and I don't have battery optimization turned off

Pixel and Pixel 2 XL

Rick

I've posted before but the general consensus of 'not free' is 'not welcomed'. Simplex Locate is a solid commercial tracking system that works with mobile apps and hardware trackers (highest accuracy) and is cheap compared to other GPS tracking services.

Is there a monthly cost for life 360 ?

I will say that on my Pixel 3 and my wife's Galaxy S9 Life360 does not always update - maybe 90%, which is not good enough for reliable presence based operation. Yes, the app is excluded from battery optimization on both phones.

But the RM trigger forcing refresh every 5 minutes fixed it right up for me.

There is a free tier, 2 locations

No, unless you want premium features.

I just found it. $69.00 a year?

That's optional. Free version works fine for multiple phones with a single geofence.

Premium gives you multiple geofences and some other stuff.

Did you see my reply above, there is a free tier

Got it... Thanks. Just reading up on it now. We may not need to use this when the HE app comes out with the new Hub? :slight_smile:

Maybe. Don't know yet, and don't know for 100% if it will actually work better than Life360 either... Hope so, though.

Only issue with Life360 is if there is an update (which happens often) and your phones do not auto update apps then Presence may not work 100%. Also the GeoFence is quite large and not good for any real automations. You should look at complimenting Life360 with a few other presence solutions from the community and then tie them all together using Cobra’s app.

Life360 - ability to have multiple locations and very easy to setup. Has really large GeoFence not feasible to do any real automations with.

Locative - ability to have a really small geofence but still relies on phone and cell service/GPRs

HomeKit (iOS only) - smaller GeoFence than Life360 but larger than Locative. Must use Raspberry Pi, Homebridge integration with HE and a dedicated Apple device (AppleTV 4th gen or tablet running iOS 10).

WiFi Presence - the best GeoFence as only really active when if the phone is connected to your network. Downside is if WiFi is off then this doesn’t work.

Me personally we use Locative and WiFi Presence with Cobra’s app to give us the most reliable presence with the smallest GeoFence possible. This has made door, lights, announcement automations possible.

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I don't think you can make this a blanket statement. Every situation is different, and in my case the geofence is actually relatively small and works perfectly for registering people as home or away.

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