Anyone using connecting/disconnection from WiFi as a presence sensor

[bobbles (Bob)]

As per the title “Anyone using connecting/disconnection from WiFi as a presence sensor” I’m thinking of using our phones connecting and disconnecting to the WiFi on my router as a presence sensor. Just WiFi, no Tasker, Life360, etc etc.

I can see how to do it using IFTTT and have indeed set something up to start testing it.
Basically turn on a virtual switch when connected, off when disconnected.

I’m finding Life360 completely useless now for me, and ST is pretty good most of the time but not all of the time.

Is anyone else using this method and if so, how reliable have you found it.

[JDRoberts]

Some people are doing it. See the presence FAQ:

FAQ: The Many Ways of Detecting Presence

Presence, regardless of the device you use, is one of those features that works great for some people, not at all for other people, and is randomly flaky for still others. It’s very much affected by local conditions. So some people will find that phone presence works much better than the SmartThings-branded presence sensor. Other people will find the reverse. Still other people, myself included, find that they have to use a combination of two devices in order to get reliable presence indication. So if this feature tends to work differently for different people, where do you start? Using a Smart Phone as a Presence Indicator [image] Well, since most people who have SmartThings have a smart phone, it’s worth starting there. The following FAQ runs through the the usual troubleshooting…

Or check the quick browse lists in the community – created wiki in the project report section on the list for presence:

http://thingsthataresmart.wiki/index.php?title=How_to_Quick_Browse_the_Community-Created_SmartApps_Forum_Section#Quick_Browse_Links_for_Project_Reports.2FQuestions

[bobbles (Bob)]

Thanks @JDRoberts for the reply and the links.
I had had a good rummage through the posts and had identified a few of these.

Just wanted to ask about peoples experience with this specific scenario.
The big draw back that i can see is that it is stateless and if an IFTTT task is missed then in my setup a virtual switch will remain on/off and there is no way to refresh it. (Unless someone knows different of course).

[prjct92eh2 (Jimmy)]

We use it with our Google OnHub. So it goes OnHub->IFTTT-> ST Presence. It isn’t fast enough to use as a primary, but it’s good for cases where you might be at a neighbors house and want the doors to lock and garage to close after being disconnected from wifi for X minutes.

[Jwwhite (JIm)]

I did that for awhile using ifttt. It worked but was slow. Would have to wait at times before opening a door till the alarm shutoff.

Been using life360 now and it has been working great. Except when my wife forgets her phone and were down the road trying to figure out why the alarm didn’t set.

[bobbles (Bob)]

Yes, Life360 has been brilliant for me to, but since Thursday it’s been absolute pants.

[Jwwhite (JIm)]

I haven’t had any issues the last few days. Be interesting what might be different. We’re using Android devices, one V7, the other V6. Sometimes the trigger position varies by a 1/4 mile or so, but where we live that is not an issue. And I believe that is probably more communication timing.

Get Outlook for Androidhttps://aka.ms/ghei36

[bobbles (Bob)]

Mine just keeps showing that I am moving when I am not. I’ve been at home for hours.
Then it will say I’m home, after 15 - 20 minutes it will say I’m at a place I visited last Thursday. Then I’ll be moving again.
Nightmare.
I wouldn’t mind if it says I’m down the pub because then I could visit my local to see if I’m there!!!
I have just deleted Life360 from my mobile and re-installed. It says I’m home again. Will wait and see what happens.

[johndc7]

If your on android then try this

[RELEASE] Improved Mobile Presence (Android only)

I’ve been working on my own mobile presence system that determines your presence based on what WiFi network your connected to instead of GPS. It seems to work much better than the mobile presence built in to SmartThings. If you have any ideas or feature suggestions the let me know. How to use Install the app on your phone from the link below. Create a new device from the device handler below (Name / Network ID don’t matter). Open the Presence Sensor app and while you are on your home WiFi push the “Add current network” (You can add multiple networks and if you want to remove one just tap the trash icon.) Copy the device id from the Presence Sensor app. (If it says null then just restart the app and it should fix it) Paste the device id into the device settings on the SmartThings app. Hi…

[izmailoff (Aleksey Izmailov)]

I’ve made a customizable WiFi sniffer for myself. It lets you detect MAC addresses and send events via various protocols: http://izmailoff.github.io/iot/wifi-presense. Enjoy! (it does require some tech skills to setup)