iPhone presence detect stopped working recently on new app, any other "fix"?

Apps & Clients iOS
#1

My iPhone’s presence had been working OK for weeks (on the new app), but stopped updating a couple of days ago. I’ve tried previous “fixes” of (a) logging in/out of the account, (b) disabling/re-enabling “Get your location from this phone” setting in the app, and © rebooting the phone - without any success. I had recently updated to IOS 14.1, but think presence had been working OK for several days after that update.

My wife’s phone’s presence (also an iPhone) is working fine.

Any suggestions for other fixes?

(I do have a virtual presence devices created to track the phone in the ST app, but I don’t think that is relevant).

#2

Not a fix, but I added Life360 to ST. I added the L360 presence to the automations as well, so if the ST presence doesn’t work, usually the L360 status will change in the app and trigger the automation. Basically 2 presence sensors in parallel, with the L360 as a fallback.

#3

I was aware of but haven’t really looked into Life360 as a w/a. One question wrt its “status change” - does that happen more quickly than ST’s presence detection change? The most annoying thing I find (when it does work) is even with a “reasonably” large geofence, the away->home state change in ST happens too late to prevent various “alarms” within STHM from firing… several minutes sometimes. I’ve learned to live with that annoyance but an improvement could be justification to add L360 to our setup. The wife’s sufficiently annoyed with ST stuff already that I’m reluctant to add any non-value add requests :smiley:

#4

Have you double checked that location is enabled with Always in settings > SmartThings on the iPhone.

Also, try disabling get location from this iPhone in the ST app in menu > settings.

Note: when you disable, it will most likely remove any automations that were associated with the presence sensor. You might want to screenshot tHose first to make it easier when you go to recreate them.

#5

I haven’t really watched them side by side. However, I have an automations that run when I arrive home, and I get a notification when the first one runs. Usually, ST presence runs the automation. Occasionally, the L360 runs it. On rare occasions, neither does.

FWIW, I only use this for arrival purposes. The ST presence sensor works flawlessly for departure. It’s only arrival that I use both.

I’m on Android.

I only use this for an arrival automation. I use departure

#6

Location is still set to Always enabled. I had tried the disabling/reenabling “get location” setting already, will repeat.
(Thanks for the tip on rechecking automations… I had forgotten about those. But still my presence is stuck at away. Guess I’ll submit a ticket to ST.)

#7

I’m having the same issues, my iPhone isn’t showing up at all anymore in the app.
I have tried uninstalling and reinstalling the new app.

#8

The presence sensor does not display in the new app when you enable get location in menu > settings. If you wish to see the status, you can create a simulated presence sensor in IDE and use automations or webcore to change the state for it when location changes. Or you can use life360.

But just to point out… not seeing the presence sensor in the new app is not related to the topic of this thread which is the presence sensor is not working. Are you also experiencing that issue?

#9

Just an update… submitted ticket two weeks ago, several emails of already known/attempted fixes back and forth. Last update last week thanked me for my patience and stated “We are investigating this case with the team and we will keep you posted for any updates.”. Right :neutral_face:

One would think they have enough history on iPhone presence issues after all these years for a robust fix by now, but obviously not. Meanwhile my automations remain busted with daily false “security” type of alerts… guess I’ll have to check into Life360.

#10

Just to add to this thread, my wife is having the exact same issue, worked intermittently for a while, but now not at all. All settings correct etc, presence just doesn’t work at all on her iPhone, whereas my Android GS9 is working flawlessly - but that’s not helpful when you rely on both phones to be performing correctly to trigger automations.

#11

I have been having similar issues since the end of October. My husband has an iphone, I have an android, and it fails to consistently sense us both coming and going. It works sometimes but not always. And the biggest issue is that it senses me coming home, unlocks the door and turns on the lights, and then immediately thinks I’m away and relocks everything and turns off the lights. So by the time I get to the door, it is locked and the house is dark. I tried adding a delay to the away routine, but that doesn’t consistently work, either. Also, when you look at the history, you can see the goodbye routine running 3 to 5 times right after each other when I leave. And, since presence issues means that the status is not consistently set for “if the hub is set to home” routines, basically nothing is working right.

I’ve had a case opened with support since early November, and they have had me do typical things like turning on and off if the phone is allowed to be a presence sensor several times now, which means I have rebuilt the same automation routines over and over.

This was all working with the ST Classic app!!! I’m beyond frustrated.

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#12

If you’re up for using Webcore, you can create a Simulated Presence Sensor and sync it to your phone’s status, and this seems to work for people.

#13

Unfortunately, this is still predicated on presence detection working in the first place.

The function is inherently broken as far as I can tell. Sometimes it works, but it then stops working for days on end. It’s infuriating, and has basically scuppered my home/away automations as this never works properly on ios.

#14

When you say it’s inherently broken, are you checking the presence in the IDE? Because I thought mine was broken, too, but in the IDE it was always correct, which is why this solution works for me and others.

#15

No. Broken in IDE too. IPhone SE

#16

Oh, that stinks. My iPhone 11 so far has still been working under the latest ios. I wonder if it’s something about the iPhone SE or if it’s just generally glitchy again?

#17

Mine is an iPhoneXs.

At this point I’ve moved on to using Life360 for my presence detect services, which appears to work reasonably well so far in my automations (there is the nagging long delay between “arrival” and ST noticing that and triggering the automation to change HOME/AWAY state to avoid false alarms, but that existed before and I suspect a larger geofence could resolve it).

I’m still getting emails every few days (!) from ST stupport, and will report back if any fix is found. I have low expectations since the latest suggestions have degenerated into repeats of prior ones.

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#18

They stopped responding to me when I asked for a genuine solution instead of them continuing to send me the same “toggle presence on and off” suggestions. Have you gotten any solutions?

#19

The issue with my wife’s IPhone SE has something to do with the app and it sleeping - when the app is opened, things recover and work despite having ‘always’ allowed location for the ST app etc.

She doesn’t have the Classic app installed, so it’s not that interfering, and her device is recognised properly as a mobile presence device in the IDE.

Are there any other settings tricks I should try? I use Android myself and all is working well. IPhone used to work fine with the Classic app :disappointed_relieved:

#20

My app recognizes when I return home and will run the automation, but when I leave home, it does not run that automation. Very strange. Also, I noticed that my phone has to be unlocked and the app opened up for the return home automation to work. If the app is in the background, it wont work. So maybe I have to leave my app up when I leave?

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