Phone as a presence sensor has stopped working

I struggled with a similar issue to the original question on this thread. In the end the following realizations lead me to understand that SmartThings was operating normally despite being different than the way it historically worked.

  • When “Get your location from this phone” is enabled, the SmartThings device that is created is named the same as the phone and has a device type of “placeholder”, not “Mobile Presence”.
  • Within webCoRE, the phone device appears under “Select devices by capability” → “Capability group 2” → “presence sensors”.
    • If one looks only under “Select devices by type” within webCoRE, it will appear as if all devices have been added to webCoRE.
  • The original phone with presence sensing that I setup continues to work, despite having a device type of “Mobile Presence”

Here’s the instructions I followed for adding an additional user with presence sensing:

  • If not already done, create a Samsung account for the new user.
  • On the second user’s phone
    • Install SmartThings app on their phone.
    • Login as the new user in the SmartThings app on the phone.
    • Note that a default empty location is created for the new user.
    • Navigate to the “Devices” tab, click the top left icon, scroll down the list if needed, click “Manage locations”.
    • Click the “+” icon in the top right of the screen, click “Accept QR code invitation”
  • On the Owner’s phone, navigate to “Manage locations” just like on the first phone.
    • Click the location for which the new user will be added
    • Click Invite Member
    • Click “Use a QR code”
  • On the second user’s phone scan the QR Code
    • Now that the location is added to the second user’s phone, delete the default location that was created for the second user.
    • Now navigate to “Menu” tab, click the gear icon in the top right of the screen, click “Get your location from this phone”
    • Turn ON the location and navigate back out of settings
  • On the Owner’s phone…
    • Navigate to Automations, webCoRE, Settings, “Available Devices”, “Available Devices”, “Capability group 2”
    • Find “Which presence sensors”, select the name of the new phone
    • Despite the fact that the new device has a device type of “placeholder”, it will display in this list
    • Navigate back out of webCoRE Settings, this may involve clicking Discard Settings a couple times.
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