# Phone presence not accurately detected

**URL:** <https://community.smartthings.com/t/phone-presence-not-accurately-detected/126277>\
**Category:** Devices & Integrations\
**Created:** [May 11, 2018, 3:14pm UTC](https://community.smartthings.com/t/phone-presence-not-accurately-detected/126277 "2018-05-11T15:14:58Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 2

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![RBoy](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/smartthings/user_avatar/community.smartthings.com/rboy/32/62677_2.png) [@RBoy](https://community.smartthings.com/u/RBoy)\
**Post date:** [May 11, 2018, 4:44pm UTC](https://community.smartthings.com/t/phone-presence-not-accurately-detected/126277/2 "2018-05-11T16:44:08Z")

</div>

Lots of reasons, see these topics for some insight on how presence works:

> [@Phone presence sensor gone rogue?](https://community.smartthings.com/t/phone-presence-sensor-gone-rogue/89382/5):
>
> Calling Rogue One for assistance. Sorry couldn’t resist that wink Coming back to your Rogue issue, let’s understand how location works so it’ll help you figure out how to fix your issue. Location is determined by a couple of methods: GPS - Most of the time devices do NOT use active GPS due to the fact that’s it drains the battery. So this only works while the app is open. AGPS - Assisted GPS, this done with the help of mobile network towers. Most cellphones are aware of the network towers within a certain radius and their distance from them using the signal strength from the towers. Since the mobile network is always active this is the primary way for a cellphone to “guesstimate” its position. (Each towers location is transmitted to the phone). This is one source of a problem. Often i…

> [@FAQ: The Many Ways of Detecting Presence (2020)](https://community.smartthings.com/t/faq-the-many-ways-of-detecting-presence/51563):
>
> 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? 1. Using a Smart Phone as a Presence Indicator Well, since most people who have SmartThings have a smart phone, it’s worth starting there. This method has changed significantly in the change fro…

---

_[View the full topic](https://community.smartthings.com/t/phone-presence-not-accurately-detected/126277)._
