Presence sensor randomly activating and opening garage

Devices & Integrations
1

I will be sitting in a chair in my living room with my phone on the table. Then with no departure or input to smart things It will notify me that my presence sensor (my phone) has departed. Moments later the garage door will open.

Why does it randomly activate?

Why does the garage door open? The routine upon departure should be to close?

2

I had the same issues a few years ago. I removed presence triggered automations from my garage door because they caused false opens. The convenience isn’t worth the security risk. Now my garage door can only automatically close. Opening is gone.

3

Perhaps the status of the presence sensor switches back to Present. Do you have a Routine for when Presence changes to Present and opens the garage door? What does History show?

one trick to consider - add a precondition that Presence sensor was not present for several minutes. That way, any short status changes would not open the gdo.

In my case, I use two presence sensors and a virtual one. I use the ST presence and presence from my iPhone. I have a wall plug connected to both Apple home and ST. An automation in Apple home turns on the plug when I arrive and turns it off when I leave. I have an automation in ST when both ST presence is present and the plug is on to set virtual presence to present. I use that virtual presence in my automations. Of course, you can replace Apple home with other platforms that offer presence.

4

Hi @Slotown
Here are some steps recommended by the engineering team that might help re-establish the connection:

  1. Open the Advanced Users app
    Go to Devices and find the record of your phone. The type must be “mobile.”
  2. Disable location sharing
    In the SmartThings app, go to Menu > Settings and turn off “Get your location from this phone.”
  3. Check if the device record was deleted
    Go back to the Advanced Users app and verify if the mobile device record was removed.
  • If not, please delete it manually.
  1. Verify location permissions
    On your mobile device, go to:
    Settings > Apps > App Management > SmartThings > Permissions
    and make sure “Location” is set to “Allow all the time.”
  2. Enable location sharing again
    In the SmartThings app, re-enable the option “Get your location from this phone.”
  3. Collect logs
    Right after completing the steps, collect the logs.
    SmartThings → Menu → Contact Us → Error Report → Routine Settings/Operation
    In the details, include the example below and your ticket number (BUG2-4872).
    Note: member presence-related data is only stored for up to 3 days
  4. Note the timestamp
    Write down the exact time you performed the steps. This allows us to pull Cloud logs later if the issue happens again.

For example:
“Returned home at 5 PM – ‘BlaBlaBla’ automation should have triggered but didn’t.”

Why this is important:
This process creates a fresh “link” between the SmartThings app and your phone’s location data.
According to the engineering team, the app itself is what determines the “present”/“not present” state, so it might not be getting accurate location data unless re-synced.