My ST presence sensor has finally died! Is there a decent replacement? I’ve tried using my phone’s location as a replacement but this seems very hit and miss. I was hoping the Smart Tag (+) could be used but that doesn’t seem to be something ST will use…any other ideas?
There are always a lot of discussions on presence sensing, especially including the Life360 integration.
Personally, my Google Pixel 4a-5g works flawlessly with the presence capability of the SmartThings app. But it seems to be very dependent on the phone make and model.
I’ve seen reports from people who had no luck in the past but find it works for them now. If it’s been a while since you tried, might be worth another go.
I’ve not seen any reports of new, dedicated presence sensors. If there is one, is like to put one on my wife’s keychain!
1 Like
My phone has been hit and miss with presence with the ST app and my GF’s is consistently not working. I recently switched to using Alexa for presence and having her turn on/off virtual presence sensors that I created in ST. I used the vEdge Creator from @TAustin with the setting for contact sensor enabled. So far, it’s been working correctly.
2 Likes
Thanks for the replies!
GPS has been pretty unreliable for me and as someone who dabbles in app development i sometimes need to spoof my GPS to test things which has often suddenly left me in the dark when ST suddenly decides i’ve gone away. The presence sensor was so good at … well, determining presence. Frustrating there is no alternative!!
I have created a trigger on my phones own routine engine (Samsung routines+?) which triggers a vSwitch (and then some scenes) when my phone connects to my home wifi which is generally about 20s before i get to the door this works “ok”! But i’d sooner keep everything in ST so there’s less mechanisms to chain together (and possibly break).
1 Like