I just bought the arrival sensor because my iPhone 7 plus only works from time to time. I used to use iphone to automatically execute [I’m Back] and [Goodbye]. Now I have both iPhone and arrival sensor connected with SmartThings.
This happened last night I woke up at 1:48 am, all my lights are open, garage door and locks. I got panic for a second, and then I checked the smartthings log, it turns out [I’m Back] was triggered at 1:38 am.
Here is a bit of background info, I usually leave the arrival sensor in my car and leave my car in my garage.
As you can see on the screenshot, the arrival sensor got disconnected (offline) at 1:10 am, and re-connected at 1:38 am [online] which triggered [I’m Back].
I urge smartthing staff to take look at this straight behavior, it puts my family under a huge risk of personal safety.
Right now I have remove the Arrival Sensor from any routines for safety concerns, but I still keep it in smartthing in case someone wants to see any logs.
This can happen with any single presence method that you use with SmartThings. The Usual solution is to require that two things show that you are away before you are actually marked as away. See the following discussion thread
I suggest disabling automated arrival sensor unlocking when in “Night” or “Home” - only allow unlocking when a sensor appears while the mode is “Away.” If you come home while some one else is home/asleep, it’s simple enough to run “I’m Back!” From your phone or your iWatch…
I will give a try for the dual devices approch. I have a skybell HD in place which covers my driveway.
However, I haven’t had much luck using the SmartApp to control anything by motion or button press.
Right now, I link Skybell with IFTTT to turn on front porch light.
I still can’t believe people automate unlocking or opening doors. I am not planning to get any smart locks or door openers. There are other posts here about people coming home to wide open doors. Pushing garage door opener button is not that difficult that I would ever need to automate it. Want to turn on some lights when you get home, fine.
I understand the concern, and it’s definitely something you need to think through. But as long as you have a couple of conditions on it, you should greatly reduce any possible problems. In my case, I am quadriparetic and I cannot physically unlock the door, so I need an automation for that.
As mentioned in the thread I linked to above, I eventually went to having a two device solution and that has worked very well for me. Other people do other combinations of conditions.
It’s not a matter of choosing one particular device, though. For some people, phone presence works great and the zigbee presence sensor doesn’t work, often because there’s a neighbor with boosted Wi-Fi which isn’t something you can do anything about.
For other people, phone presence is unreliable, but the zigbee sensor works well.
But when it comes to unlocking your doors, personally, I would not rely on any single condition. I always combine a couple.
But of course if it worries you, there’s no problem with not automating it at all. Different things work for different people.
For myself, I use two form of presence to trigger locks. I use Life360 app on my phone and a SmartThings presence sensor arriving as a dual device trigger.
Other people do other combinations of conditions.