Use of multiple phones as presence sensors

Wiki Ideas and Suggestions
#1

Hi all,

Long time listener, first time caller. I’ve been lurking in the forums for a while and finally but the biullet last week and started setting up our smart home.

My question - is there a way to set up a routine using more than one cell phone as presence sensors? I’d like to be able to create something that says ‘if these two phones are not home, and it’s sunset then turn on x switches’. This would ensure that we have lights on. I ask because the lights we’d turn on aren’t necessarily the lights we’d use full time while home. It would be nice to use two phones at once, as well as a reference to a time point for an action. I don’t want to leave the lights on during the day, but having them on in the evening would be be nice.

#2

I should also note I understand using the cell phones as presence sensors requires a delay on the routine to ensure you are actually gone.

#3

Yes you can. The easiest way to do this is probably using routines/modes and the standard Smart Lights App.

  • If someone (one of the phones) comes home, set mode to HOME
  • If everyone (all of the phones) leaves the house, set mode to AWAY
  • Every Day at sunset turn on x switches but only if mode is AWAY
3 Likes
#4

That’s exactly the way I have it done at my house. Certain inside lights turn on at sunset regardless of house mode. More lights come on if house is in “Home” mode at sunset or is house changes to “Home” mode after sunset.

#5

This worked perfectly (or at least it appears so - I’ll test it this evening). The SmartApps is a new subject as I was trying to accomplish it via routines.

Thank you very much for the help.