HA>MQTT>HS4 - Has anyone used Home Assistant mobile app for geofencing?

[Wade]

My Android Life360-PHLocation2 geofencing implementation isn't working properly anymore, and I seem to have the same issue that racerfern reported elsewhere--seemingly a problem with the abandoned PHLocation2 plugin. I'm looking at alternatives and since I already have the HA app running on my phone it's a sensible place to start.

I'd appreciate comments on performance and reliability from anyone who's used the Android Home Assistant app for geofencing. Life360/PHLoc had significant latency, so my automation is designed around delays of up to about 45 seconds. Briefly testing today it seemed the HA app was no slower. My bigger concern is missed geofence crossings. I ruled out the Alexa app last year because it was prone to misses now and again. A miss or false entry/exit I can deal with as long as the app quickly corrects itself on a subsequent update. For whatever reason the Alexa app does not work that way.

Appreciate any feedback.

[Michael McSharry]

For those using smartphones as the sensor to establish presence then NextTracks/OpenTracks is a good solution. This has been integrated into mcsMQTT as well as the corresponding global map for those who want a visualization. The downside is that in all cases it requires the smartphone to run an App that reports periodically its position. Android/IOS intentionally do not provide position information that is correlated to a specific device to address privacy concerns.

While I have no specific experience with the referenced HA solution, the basic technology must be the same. Passive tracking can be done with Bluetooth for short distance presence, but it also has the same constraints as WiFi where the OS intentionally prevents a correlation between device and location. Espresence attempts to look at other parameters beyond the device MAC to track the device. It is IOS-oriented, but the general technology applies everywhere. Espresence has also been integrated into mcsMQTT, but in my experience it is an uphill battle to try to overcome the security protections built into the OS for passive tracking.

At one location I have Honeywell cameras that support a geofence vs. smartphone for purpose of notification. I do not know what technology they use, but I suspect the Honeywell App installed on the smartphone does the same think as NextTracks that reports to a Cloud server periodically the position of the smartphone. The downside of this approach is that the App is always running and burning battery. The rate of burn depends upon the latency the user is willing to tolerate to server their needs.

[Wade]

Thanks for the comments Michael. In fact I looked at NextTracks since I use your mcsMQTT plugin extensively, but I can't get comfortable with exposing my local mqtt server to the internet.

[wpiman]

HS Buddy has Geofencing built in and it works great. Just need the plugin and the app. I think it is free...

[Wade]

HS Buddy has Geofencing built in and it works great. Just need the plugin and the app. I think it is free...

Thanks for that. racerfern uses/recommended it as well, after having the same issue I'm dealing with. If Home Assistant doesn't work out that will probably be next to try.