I think that pressing "settings" on the left side and then selecting persons lets you click on the user and then you add that ble or phone device you want to connect to that person to show the home status.
> I think that pressing "settings" on the left side and then selecting persons lets you click on the user and then you add that ble or phone device you want to connect to that person to show the home status.
Under "Settings > People > Me" I've got my phone set as a tracking device. I've enabled various sensors (all bluetooth, some wifi related) in the companion app. But that does not seem to give me much in the way of known_devices.yaml (or whatever the alternative is since know_devices is depricated.)
Sounds like you want the Private BLE Device (https://www.home-assistant.io/integrations/private_ble_device) integration. You get home/away notifications and not much else.
If you want room-level presence, I’d recommend ESPresense.
If you’re a bit technical, I’d be happy to help you set up the Esphome-based room level presence system I created. I’ve helped a few people get it running. It’s very reliable because of lots of signal processing and sensor fusion algorithms I created. The requirements are: esp32 devices in every room you want to be able to track, iPhone (android if you know how to write python), and some kind of iCloud/own tracks/other gps-based presence for fusion.
https://github.com/dgrnbrg/appdaemon-configs/blob/main/README.md#bluetooth-room-level-tracking-for-iphones-apple-watches-and-other-untrackable-devices-using-esphome
I use monitor because it resolves random mac addresses. This is pretty much the default for new phones.
Turns out walking around with a device that broadcast a fixed number is not such a good idea. So they created randomization to make phones hard to track.
It's just strange to me that people using HA, which is based on privacy, would turn around and disable a feature designed to protect your privacy.
Personally I wouldn't use anything that requires me to broadcast a fixed address, it's counter intuitive.
btw there is no HA addon for monitor. The addon is just to manage the software. I do this through node red.
> I use monitor because it resolves random mac addresses. This is pretty much the default for new phones.
> Turns out walking around with a device that broadcast a fixed number is not such a good idea. So they created randomization to make phones hard to track.
> It's just strange to me that people using HA, which is based on privacy, would turn around and disable a feature designed to protect your privacy.
People do their thing, I'm in to HA to put the smart back into smart devices because they are so insanely dumb and limited from the store, their apps suck and gets dropped way to fast by the manufacturer. Same with linux — I want stuff to keep working and not get dropped by some megacoporation who decided the thing is too old. Privacy sure, cool I'll take that if it's somewhat convenient and not a part time job. My phone uses a static mac address, not much I can do about that without sacrificing on convenience.
> Personally I wouldn't use anything that requires me to broadcast a fixed address, it's counter intuitive.
> btw there is no HA addon for monitor. The addon is just to manage the software. I do this through node red.
Ah, yes ok I see. Yet the logs for the Limych/addon-presence-monitor speaks of ```[cont-init.d] monitor.sh: executing... ``` and ```updated monitor.sh (v. Unknown) -> (v. 0.2.200)...```. To me that's very much an add-on sporting the monitor.sh script and providing a simple configuration tab. Instructions on the repo says nothing about grabing andrews script and placing it somewhere specific and chmod:ing it to be executable. What am I missing here?
Logs seem fine, yet I am not sure what it has provided for me. Can't find any new entities and such within Mqtt or HA.
You know what you're right, I forgot it turns the ha pi into a node. I run an ssd on my pi and bluetooth on the same pi can cause problems.
I have it running on 4 pi zero's. I'm real happy with it. I use it for access control, it opens my front door.
If I need to add family temporarily, it simple. Nothing has to be setup on their phone, I only need a screenshot of the bluetooth mac and I can add them before they even arrive.
> am not sure what it has provided for me. Can't find any new entities and such within Mqtt or HA.
I am not sure about the addon but you have to listen to the mqtt topic and create you're own sensors from that.
If you listen to the topic monitor on, what do you see. You should be able to initiate a scan and then watch it go out on the topic.
go to the mqtt integration, choose configue, at the bottom use a `#` for topic and hit listen. Or get [mqtt explorer for windows.](https://i.imgur.com/sJWmfMI.jpg)
Go to the monitor git page. On the setup page is examples of how to create mqtt entities. If I remember correctly you can set it as a device tracker home/away. Read the faq page as well. You can really fine tune monitor.
"id":"xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:0F","confidence":"0","name":"Bruce","manufacturer":"Wingtech Mobile Communications Co Ltd","type":"KNOWN_MAC","retained":"false","timestamp":"Tue Jan 23 2024 12:24:31 GMT-0500 (EST)","version":"0.2.200"}
That is what a typical monitor message looks like.
I think that pressing "settings" on the left side and then selecting persons lets you click on the user and then you add that ble or phone device you want to connect to that person to show the home status.
> I think that pressing "settings" on the left side and then selecting persons lets you click on the user and then you add that ble or phone device you want to connect to that person to show the home status. Under "Settings > People > Me" I've got my phone set as a tracking device. I've enabled various sensors (all bluetooth, some wifi related) in the companion app. But that does not seem to give me much in the way of known_devices.yaml (or whatever the alternative is since know_devices is depricated.)
Sounds like you want the Private BLE Device (https://www.home-assistant.io/integrations/private_ble_device) integration. You get home/away notifications and not much else. If you want room-level presence, I’d recommend ESPresense.
Location tracking and bluetooth in general is *awful* in home assistant. Honestly it should just be removed entirely.
If you’re a bit technical, I’d be happy to help you set up the Esphome-based room level presence system I created. I’ve helped a few people get it running. It’s very reliable because of lots of signal processing and sensor fusion algorithms I created. The requirements are: esp32 devices in every room you want to be able to track, iPhone (android if you know how to write python), and some kind of iCloud/own tracks/other gps-based presence for fusion. https://github.com/dgrnbrg/appdaemon-configs/blob/main/README.md#bluetooth-room-level-tracking-for-iphones-apple-watches-and-other-untrackable-devices-using-esphome
I use monitor because it resolves random mac addresses. This is pretty much the default for new phones. Turns out walking around with a device that broadcast a fixed number is not such a good idea. So they created randomization to make phones hard to track. It's just strange to me that people using HA, which is based on privacy, would turn around and disable a feature designed to protect your privacy. Personally I wouldn't use anything that requires me to broadcast a fixed address, it's counter intuitive. btw there is no HA addon for monitor. The addon is just to manage the software. I do this through node red.
> I use monitor because it resolves random mac addresses. This is pretty much the default for new phones. > Turns out walking around with a device that broadcast a fixed number is not such a good idea. So they created randomization to make phones hard to track. > It's just strange to me that people using HA, which is based on privacy, would turn around and disable a feature designed to protect your privacy. People do their thing, I'm in to HA to put the smart back into smart devices because they are so insanely dumb and limited from the store, their apps suck and gets dropped way to fast by the manufacturer. Same with linux — I want stuff to keep working and not get dropped by some megacoporation who decided the thing is too old. Privacy sure, cool I'll take that if it's somewhat convenient and not a part time job. My phone uses a static mac address, not much I can do about that without sacrificing on convenience. > Personally I wouldn't use anything that requires me to broadcast a fixed address, it's counter intuitive. > btw there is no HA addon for monitor. The addon is just to manage the software. I do this through node red. Ah, yes ok I see. Yet the logs for the Limych/addon-presence-monitor speaks of ```[cont-init.d] monitor.sh: executing... ``` and ```updated monitor.sh (v. Unknown) -> (v. 0.2.200)...```. To me that's very much an add-on sporting the monitor.sh script and providing a simple configuration tab. Instructions on the repo says nothing about grabing andrews script and placing it somewhere specific and chmod:ing it to be executable. What am I missing here? Logs seem fine, yet I am not sure what it has provided for me. Can't find any new entities and such within Mqtt or HA.
You know what you're right, I forgot it turns the ha pi into a node. I run an ssd on my pi and bluetooth on the same pi can cause problems. I have it running on 4 pi zero's. I'm real happy with it. I use it for access control, it opens my front door. If I need to add family temporarily, it simple. Nothing has to be setup on their phone, I only need a screenshot of the bluetooth mac and I can add them before they even arrive.
> am not sure what it has provided for me. Can't find any new entities and such within Mqtt or HA. I am not sure about the addon but you have to listen to the mqtt topic and create you're own sensors from that. If you listen to the topic monitor on, what do you see. You should be able to initiate a scan and then watch it go out on the topic.
> That is what a typical monitor message looks like. Thanks, now I just need to figure out how to listen on topics ;)
go to the mqtt integration, choose configue, at the bottom use a `#` for topic and hit listen. Or get [mqtt explorer for windows.](https://i.imgur.com/sJWmfMI.jpg) Go to the monitor git page. On the setup page is examples of how to create mqtt entities. If I remember correctly you can set it as a device tracker home/away. Read the faq page as well. You can really fine tune monitor.
Thanks. Something is not correct on my end, listening to "/presence/#" provides me with dead silence. ``` mqtt: broker: mqtt://core-mosquitto port: 1883 username: derpfake password: derpfake topic_root: presence publisher: "" known: beacons: - E4:5F:01:36:B2:59 pi4 static: - E8:78:29:C4:6A:A2 fp4 blacklist: [] log_level: trace ```
"id":"xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:0F","confidence":"0","name":"Bruce","manufacturer":"Wingtech Mobile Communications Co Ltd","type":"KNOWN_MAC","retained":"false","timestamp":"Tue Jan 23 2024 12:24:31 GMT-0500 (EST)","version":"0.2.200"} That is what a typical monitor message looks like.