Automatic User Presence with Life360
A question has been raised over and over again: How can one create rules in Zipabox, Zipatile etc which trigger automatically whenever someone in the family leaves the house, arrives to the house, etc. Many users have requested that Zipato add geolocation to its app.
In my opinion, adding GPS/geolocation to the Zipato app is NOT the way to go. You may not want to have your 10-year old fiddeling about in your Smarthouse system. There are much better ways:
The *best* geolocation app out there (and I've tested quite a few), is Life360. By "best", I mean best with respect to "works always, never causes problems".
Create your "family" in Life360, and have each household member install Life360 on their iOS or Android device. Then, connect your Life360 account to IFTTT, and set up triggers to virtual switches or virtual sensors in the Zipato environment.
Using this very simple to implement structure, you can create rules which trigger on last household member to leave the house, first household member to return to the house, etc.
If you add IFTTT for each of the household members as well, you can just as easily create a system where your Zipato system "knows" who is at home and who is not at home. You can switch off lights etc automatically in your childrens rooms when each respective child leaves the house.
You can switch off the TV and Stereo rack when the last household member leaves the house.
You can be notified if the Alarm is NOT set, when the last household member leaves the house.
The person leaving the house, can be notified that the alarm is set, but that person X or Y is still in the house.
Etc. etc.
I like this idea 
Hi Robert, thanks for the description. So Life360 needs to be linked with ifttt. The other channel (that sends the link to zipato service) is Maker?
Hi Robert, thanks for the description. So Life360 needs to be linked with ifttt. The other channel (that sends the link to zipato service) is Maker?
I got it now. it was pretty easy to set up in connection with the maker channel. 2 rules and now will start testing. I will also do the same for my partner so the house can be connected again...
I got it now. it was pretty easy to set up in connection with the maker channel. 2 rules and now will start testing. I will also do the same for my partner so the house can be connected again...
Attila,
Glad this worked for you too!
The critical process in all of this, is the app running on the phone. Many GPS-aware / geolocation apps are battery hogs, others fail to work from time to time. This is where Life360 excels! It has a much lower battery impact than others I have tested (including Sygic and others), and so far.
As you play with this, I guess you too will find that it is easy to implement one virtual switch per family member, automatically updated via Life360->IFTTT/Maker -> Zipato, which can then be used by other rules to test if the person is at home or not :-)
Attila,
Glad this worked for you too!
The critical process in all of this, is the app running on the phone. Many GPS-aware / geolocation apps are battery hogs, others fail to work from time to time. This is where Life360 excels! It has a much lower battery impact than others I have tested (including Sygic and others), and so far.
As you play with this, I guess you too will find that it is easy to implement one virtual switch per family member, automatically updated via Life360->IFTTT/Maker -> Zipato, which can then be used by other rules to test if the person is at home or not :-)
I cannot wait to use it fully. I look forward on the battery consumption as I dont even want to install ifttt on the phone as it consumes butter without no reason.
I already will test it tonight when arriving to home. And then also install for my partner....and if all good, finally can start to use again my automatic arming and disarming system that was not realiable because of the tasker unreliability. Fingers crossed.
Btw, Robert, so you also have problems like in the post here: https://community.zipato.com/topic/lost-devices-in-the-rule-generator
I cannot wait to use it fully. I look forward on the battery consumption as I dont even want to install ifttt on the phone as it consumes butter without no reason.
I already will test it tonight when arriving to home. And then also install for my partner....and if all good, finally can start to use again my automatic arming and disarming system that was not realiable because of the tasker unreliability. Fingers crossed.
Btw, Robert, so you also have problems like in the post here: https://community.zipato.com/topic/lost-devices-in-the-rule-generator
App downloaded, will test. Thanks for sharing.
App downloaded, will test. Thanks for sharing.
I've been testing/using Life360 for the past 2 months now after your suggestion. My main issue is that it does not update my location status until I open my phone. So if driving to a another location it may not update for 30 minutes or more.
It is handy that you can have different accounts and users. But I still have not found it that reliable. But better than anyhting else, even Tasker has been letting me down a lot lately. And using the android loaction services with IFTTT have been awful. I would still like to test the Smarthings proximity tag, this would be interesting.
I've been testing/using Life360 for the past 2 months now after your suggestion. My main issue is that it does not update my location status until I open my phone. So if driving to a another location it may not update for 30 minutes or more.
It is handy that you can have different accounts and users. But I still have not found it that reliable. But better than anyhting else, even Tasker has been letting me down a lot lately. And using the android loaction services with IFTTT have been awful. I would still like to test the Smarthings proximity tag, this would be interesting.
I am also testing multiple apps that manage geolocation: IFTTT, Life360, Tasker, AutomateIt, Locative mainly. I'm essentially trying to find an app that is not cloud based (IFTTT, Life360 are). I have issues with the three others, either to properly detect geolocation, or to fire the http request to change a virtual sensor. Life360 is a bit overkill to me, so I am using IFTTT for now without noticing hardly any battery usage (0% average per day according to BetterBatteryStats)
I am also testing multiple apps that manage geolocation: IFTTT, Life360, Tasker, AutomateIt, Locative mainly. I'm essentially trying to find an app that is not cloud based (IFTTT, Life360 are). I have issues with the three others, either to properly detect geolocation, or to fire the http request to change a virtual sensor. Life360 is a bit overkill to me, so I am using IFTTT for now without noticing hardly any battery usage (0% average per day according to BetterBatteryStats)
I had to make adjustments to my phone to enable background updates for Life360 and also I have noticed that my IFTTT rule was somehow incorrect hence the virtual presence sensor was not working correctly.
Since I have fixed these two things, it seems to be reliable. Currently my alarm is connected to the presense sensors and seems ok. I will feedback on the active usage in a month but at the moment finally my automatic arming and disarming is back to operational.
I understad you Olivier that you are trying to achieve a non-cloud dependant presence detection, but I had a problem with it. When for example tasker was set to fire a http command, it could easily happen that the command did not go through due to reception or other issues and tasker despite set as retry the rule if not successful, still was not enough.
With Life360 the location sooner or later will be updated to the system (I have 60 minute intervals + tghe automatic location change) and so far it is reliable as hell. So now the problem with the local firing is eliminated.
Keep you posted in about a month.
I had to make adjustments to my phone to enable background updates for Life360 and also I have noticed that my IFTTT rule was somehow incorrect hence the virtual presence sensor was not working correctly.
Since I have fixed these two things, it seems to be reliable. Currently my alarm is connected to the presense sensors and seems ok. I will feedback on the active usage in a month but at the moment finally my automatic arming and disarming is back to operational.
I understad you Olivier that you are trying to achieve a non-cloud dependant presence detection, but I had a problem with it. When for example tasker was set to fire a http command, it could easily happen that the command did not go through due to reception or other issues and tasker despite set as retry the rule if not successful, still was not enough.
With Life360 the location sooner or later will be updated to the system (I have 60 minute intervals + tghe automatic location change) and so far it is reliable as hell. So now the problem with the local firing is eliminated.
Keep you posted in about a month.
I can also confirm that life 360 + IFTTT works WAY better than IFTTT location applets. I have been using the free version of life 360 with me and my wife and only one time the applet didn't run so far on my wife's iphone.
I can also confirm that life 360 + IFTTT works WAY better than IFTTT location applets. I have been using the free version of life 360 with me and my wife and only one time the applet didn't run so far on my wife's iphone.
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