Smartphone Radar - Smartphone presence detection (Locked)

[odavis]

If you read my posts (just above) I point out the pattern that worked for me.

I suggest you enable wifi syncing to iTunes on your wife's iphone so that it stays associated to the AP.

I had one iPhone that kept dropping but since making this change I've had perfect performance.

[rszmetro]

Thanks Travis for the quick response. I have the phone connecting automatically to wifi. I'm matching by Mac address. There are two email accounts on each phone, a mail account set to fetch every 15 minutes (grayed out) and an iCloud account set to push. I'll find out if making sure the settings match makes a difference.

Rob Z

[rszmetro]

Thanks, I'll try that.

Rob Z

[travisc]

Thanks, I'll try that.

Rob Z

Did any of the suggestions works?

If not, do you have more than one access point? Maybe the other phone has a preference for the other access point. That one would have to be monitored by the plugin as well.

[Fishysan]

Ahh cool didn't realize it could monitor more then one AP - I extended my network temporarily w an airport express to play w range but changed to monitor that vs main, and it would switch. I'll have to look into that! Thanks.

[rszmetro]

I've been checking for a couple of days and it seems to be working! Thanks.

Rob Z

[Dewster35]

I was thinking about trying to get this to work on my network, but I don't think it will since I have an airport extreme which I believe forces me to only use the MAC Address..

My home is driven significantly by a house mode... only certain things happen when certain house modes are on. The house mode is in turn, driven by occupancy, which is what I'm now using SR for. However, we have one house mode that we have to manually turn on, and that is "Company". Home automation is great, but when you get too many people who don't know what anything does and pushing random buttons, that can cause troubles, so that is what the "Company" house mode does. However, like I said, we are manually turning that on... so my thought was, reduce your DHCP IP address to a range of say just 10 addresses and assign all of those 10 addresses to a generic SR device called "Company1", "Company2" Etc. Fix the rest of your device IP addresses outside of this range. Set the toggle for company mode on if any of the generic Company# devices are actively seen on the network in the last few hours or so... and have it switch back to the normal house mode once it doesn't see any activity.

Just thought someone else may find this idea helpful if they have a similar setup. As I said, I've got a airport extreme, so I'm SOL outside of assigning regular guests a device based on their MAC address... that is unless someone can think of a work around

By the way, GREAT plugin... thanks for the contribution!

[travisc]

That's a neat application, I never thought of that. Now you've got me thinking of a Mother-In-Law mode that will trigger a script to call my cell when she gets close so I can fake an emergency at the office.

[Dewster35]

That's a neat application, I never thought of that. Now you've got me thinking of a Mother-In-Law mode that will trigger a script to call my cell when she gets close so I can fake an emergency at the office.

Haha... that is EXACTLY what prompted the lockouts! My mother-in-law literally walks around the house in the dark because she's afraid of hitting a button and having the floor drop out or something! However... I do like your idea also

[jay (support)]

+1 on company mode - mine is primarily so that the guest bedroom doesn't heat up to 80°, but also to mute most spoken announcements, etc.

[philc]

I need a little help...I am using iPhones with an Airport Extreme and 2 Time Capsules providing wireless coverage throughout my house (worst possible case, it seems). However, I have my routers forwarding sys logs to my Mac Mini Server, have the server logs forwarded to the correct port, and I can see the SNMP info in the Indigo logs...so I think I have the backbone set up properly.

Problem is, the plugin doesn't detect my phone being home unless I reload the plugin. I can see my iPhone's mac address in the log, but the plugin doesn't see it. If I reload the plugin, it detects the phone as being home no problem...but 30 minutes later, it says I'm away even though I'm not. I have Wi-fi syncing turned on, iCloud sync turned on, iPhone is showing up in the Airport Extreme and Time Capsule DHCP wireless client list.

Any ideas? Appreciate any help you might offer.
Thanks,
Phil

[Dewster35]

I need a little help...I am using iPhones with an Airport Extreme and 2 Time Capsules providing wireless coverage throughout my house (worst possible case, it seems). However, I have my routers forwarding sys logs to my Mac Mini Server, have the server logs forwarded to the correct port, and I can see the SNMP info in the Indigo logs...so I think I have the backbone set up properly.

Problem is, the plugin doesn't detect my phone being home unless I reload the plugin. I can see my iPhone's mac address in the log, but the plugin doesn't see it. If I reload the plugin, it detects the phone as being home no problem...but 30 minutes later, it says I'm away even though I'm not. I have Wi-fi syncing turned on, iCloud sync turned on, iPhone is showing up in the Airport Extreme and Time Capsule DHCP wireless client list.

Any ideas? Appreciate any help you might offer.
Thanks,
Phil

Phil,
Do you have the airport extreme and both time capsules setup in the plugin configuration menu? I assume you're using the beta version that listed with special support for airport extreme?

I'm not the most savvy when it comes to network communication, but I didn't have to forward to a port... just the static IP address where indigo server resides. SNMP doesn't require port forwarding... but it sounds as though you are seeing it nonetheless.

Do you have the IP address of your phone in your "device" setting or the MAC address? It has to be the MAC address or it won't see it. I ran into similar problems where I thought it "saw" my device on the network but then it just kept timing up. I have AWAY setup to kick in after 5 minutes and I still haven't had a false "away" event happen that I know of... but I'm sure your mileage will vary depending on the network setup you've got.

[philc]

I have all three set up in the configuration menu; I am using the beta version; I am using the MAC address of the phone.

I assume that if I can see the information in the event log, then SPR should be able to see it as well.

Appreciate the help...I saw something about DHCP leases in the forum - haven't touched that yet, should I?

Thanks,
Phil

[Dewster35]

Again... I'm no networking guru, but I believe the DHCP lease time only relates to the IP address handed out. Since you're using MAC address... this should be irrelevant for this case.

I'm not sure what the issue is, if you're connecting to the network with your device and the plugin is seeing the traffic, I would assume the problem is at the device level.

Just for fun, I went ahead and created a new device with a MAC address that is 1 digit incorrect from the address on my actual phone and it is giving the same reaction as what you're seeing... so you may want to make sure the address is entered correctly and in the right format as shown on that entry screen.

That's about as far as I can help you. Hope it works out...

[Dewster35]

Travis... I just ran across something that I am thinking is probably a whole lot harder to address than it seems on the surface.

So I have my wife's phone setup... and I had to reboot my mac mini... not a common occurrence... but an occasional one. When indigo releaunched (she was still at work), the plugin fired up and initially set her state as "home". This in turned fired off a bunch of triggers that happen with the house upon her arrival. For what it's worth... I'm using the "state" of "HOME" being "on or true" as the trigger.

Is there a way you can make the initial loading of location to whatever it was when the plugin was closed down?