topic Re: More ways to switch Home/Away mode? in Home Automation

More ways to switch Home/Away mode?

tjk — Thu, 13 Oct 2022 16:02:44 GMT

So far, I only found two ways to switch the Home/Away mode:

With google presence sensing, which I didn't find very accurate and convenient.
With voice commands to the speakers, which are just anti-automation really.

I even tried sending commands via API through Assistant SDK — these commands go through but are ignored.

I am tracking presence with other, non-google devices, and wondering if there are any other ways to switch Google's Home/Away status.

Re: More ways to switch Home/Away mode?

Dan_A — Tue, 18 Oct 2022 17:08:22 GMT

Hey tjk,

Thanks for posting.

What Google Home/Nest device are you using with your Home/Away mode?

I will give you 2 articles that helped a lot and will give you the answers you need: Manually switch your home to Away or Home mode and Change Home/Away Assist settings.

Keep me posted.

Thanks,

Dan

Re: More ways to switch Home/Away mode?

tjk — Tue, 18 Oct 2022 17:26:25 GMT

Thanks, I've read all the official docs and came here because there seems to be no way to do what I want.

Let's suppose I have a presence sensor that integrates into Google Home. I want Google Home's status to go to "Away" mode when this sensor is OFF. And back to "Home" mode when the sensor is ON.

It doesn't matter what sensor that is because I see no way to use it in the default Home/Away routines.

Custom routines don't support switching Home/Away status. So this looks like a dead end to me.

Re: More ways to switch Home/Away mode?

Dan_A — Tue, 18 Oct 2022 17:44:05 GMT

Hi tjk,

To know more about this, what Google Home/Nest devices are set to your Home/Away mode? Do you mean to say that whenever the sensor is off, the status automatically goes to "Away", and whenever the sensor is on, the status guest to "Home" mode?

Tell me more, please!

Regards,

Dan

Re: More ways to switch Home/Away mode?

tjk — Tue, 18 Oct 2022 21:13:08 GMT

I am afraid you don't understand how this feature works.

Home/Away status in Google Home is determined by:

Manual toggle in the app
Voice command
Presence sensing (location, speakers, motion sensors in various google's devices)

There are two built-in routines to take care of the actions that need to follow the status change. The triggers on those two routines are unmodifiable — I can't set the Home/Away status to change with a flip of some light switch, for example. The triggers are only those 3 points above.

My question is — can something else be a trigger to change that Home/Away status. Some other non-google device, an API call, etc.

Re: More ways to switch Home/Away mode?

Dan_A — Thu, 20 Oct 2022 21:13:36 GMT

Hi tjk,

Check out this guide: Learn about Family Accounts and how to share access to your Nest home.

The guide above is when you have family members added as a home member. Other than that, manual toggle in the app, voice command and presence sensing are the only available triggers.

Hope this helps.

Best,

Dan

Re: More ways to switch Home/Away mode?

tjk — Thu, 20 Oct 2022 21:17:46 GMT

Can you make a feature request somewhere? We need
a) to be allowed to switch this status with an action within a routine

b) that status change to be available as a trigger in routines (not just in the default routines)

Thanks

Re: More ways to switch Home/Away mode?

Dan_A — Thu, 20 Oct 2022 21:27:55 GMT

Hey tjk,

We appreciate people who are keen on sharing their thoughts with us. We're always looking for ways to improve and we'll take this as feedback. You can use this link to submit a feedback request. Let me know if you have other questions or concerns, otherwise I’ll be locking this thread after 24 hours.

Thanks,

Dan