Nest mini presence sensing?

[bridgetmolly]

What are the devices that have presence sensing? I'm not seeing options for the nest mini and that is disappointing. I want to create a routine for when I arrive home without having to talk to the nest mini. How can I do that? IFTTT doesn't connect to the nest mini and I'm not seeing enough options/settings in the Google home app.

[sporfrog]

Probably the most straight forward approach would be to utilize Presence Sensing on the phone for each household member.  It basically works like - If all participating phones (you, spouse, roommates, kids, etc) are detected away, then run the Away routine.  Once the first phone returns, run the home routine.  It uses the phone GPS and "geofencing" to determine each individual/phone status.

Google Home App -> Settings -> Presence sensing (under Features)

https://support.google.com/googlenest/answer/10000312?hl=en

https://support.google.com/googlenest/answer/9251759?hl=en

Then you configure the Home and Away routines to do whatever you want them to do.  Turn on or off lights, enable/disable cameras, adjust thermostat temperature, etc.

Google Home app -> Routines

[bridgetmolly]

I would love to do that but presence sensing isn't listed in the settings in the Google Home app.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/JFNQ8wKKKwfaM3kp6

Meanwhile, I've turned on location sharing every which way I could find it within my phone/assistant settings. Just waiting for that hyped up presence sensing option to appear for me in the Home app. I've uninstalled and installed it again, too.

[sporfrog]

Ya. Sorry.  I just assumed the Presence Sensing and Home/Away routines would be available to anyone with at least one device in Google Home.  Turns out I was wrong.  It appears maybe need to have at least one Google/Nest device that uses Presence Sensing or provides it (phone not included)? I hope Google changes this at some point because using a phone and geofencing as a way to start home and away routines works pretty good and could be handy for any works with Google Home device not just certain ones.

I don't know which devices would enable this in the app.  My guess is Google/Nest thermostats, cameras, and doorbell.

[sporfrog]

Ok. Wait a minute...

Just to test I looked at a second home in Google Home.  There are no Nest products in the home - just an Android TV and some "Works With Google Home" devices.  A button appeared under the home name [Set up Home & Away Routines].  Once I clicked that button and followed the prompts, it created empty routines and added Presence Sensing as an option.  I can now configure Home and Away routines using phone based presence sensing to determine home or away.  Hmm.  Interesting.  So confused.

[bridgetmolly]

That is very interesting! I created a second home but that option didn't come up for me. I hope Google will make this device more useful soon. Thanks for your help.

[GarrettDS]

Hey folks, 
Thanks for visiting the Community. 

Since this thread hasn't had activity in a while, we're going to close it to keep content fresh. 

We hope you were able to get the help you need but if the issue persists feel free to create a new thread, and provide as many details as possible so that others can lend a hand. 

Best regards, 
Garrett DS