Presence sensing broken "No one's home" automation shows error even though location works correctly

[Haldolium]

Since the latest Google Home app update, my automation “No one’s home” is always saved with an error.  

Both smartphones (Pixel 10 Pro on Android 14 and another device with location sharing enabled) are part of the same household.  

Location access is set to “Allow all the time,” and our home Wi-Fi is added as a participating network.

Presence sensing itself works: the home correctly switches between “Home” and “Away.”  

However, when saving the automation, it says “Automation saved with error(s),” and the trigger “Presence – No one’s home” shows a warning icon.

I already tried:

– turning presence sensing off/on again  

– clearing cache and data  

– reinstalling the Home app  

– editing and re-saving the home address  

The issue remains.  

It seems to be a server-side validation bug affecting new automations that use presence sensing.  

Could the team please confirm if this is a known issue or forward it to the Home engineering group?

[GabrielaG]

Hi @Haldolium,

Thank you for reaching out to the Google Nest Community. I'm sorry to hear you're running into an issue with the Presence sensing issue with the "No one's home" Automation. We understand the routine is failing despite correct location tracking, and I'm glad to share more information.

To determine the most effective troubleshooting plan, could you please provide the following details?

• What is your Google Home app version?
• Have you tried recreating the automation since the update?
• May I know what type of automation does not work? Is it Personal or Household? Is the automation completely failing to trigger, or does it trigger incorrectly, such as activating at the wrong time or not at all?

I look forward to your response so we can get this resolved.

Regards,

Gabriela

[Haldolium]

Hi Gabriela,

first of all, my apologies for the very late reply. I did not receive any notification in my inbox about your response, so I only saw it now because another user recently commented on the thread.

Here are the details you requested:

1) Google Home app version
Version 4.2.51.1 on a Pixel 10 Pro (Android 16, build BD3A.251105.010.E1).

2) Have I recreated the automation after the update?
Yes, several times, completely from scratch.
Each time I press “Save,” I immediately get the message:
“Automation saved with error(s).”
The starter “Presence – No one’s home” instantly shows a warning icon.

3) Type of automation & behaviour
It is a Household automation.
Presence sensing can be configured without issues, but the automation itself is always saved in an error state and becomes disabled.
Other automations (time-based, sunset-based, etc.) work normally.

4) Does presence sensing itself switch correctly?
Yes — the presence status in the Home app correctly switches between “Home” and “Away.”
The issue only appears when saving a new automation that uses the starter
“Presence – No one’s home.”

If you need additional details, I’ll be happy to provide them.

Regards,
Jörn

[Haldolium]

Hi Gabriela,

I’d like to add a brief update to my previous message.

During further research, I found a Reddit thread where multiple users are reporting the exact same issue. The thread was created around 2 months ago, so the problem has existed for a while:

Reddit – “Routine Presence Setting in automations returns error …”
Link: https://www.reddit.com/r/googlehome/comments/1nmznr7/routine_presence_setting_in_automations_returns...

The users in that thread describe the exact same symptoms:
– Presence sensing is fully set up
– Saving an automation with the presence starter immediately produces an error
– The presence starter shows a warning icon
– The automation becomes disabled

One user also reported that they had already spoken with Google Support, but Support was unable to resolve the issue and asked them to submit feedback through the app. No official fix or resolution is mentioned in the thread.

I hope this information helps to show that the issue is also being reported by other users.

Kind regards,
Jörn

[mwtheplumber]

I have this same problem. App Version 4.2.51.2. I have reinstalled tha app, deleted and rebulit the automation, presence sensing is enabled but when I try to save the App it says 'Saved with errors' Presence Sensing required

[Sup3rsheep]

Same errors as described above (Home version 4.3.56.2) but I think I found the solution.

I had previously enabled presence sensing in home settings, enabled my phone to be used, and even made sure my partners settings (in my home family) allowed sensing, but was receiving the same 'Saved with errors' message and the automation disabled.

In the home app>profile picture>inbox, I found a message about setting up presence sensing. After clicking this it walks you through some setup prompts. After going through this sequence the presence condition automations saved properly and are enabled. Seems this 'introduction' sequence is needed for it to setup correctly. 

Hope this helps! 

[AlldayRichi]

This should be an official AI answer. Thanks so much. Had issues with this for quite some time and it now works

[Haldolium]

Hi everyone,

a quick update:

A big thank you to @Sup3rsheep — your hint about the hidden “presence sensing introduction” under Profile → Inbox was exactly what I was missing.

I went through that setup flow, and immediately everything started working.

The automation now saves without errors and stays enabled.

I really appreciate your help — I never would have found that on my own.

@Gabriela

It might be helpful if the app made this required setup step more visible.

At the moment it’s so well hidden that users have no way of knowing they need to complete it before presence-based automations can work properly.

Thanks again,

Jörn

[Haldolium]

Hi everyone,

just another quick update from my side.

After completing the hidden presence-sensing onboarding under

Profile → Inbox, the automation now saves correctly and stays enabled.

However, there is still an issue with the actual execution of the automation:

The automation

“When no one is home → turn off all lights”

does not trigger automatically.

What I can confirm:

We only have two smartphones in this home.

Both devices have all required permissions enabled (location set to “always allow”, no battery restrictions, etc.).

In the Google Home app, both users are clearly shown as “Away”.

In Google Maps, I can also see that the second person is outside the home area, including the corresponding “out of area” indication.

When I run the automation manually, it works immediately (all lights turn off).

Despite this, the automation is not triggered automatically when both people are away.

In short:

– Presence status is detected correctly

– Automation is saved and enabled correctly

– Automatic triggering does not happen

If anyone has seen similar behavior or knows of limitations with presence-based automations, I’d appreciate any insight.