Homekit will not recognize when I leave or arrive home

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Level 1

14 points

Homekit will not recognize when I leave or arrive home

I just got a HomePod Mine, followed by a second a couple weeks later. I have Home setup with all of my Hue lights/outlets, plus an Ecobee thermostat and my TV along with the HomePods. I have automations setup to turn lights off when certain family member leave and turn lights on when they arrive, plus automations to turn almost everything off when the last person leaved, and a couple of light one when the first person arrives at night. The automations work, except the ones that include myself. The lights in my office are not turned off when I leave, and the turn everything off when the last person leaves do not work.

I have two phones Personal(15 Plus) and an older work phone (I think it's a 12). I have it set to use my personal phone for my location in Find My. Also, both phones usually are with me wherever I go anyway. I also have an older iPad which can only be updated to iOS 16 I believe. All other devices are current.

I have already blown out the first attempt at a home setup and created a new one, and it has not changed the behavior.

Playing music on the HomePod minis is certainly nice, but I got them primarily for the Homekit automation.

HomePod mini, 18

Posted on May 2, 2025 6:33 AM

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Answer 1

nwbutcher Author

Level 1

14 points

May 26, 2025 7:32 AM in response to nwbutcher

OK found out a couple more things, When I set it up. it was set up as my work phone as what was used for my location. When I switch that to my personal phone, the automations no longer detect when I leave or arrive home. If I switch it back to use my work phone the automations work again. I have tried to match all location preferences between the two phone, but I can seem to get the 'location sensing' to work when my personal phone is selected to use for my location. It's not an issue most of the time, but on weekends I don't always take my work phone with me. I want to dive more deeply in the Apple Home ecosystems, but I am concerned if I can't get it to work with my personal phone.

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