How to add presence without using Bluetooth trackers

Presence detection is one of the most useful automations you can build. Knowing who’s home lets you control heating, lighting, security, and notifications intelligently. But Bluetooth trackers like AirTags or Tile have real drawbacks for whole-home presence: they drain battery, require people to carry them, and add another device to manage.

Good news: you can build reliable presence detection from devices you likely already own.

Network-based detection

The most practical approach for most people is tracking devices on your Wi-Fi network — phones, watches, laptops — through your router or access points.

For Home Assistant, several router integrations create device_tracker entities. ASUS routers (AsusWRT), many TP-Link models, and others are supported; check Home Assistant’s integration list for your specific hardware before buying anything. If you run Ubiquiti UniFi, the UniFi Network integration is the one that does device tracking — it creates device_tracker entities for connected clients and updates in near real time. (UniFi Protect is the camera/NVR side, not presence detection.) There’s also the simple built-in Ping integration if you just want to check whether a known IP responds.

Tradeoffs worth understanding: network detection misses people who disable Wi-Fi or are on cellular only. It can be slow to mark someone away — the UniFi integration defaults to about 300 seconds since “last seen” before considering a client gone — and a phone that sleeps its radio can briefly drop off. Tuning the away timeout helps.

Motion and occupancy sensors

Motion and presence sensors detect actual human activity rather than a device, which makes them a great complement to network tracking.

Philips Hue motion sensors work well if you’re already in the Hue ecosystem; they’re Zigbee, battery-efficient, and integrate with both Home Assistant and HomeKit. (The Hue Bridge is Zigbee-only — it has no Z-Wave radio.)

For broader options, Aqara sensors like the Aqara Motion Sensor P2 (Matter) or the Aqara Presence Sensor FP1E (mmWave) work with Home Assistant and other platforms. The FP1E detects micro-movements even when someone sits still, so a room stays “occupied” instead of flipping to empty.

Frient Zigbee sensors such as the Motion Sensor Pro and Entry Sensor work with Home Assistant directly and can also feed Hubitat setups.

The key insight: motion/presence sensors are room-level, not person-level. You know someone is in the house, not specifically who. For per-person detection, combine sensors with network tracking.

Thermostats and climate-based presence

Some smart thermostats offer occupancy signals. The ecobee Premium ships with a remote SmartSensor that reports occupancy, useful as an extra input. Be clear about what you are buying into, though: Home Assistant’s ecobee integration is cloud polling and ecobee exposes no local API, so unlike every other sensor on this page that signal stops when your internet does. The readings are also slow (often tens of minutes to register absence) and can’t distinguish household members.

Combining signals for reliability

No single method is perfect, and the local smart home community has settled on combining signals. A practical recipe: use network detection as your primary home/away signal, add motion/presence sensors in key rooms (entryway, living room) to catch arrivals and confirm occupancy, and use thermostat occupancy as a fallback. Home Assistant’s Bayesian sensor can blend these probability-weighted inputs into one occupancy state.

For multi-person households, network detection can identify individual devices by client/MAC, which is the most practical route to per-person presence. Motion sensors alone can’t tell people apart, so many households accept “someone is home” automations except where per-person triggers are truly needed.

Related products

Local-first picks from our catalog that fit this topic:

• Apollo MSR-2 — presence sensor
• Apollo MTR-1 Multi-Target Radar — presence sensor
• Aqara Presence Sensor FP1E — presence sensor

Quick verdict

Network detection is the best starting point — it’s free if your router or UniFi controller is supported, needs no extra hardware, and covers the whole house. Supplement with a motion or mmWave presence sensor at your main entry and in rooms where people sit still. Bluetooth trackers are overkill for most households and add maintenance you don’t need.