Apple Home Doesn't Recognize I'm Home

It seems like there are some consistent bugs with Apple Home and iOS17 - so much for improvements and increased consistency! We just began having the same issue others have identified - Apple Home app not recognizing we’re home which led to the phones constantly alerting us to doors opening and closing (via door sensors) and our camera not turning off when someone arrives home. It was making me crazy! I deleted accessories and reinstalled them, modified notifications and recording selections…all to no avail. Then I had a thought - I was attempting to modify settings using my phone which had been upgraded to ios17. My husband still uses ios16 on his phone. I used his phone to modify the notifications on the camera and door sensors (back to our original settings which made notifications only when we’re not home) and it worked! The camera immediately hibernated and I stopped getting notifications every time a door opened and closed. We’ll see if this lasts!

So there’s no way to directly tell if Homekit recognizes your phone as being Home or Away?

I finally found a reason for this misbehavior: there's a check named "Use an exact location" in the Home App settings under the Location services section. Just switch it off and everything in the Home App will start working again.

Stop wasting everyone’s time. None of your suggestions will do anything to help the situation

I lied, worked for a few days and now it’s even worse.

I was told by Apple Support to use “Find My” app to see if the phone is within the perimeter of your home, but there’s no way to directly confirm it detect the status of Home or Away on the Apple Home app.

What I found helpful was create a virtual switch on my other Smart Home app (SmartThings, Hubitat, etc) and linked it to Apple HomeKit (there’s several ways of doing it). Once linked, I just created an automation on Apple Home where when I arrive home with my phone, it activates the Virtual switch. The virtual switch is my indicator for my “Presence Status”.

Lastly, if your Apple Home app is not detecting your location properly, doing a Settings>General>Reset>Reset Locations fixed that right up for me. Now, my phone presence on Apple Home has been rock solid. Note: If you reset your location service, you have to re-establish each app’s location settings (Always Allow, Allow while using Only, etc).

Hope that helps.

I started to have the same issue this night, I have tried all what has been already suggested into this thread but for now, nothing helped. It's seriously annoying: notification on Mac, iPhones, iPad and Apple Watch (btw, all of them updated to the latest version of the software).

At the moment I have disabled the notification but this is senseless.

It happened today to me!

Find my app started showing an unknown location while I was being at home. I disabled and re enabled the location services and after that although my location fixed, Apple home doesn’t recognize I’m located home!!

Sorry but that won't last. Many of the suggestions here sometimes work for a bit, but the issue will keep returning until Apple fixes it.

Hi jdsaad,

Thank you for participating in the Apple Support Communities. If your device does not recognize that you are home, here are a few steps that may be useful:

1. Restart your iPhone to see if the issue persists: Restart your iPhone - Apple Support

2. Update your iPhone to rule out the older software: Update your iPhone or iPad - Apple Support

3. Try the steps here to see if they help: Create scenes and automations with the Home app - Apple Support

4. If you need further support, reach out to Apple Support here: Contact - Official Apple Support

Have a great day.

I had tried most of those things, but your trigger suggestion led me to try setting the geocaching up to work on the proprietary app for my cameras to determine when I’m home or not. After that I haven’t had a problem. Thanks for the help.

Any other ideas if those options don’t work?

Resting location helps. Thanks

Brilliant!!! I switched it off on my wife’s phone and mine and it’s worked perfectly since.