Next school year, my son will be left home after school for a few hours while my wife and I are at work. I’m looking for a way to detect when he’s home and have the front door unlock (among other automation scripts that are in place).

I came across this post and was going to get the Tile Pro as it seemed to check off all my requirements:

  • I could put it in his backpack where it can be forgotten.
  • long battery life.
  • Through the Home Assistant integration, it can trigger when it gets in range.
  • It also has a few other beneficial things, so I was thinking of putting one on each of our bicycles in case they’re ever stolen. Hell, I could look into putting one on my cat’s collar in case she ever gets out.

Then I came across some concerning articles regarding data harvesting. The whole reason I started self-hosting was to prevent data harvesting, so it seems like the Tile is a non-starter for me.

Has anyone been in this (or a similar) situation? Mainly, I’m looking for a device I can put in my son’s backpack that can trigger when he’s within range, so the house will open for him. BLE seems like it might be a solution, though I run my server on an old Dell r720 enterprise server in my basement, so I don’t currently have Bluetooth functionality (and it’s pretty far away from the front door, 20+ feet), though getting that is not a dealbreaker for me.

  • Addendum: To people saying just get a key: we have a key for him. I have a monolith sized server in my basement that automates most everything in my house these days, and was curious if anyone had set up something similar to what I was thinking. Home automation is very much a hobby, and I’m using it to learn new things.
  • GreatAlbatross@feddit.ukMEnglish
    2·
    4 months ago

    Security wise, while I love automating everything, I personally would just give them a physical key to the front door. (Or an RFID keyfob system).
    What you’d be achieving is the equivalent of keyless car entry, with the additional downside that your son can’t choose not to open the door if something sketchy happens.
    And instead of entrusting them with a traditional key that they can treat responsibly, you’re just putting something in their backpack that they don’t have to think about.

    If you really want to do it, basically anything in homeassistant that has wireless capability and a state would probably work.
    A zigbee radio, and pretty much any device doing anything would do it.
    When device_name becomes available, activate door opening.

  • bisby@lemmy.worldEnglish
    1·
    4 months ago

    Definitely make sure you think through all the physical security implications of having your house automatically unlock in any scenario.

    Have the house auto unlock when getting home on a bicycle, sounds convenient until, as you point out, they could get stolen and now the thief has a convenient way to unlock your house. So you would not want that.

    You would definitely not want the house to STAY unlocked when something like a tag is in range. If your kid is home alone, you want them to be able to re-lock the house (or in general, you want to be able to lock your house while the kid is home).

    Whatever solution you wind up with, you are going to be trading physical security for ease of use (and complicated fun task). Be safe. Make sure the tradeoffs are actually thought through and worth it.

  • dhork@lemmy.worldEnglish
    1·
    4 months ago

    Maybe you can go a bit lower tech. There are “smart” door locks with a keypad that have Bluetooth, but are not otherwise cloud enabled. Then find a small device you can use as a Bluetooth proxy and position it near the front door, to keep tabs on it. Our lock is from Kwikset, and while there is an app to program it, once it is programmed it is pretty much stand-alone and won’t need the app anymore.

    The lock does have Home Assistant integration but I haven’t tried it yet because I haven’t done the Bluetooth Proxy yet.

  • DeltaTangoLima@reddrefuge.comEnglish
    0·
    4 months ago

    I’ve been thinking about exactly the same problem.

    We want to give our near-10yo daughter her first phone, but she’s not allowed to have it at school. She’s also getting to the point where she can be trusted at home for an hour or so before one of us gets home from work, so I also need a presence detection method that doesn’t use a mobile phone.

    My best theoretical solutions are like those already suggested here: an ESP32 BT proxy detecting a homebrew BLE beacon in her school bag, or detect activity on her iPad/the TV. But neither of those are reliable for all scenarios - she obviously doesn’t take her school bag to her friend’s house, and doesn’t always use her iPad or the TV.

    The only other thing I’m pondering is if I could setup facial recognition using our video doorbell. I use Frigate with a Coral TPU, so hoping there’s a project out there that could possibly do that.

    • dustyData@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      4 months ago

      Gotta love techno maniacs, suggesting implanting a microchip on your child is somehow a reasonable suggestion. Have people heard of keys? buttons? hell, even Bluetooth tags?

      If the kid is old enough to stay at home alone for a few hours, they’re probably old enough to have and operate a key and push a couple of buttons on a touchscreen or tablet.