Geofence

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plongson
Posts: 16
Joined: Wed Oct 23, 2019 1:06 pm

Geofence

Post by plongson »

Running BI 5.0.4.8 and a Samsung s8 android...I cannot get the geofence to work. Location is on for BI in the phone and I've gone through everything in BI (i'm also a longtime user of BI...) but it will not switch to "away" when outside the geofence. It use to work...once upon a time...but now is non-functional. Believe me, I've gone through the setting dozens of times and reset and dumped and reloaded the app. I've even dumped and reloaded BI on the PC. I'm out of ideas.

Any Ideas???
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TimG
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Location: Nottinghamshire, UK.

Re: Geofence

Post by TimG »

Hi plongson,

I have noticed some functionality changes after BI upgrades; using the audio from one camera to another triggered local one for instance. It usually means drilling through the menu's to see what has changed to get it working again. Annoying, but fixable.

I hadn't used geofencing before today, so I will use this thread to see if I can get it working - and hopefully we will find where yours became broken !

OK, I am starting with my android client already working with the BI5 server, and am now working on the BI5 pc:

1. BI settings/Mobile devices - choose and edit required device.
2. Description = Tim Mobile.
3. Push notifications = ticked.
4. Geofence - Click on "Enter Geofence" - I can see an icon for a mobile, all profiles active, and "surprise on a spring" in the description. Press OK.
5. "Only if all devices are inside" is unticked.
6. Click on "Exit Geofence" - This is empty. Should it contain the same info as the "Enter Geofence" ? :o

OK, I'll leave it there for now while I try to figure that one out :(
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plongson
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Joined: Wed Oct 23, 2019 1:06 pm

Re: Geofence

Post by plongson »

Thanks Tim... waiting for your reply...
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TimG
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Location: Nottinghamshire, UK.

Re: Geofence

Post by TimG »

It's not going well :(

Can anybody else add anything while I try to figure this out ? I'm a little busy getting ready to move house, so I can't give this too much time without getting caught by the Missus :oops:
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plongson
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Re: Geofence

Post by plongson »

Hey Tim, Sounds like you're not getting it to work either. Well, at least I'm not alone...lol. Take your time, I'm still here. THANKS!!
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TimG
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Re: Geofence

Post by TimG »

Hi again,

I couldn't even get the Geofencing to show me "inside", so I had a good look at my android phone, and found location services were ON, but set to "battery saving" which must cut out GPS and just use the mobile phone masts. After setting that to normal, and then putting the phone geofencing off, then on at 50M, I'm in(side) !

I have now set up a sound for "Exit geofence" too, so I need to go out for a bit !
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TimG
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Re: Geofence

Post by TimG »

I just checked the BI5 messages log, and I can see this:

26/10/2019 18:16 Geofence TimG Galaxy: Outside

So it looks like it is working. A bit. It doesn't show me coming inside again though, so I checked the BI5 Mobile Devices page and it still shows Outside. BI5 video recordings show that I returned to the house at 18:12, so it looks like this is a bit of a chocolate fireguard :lol:

The videos on Youtube cover Geofencing with BI4, and if I remember correctly, he mentioned that it works best with iPhones. Pah.

So - does anybody have this working ?
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plongson
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Re: Geofence

Post by plongson »

Tim, THANKS for researching this issue. Once upon a time...quite a while back, geofencing on BI did work. Somewhere after an update it just failed and has not returned and I really miss that feature. I shot a note off to Ken weeks ago and he pretty much said it was a hardware issue that he couldn't fix...Perhaps a hardware issue with Android. Guess I'm just out of luck, it does seem quite broken.

THANKS again for your help! Paul
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terk
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Re: Geofence

Post by terk »

Do you have a port open on your router for the BI app to communicate through, and does the app work when your not on your WiFi without having to do anything first like open a VPN tunnel?

I used to use GeoFencing in BI for a while however I found it required an open port through my router's firewall for the app on the phone to tell the BI server that it left or returned. I wanted to close any open ports and use VPN for security, using VPN only for remote access I could still get push/email notifications when not VPN connected but in order to use the BI mobile app I have to VPN in when I'm outside of my home's WiFi. This means the BI app cannot talk to the BI server when the VPN isn't connected so in order to use GeoFencing I have a Hubitat hub which I use GeoFencing through it's mobile app to change modes so I installed BI Control from the Hubitat community to change BI profiles based on Hubitat Modes, this works just like it did with the port open because the Hubitat hub is on the same network as my BI server. I also used BI Fusion on SmartThings for a while to accomplish the same thing while I was on SmartThings.
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TimG
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Location: Nottinghamshire, UK.

Re: Geofence

Post by TimG »

Hi terk,

It's not clear to me how BI5 is doing Geofencing. I don't have any router ports opened, as I use OpenVPN on my Asus router to log in with my android mobile from the outside. I then close OpenVPN as soon as I have finished checking my cameras.

BI5 is however now sending me messages about entering and leaving the Geofence area. Leaving the house seems to be working pretty consistently, but coming home is all over the place. I apparently left the house last night whilst walking down the stairs :?
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