Choosing which device to track / device priority

[rexamus]

Heres the scenario:

I have an iphone, whoop band and apple watch that I want to use to track my location. Can it be set so it uses the location of the latest changed device? It's for when I've say put my phone on charge or I'm not sure which smart watch im wearing it would be great if it just automatically went to the latest one.

I'm just configuring this now so if this is a feature I just can't find in the settings then could someone ppoint me in the right direction? Otherwise it'd be great, and once I'm set up I'll probably start working on a automated property in the background that could do this somehow, but hoping someone smarter has a go at it, as I'll probably hack my way to a semi usable solution

[agittins]

This is a great use-case for a discussion and sharing of ideas, thanks!

There's no built-in functionality for this in Bermuda, and I don't expect to be adding any as ultimately I think it's best done through other means - but there might be changes worth making in Bermuda to better support those other means.

There might be blueprints that offer this sort of "staging" for multiple sensors.

I know that some users have also used Bayesian filtering to help with this sort of case, too.

Another option is the "Magic Areas" integration, which is focused on taking multiple sources of presence and combining them for various uses - I don't know if it will do the person-focused aspect given its concentration on Areas, but it's well worth a look.

Failing that, I would use a template sensor. In the template you would place your logic for deciding when to use each sensor. This is all highly use-case dependent, because you might want to use one device as priority as long as its visible at all, or another you might ignore it if it hasn't moved or is within 1m of your bedside proxy, say (eg, it's on the bedside table, not being worn). Or you might want to call scripts to enable/disable broadcasting on a phone or disconnecting from a watch etc.

There are just so many possible options that I think it might be something that always needs to be either customised (using templates, scripts etc) or would require a blueprint or integration which is primarily focused on that particular task of choosing which device(s) to use as the current locator.

Bermuda's focus is on providing entities that tell you where BLE things are, and making those as useful as possible for use in other automations.

Hopefully some other folk will be able to chime in with ways that they've solved similar use-cases!

[agittins]

I've created a new category "Bermuda Cookbook" for this type of discussion, so that people can share solutions for various use-cases.