Connected homes are getting smarter every day, however, there are still a few challenges that need to be overcome. One of which is the ability for smart devices to recognize if there is someone home and how to act accordingly.Most devices currently rely on geofencing to create a virtual barrier around your home and then track your movements based on your phone's location. However, this comes with limitations, geofencing is only as reliable as your phone and as we all know sometimes phones run out of battery, get lost or break. Also, in most cases geofencing can be configured to only one device. This means that one person has total control of the devices within your home and when they leave, the lights, thermostat and other smart devices turn off with them.
Luckily our friends at Nest have come up with a solution. They have introduced Family Accounts and Home/Away Assist to ensure that your Nest Thermostat & Nest Protect can not only detect your location, but the location of your entire household as well.
Nest Family Accounts
Nest Family Accounts allow you to have up to 10 people control the Nest products in your home via the Nest app. Now any of your family accounts can control the thermostat, receive notifications & access the integrations with other smart devices like LIFX.
Nest Home/Away Assist
This is where things get exciting. Now that you can have multiple devices connected to the same account, each device can opt in to allow Nest to use your location so that it can more accurately decide if anyone is home or not. This along with learning algorithms and activity sensors allow Nest to take a more thoughtful approach to simplifying the way smart devices interact in your life. Through Nest’s Home/Away Assist, when everyone in your family account leaves the house, your thermostat turns off, and your LIFX lights will provide extra level of security by turning on and off to mimic activity in the home.