Track iPhone Presence in Home Assistant Using iCloud v3

Tracking whether family members are home, at work, or at school is one of the most useful (and surprisingly simple) things you can do in Home Assistant. It opens the door to smarter notifications, better energy usage, and a more responsive home—without adding extra hardware.

In this guide, we’ll set up iPhone tracking using the iCloud v3 integration and build a few practical automations based on presence. The focus is on simplicity and real-world usefulness.

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Why Use iCloud v3 for Presence Tracking?

If your household already uses iPhones, you don’t need additional apps or GPS trackers. Apple’s iCloud already knows where your devices are—you just need to make that data available in Home Assistant.

The iCloud v3 device tracker pulls location data directly from your Apple account and exposes it as device_tracker entities.

Benefits:

• No extra apps required on the phone
• Uses Apple’s own location services
• Works for multiple family members
• Easy to integrate into automations

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How It Works

Once configured, Home Assistant creates entities like:

device_tracker.john_iphone
device_tracker.jane_iphone

Each device will have a state such as:

• home
• not_home
• or a named zone (like work, school, etc.)

These states update automatically based on the iPhone’s location.

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Setting Up iCloud v3

1. Install via HACS

The iCloud v3 integration is not part of the default Home Assistant installation.

1. Open HACS
2. Go to Integrations
3. Search for: iCloud3
4. Install and restart Home Assistant

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2. Add the Integration

After installation:

1. Go to Settings → Devices & Services
2. Click Add Integration
3. Search for iCloud3
4. Log in with your Apple ID

⚠️ Tip:
If you use two-factor authentication (you should), you’ll need to enter a verification code during setup.

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3. Select Devices to Track

Choose the iPhones you want to track. Each will appear as a device_tracker entity.

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Creating Zones (Home, Work, School)

Home Assistant uses zones to translate GPS coordinates into meaningful states.

You already have a home zone by default. Let’s add more.

Example: Work Zone

zone:
  - name: Work
    latitude: 63.4305
    longitude: 10.3951
    radius: 100
    icon: mdi:briefcase

Example: School Zone

zone:
  - name: School
    latitude: 63.4200
    longitude: 10.4000
    radius: 150
    icon: mdi:school

Now your device tracker can show:

• home
• Work
• School

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Basic Automation: Notification When Someone Comes Home

Let’s start with a simple and useful automation.

Scenario:

Send a push notification when someone arrives home.

alias: "Notify when John arrives home"
trigger:
  - platform: state
    entity_id: device_tracker.john_iphone
    from: "not_home"
    to: "home"

condition: []

action:
  - service: notify.mobile_app_your_phone
    data:
      title: "Arrival"
      message: "John just arrived home"

mode: single

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Notification When Someone Leaves

You can also track when someone leaves:

alias: "Notify when John leaves home"
trigger:
  - platform: state
    entity_id: device_tracker.john_iphone
    from: "home"
    to: "not_home"

action:
  - service: notify.mobile_app_your_phone
    data:
      title: "Departure"
      message: "John just left home"

mode: single

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Smarter Notification with Zones

Instead of just “home” or “away,” you can use zones.

Example: Leaving for Work

alias: "Notify when John goes to work"
trigger:
  - platform: state
    entity_id: device_tracker.john_iphone
    to: "Work"

action:
  - service: notify.mobile_app_your_phone
    data:
      title: "Work"
      message: "John has arrived at work"

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Automation Idea: Notify When Kids Arrive at School

This is a very common use case.

alias: "Child arrived at school"
trigger:
  - platform: state
    entity_id: device_tracker.child_iphone
    to: "School"

action:
  - service: notify.mobile_app_parent_phone
    data:
      title: "School"
      message: "Child has arrived at school safely"

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Automation Idea: Reminder When Everyone Leaves Home

Even without a full “away mode,” you can still do something useful.

Example: Reminder to Check Doors or Lights

alias: "Everyone left reminder"
trigger:
  - platform: state
    entity_id:
      - device_tracker.john_iphone
      - device_tracker.jane_iphone
    to: "not_home"

condition:
  - condition: state
    entity_id: device_tracker.john_iphone
    state: "not_home"
  - condition: state
    entity_id: device_tracker.jane_iphone
    state: "not_home"

action:
  - service: notify.mobile_app_your_phone
    data:
      title: "House Empty"
      message: "Everyone has left the house. Did you lock the door?"

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Automation Idea: Turn On Lights When Someone Comes Home

A simple but effective automation.

alias: "Turn on lights when arriving home"
trigger:
  - platform: state
    entity_id: device_tracker.john_iphone
    to: "home"

condition:
  - condition: sun
    after: sunset

action:
  - service: light.turn_on
    target:
      entity_id: light.living_room

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Accuracy and Battery Considerations

The iCloud v3 integration is efficient, but there are a few things to keep in mind:

Location Accuracy

• Depends on Apple’s location services
• Urban areas are usually very accurate
• Rural areas may have slight delays

Battery Usage

• Minimal impact (since iOS already tracks location)
• No extra app constantly running

Update Frequency

• Not instant, but usually within a few minutes
• Good enough for most automations

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Tips for a Better Setup

Use Clear Entity Names

Rename your trackers:

• device_tracker.john_iphone
• device_tracker.child_iphone

Adjust Zone Radius

• 100–200 meters works well in most cases
• Increase if GPS accuracy is inconsistent

Combine with Notifications

Presence tracking becomes powerful when paired with:

• Push notifications
• Lighting
• Heating control (later topic 😉)

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When Should You Use This?

This setup is ideal if:

• Everyone in the household uses iPhones
• You want simple presence tracking without extra apps
• You want reliable arrival/departure notifications

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What’s Next?

In this article, we focused on basic presence tracking and notifications.

In a future post, you can build on this by:

• Creating a full Home/Away mode
• Automating heating based on presence (kWh savings 💡)
• Integrating with alarms and security systems

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Conclusion

Using the iCloud v3 integration in Home Assistant is one of the easiest ways to get started with presence tracking. It requires minimal setup, works reliably with iPhones, and unlocks a wide range of useful automations.

Even simple notifications like “someone arrived home” can make your smart home feel much more alive—and a bit more helpful in everyday life.