HomeKit arrive and leave automations not triggering
Updated 2 July 2026
"When I arrive" and "when I leave" automations depend on your iPhone reporting geofence crossings to your home hub. When they fail, it is almost always a permissions or settings problem on the phone – not the hub.
Work through the checklist below on every phone that participates in presence detection. In multi-user homes, one household member with broken settings silently breaks every "when anybody arrives / when the last person leaves" automation.
The fix, in order
- 1
Set Home location access to Always
Settings → Home (the app's own entry in Settings) → Location: choose "Always" and enable Precise Location. "While Using" is not enough – geofence events happen when the app is not open.
- 2
Enable Significant Locations
Settings → Privacy & Security → Location Services → System Services → Significant Locations: must be ON. This is the most commonly disabled setting that breaks HomeKit geofencing.
- 3
Confirm the presence device
In the Home app, tap your profile and confirm the correct iPhone is set as the device that determines your location. If you switched phones recently, the old device may still be selected.
- 4
Check every household member
For automations like "when the last person leaves", every member's phone needs the same settings: Always location for Home, Significant Locations on, and the right presence device selected.
- 5
Look for delay-inducing settings
Low Power Mode postpones background location work, and iCloud Private Relay / VPNs with "Limit IP Address Tracking" can delay geofence events. If automations fire late rather than never, these are the usual suspects.
- 6
Expect confirmation prompts for locks
Arrival automations that unlock doors or disarm security require a confirmation tap on your phone by design ("Ask Before Running"). If you ignore the notification, the door stays locked – that is the security model, not a failure.
Testing presence properly
Geofences trigger on crossing a boundary a few hundred metres around your home, not at your doorstep, and iOS batches location work to save battery. Test by actually leaving and returning (a walk around the block is often too small a radius), and give events a minute or two. If tests never fire, re-check Significant Locations first – it is the setting people turn off during privacy cleanups and forget about.
Frequently asked questions
Why doesn't my HomeKit automation trigger when I arrive home?
Check three things: the Home app has "Always" location access with Precise Location, Significant Locations is enabled (Settings → Privacy & Security → Location Services → System Services), and your current iPhone is set as your presence device in your Home profile.
Why does my arrival automation ask for confirmation instead of just running?
Automations that unlock doors or disarm security systems require confirmation by design. Apple calls it "Ask Before Running" – it prevents someone driving past your house with your phone from unlocking it. Move non-security actions into a separate automation if you want them to run silently.
Do presence automations work for multiple people?
Yes, but every household member's phone must have correct settings: Always location for the Home app, Significant Locations on, and the right presence device chosen. One misconfigured phone breaks "last person leaves" automations for the whole home.
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