Turn on a light when someone enters a region

Difficulty: Level 1

Regions turn one radar into several spots you can automate on their own: the desk, the sofa, the workbench. In this guide you build two flows in the Homey mobile app. The first turns a light on the moment someone steps into a region; the second turns it off once the region has been empty for a while. The example uses a region called Server on an Apollo R PRO-1, and works the same way on an MTR-1 with any region you have drawn.

Before you start

• Draw at least one region with the Zone Mapper tool, set to Detect people here. See the guide for your R PRO-1 or MTR-1.
• Add the light you want to control to Homey.

Why use the region trigger

Every detect region gives your sensor three flow cards: A region became occupied, A region became empty, and A region is occupied. Start your flow with A region became occupied and pick your region. It fires every time someone walks into that spot, even when someone else is already elsewhere in the room.

The sensor's whole-room card, The occupancy alarm turned on, only fires when the room goes from empty to occupied. Pairing it with a Server is occupied condition misses the moment someone who is already in the room walks over to the server, so the light stays off.

Flow 1: turn the light on

This flow has one trigger and one action, so it needs no And card.

1. In the Homey mobile app, tap Flow in the bottom bar, then tap + at the top right (or Create a Flow if you have none yet).
2. Under When..., tap Add Card. Open Apollo Automation under Apps, and choose your sensor.
3. Choose the card A region became occupied.
4. Tap Region and pick Server, then tap the check mark at the top right.
5. Under Then..., tap Add Card. Find your light under Zones & Devices, choose Turn on, and tap the check mark.
6. Tap Next. Name the flow, for example Server area light on, and tap Save Flow.

The flow now shows in My Flows. Walk into the region and the light turns on.

Only detect regions are listed

The region picker lists your Detect people here regions. Areas set to Ignore this area never report occupied, so they don't appear.

Flow 2: turn the light off

The second flow mirrors the first. Build it the same way, with two changes:

1. Under When..., choose A region became empty and pick Server.
2. Under Then..., choose Turn off for the same light.
3. Name it Server area light off and tap Save Flow.

Now the light follows the region: on when someone arrives, off when they leave.

Set the hold time

A region stays occupied for its Hold time after the last person leaves, 5 seconds by default. That is what stops the light from flickering off when someone leans back or steps away for a moment.

For a desk or a workbench, raise it. Open the dashboard with your Radar regions widget, tap the region with Select active, and set Hold time under More to 60 seconds or longer. Press Save. Flow 2 now waits that long before it turns the light off.

Test your flows

Run the flows end to end by walking in and out of the region while you watch the light. To check a single flow without moving, tap the play button next to it in My Flows; it runs its Then cards once, and a green check mark confirms it ran.

If a flow doesn't fire:

• Open the Radar regions widget and watch the dots. If your dot doesn't land inside the region, make the region larger with Bigger or the arrows.
• Check that the region is set to Detect people here and is Enabled.
• Check that both flows are switched on in My Flows.

Take it further

• One flow for many regions: pick Any region in the trigger instead of a single region. The Region name token tells the flow which one fired, for example in a notification.
• Count people: A region became occupied also passes a Target count token, the number of people in the region.
• Keep other automations in check: add A region is occupied as an And condition. For example, add Sofa is not occupied (with Invert on) to the flow that turns your living room lights off.

See Use regions in flows for the full list of region cards.