Product Library / Sensors & Detectors

SwitchBot Presence Sensor

Compiled by SmartHomeWorkflow Research · SwitchBot · Sensors & Detectors · ~$29.99 (us.switch-bot.com storefront price at time of research (2026-07-19) — never treated as a live price. This is the standalone SKU; the other 'Presence Sensor' listings are bundles of the same unit (Hub Mini Matter combo $59.99, Bot 2-in-1 $52.99, 2-pack $54.99).)

Compatibility

Protocols: BLUETOOTH^[1][5][15]

What it can do^[14]

Listed capabilities are what we could establish from vendor documentation. An ability missing here is unestablished — not necessarily absent.

Subscription reality^[11]

✓ Works without a subscription: Yes.

Vendor account required: Not established — we have not sourced this yet.

No subscription found and no vendor statement of one.

Maintenance reality^[3]

• Batteries: 2x AAA — expect roughly 24 months per set
• Works without the internet: Yes — the core function runs on the device or your home network. A vendor cloud may still be involved in remote access.^[16]
• SwitchBot describes the radar as ultra-low-power, which is how AAA cells reach a stated two years despite mmWave sensing. The product page's 'single charge' wording is a vendor copy error — the cells are disposable AAAs, not a rechargeable pack. IPX5, rotatable magnetic base for aiming.
• Security updates: No security-update support date is on record for this model yet. We haven't yet checked whether SwitchBot publishes one, so this is a gap in our research — not a statement about the manufacturer.

The catch

The hub economics matter more than the $29.99 price. Without a SwitchBot hub you get app viewing plus 'Local Linkage', which is capped at two linkages driving one device each, both within Bluetooth range — everything else, including all voice assistants and Matter, needs a hub you buy separately. The exception runs opposite to expectation: Home Assistant reaches it over Bluetooth with no hub at all. And in Google Home the sensor cannot be used as an automation condition, which is most of what a presence sensor is for.

Who it's for

Home Assistant households wanting cheap mmWave presence with no hub purchase, or SwitchBot owners who already run a hub. A Google Home household should read the automation-condition limit before buying.

Sources & method

Numbered sources below back the facts marked with the matching number above. This is a research profile: compiled from manufacturer documentation, certification registries, and published testing — we state facts, not verdicts, and we have not physically tested this unit. How we work →

1. [1] Home Assistant's SwitchBot integration is a BLUETOOTH integration — it states in its own words that "A SwitchBot Hub is not required for this integration" — and it names this device with control features, which is a usable control path under the ruled definition. Presence Sensor features: get light level, get battery, get occupancy state — with the documented caveat that "Device battery data is stored in service data, not broadcast. This data can only be retrieved when Bluetooth is in active mode." ⚠ SwitchBot's own product description (read 2026-08-09 via the .js structured endpoint) contains ZERO occurrences of "Bluetooth"; the 19 occurrences on the rendered page belong to other products' embedded copy. — vendor-page research + third-party integration documentation, verified 2026-08-09
   Backs: Protocols
2. [2] https://us.switch-bot.com/products/switchbot-mmwave-presence-sensor.json (title 'SwitchBot mmWave Presence Sensor', SKU 810150546385, $29.99) + https://us.switch-bot.com/collections/sensors/products.json (complete US sensors collection is four devices: this, Motion Sensor $19.99 PIR, Contact Sensor, Water Leak Detector). No 'Motion Sensor 3' and no separate 'Human Presence Sensor' exist in the US catalog. Naming is inconsistent across SwitchBot's own properties — the US store says 'mmWave Presence Sensor' while the EU store, press release and every support article say 'Presence Sensor'; the short name is recorded with the long one as an alias. — vendor structured-data research (Shopify product JSON), verified 2026-07-19
   Backs: Product identity, Price
3. [3] https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/switchbot-launches-the-new-presence-sensor-with-mmwave-radar-302616822.html — 60GHz mmWave radar plus PIR plus ambient light sensor; two AAA batteries rated up to two years. Product page gives 8m moving / 5m stationary detection at 120 degrees. NOTE: the press release text reads '60Hz', an evident typo for 60GHz; the corrected figure is recorded rather than the raw one. — vendor press-release and product-page research, verified 2026-07-19
   Backs: Maintenance
4. [4] SwitchBot support articles 35160600522775 and 35615000659095 — the sensor's own radio is Bluetooth; without a hub it supports app viewing and 'Local Linkage', capped at a maximum of two local linkages driving one device each with both units in Bluetooth range. To trigger other devices via SwitchBot automation 'you will need to purchase one of hub products'. Remote access, cloud automation, all voice assistants and all Matter exposure require a hub. — vendor-support-doc research (see access caveat below), verified 2026-07-19
   Backs: Required hub or bridge
5. [5] SwitchBot support articles 38979658026519 and 35927178604311 — the hub acts as a 'protocol translator' converting Bluetooth to Matter; the sensor is not itself a Matter device. Matter does define an Occupancy Sensor device type, so a suitable target exists, but SwitchBot never states which Matter device type or cluster it maps to. — vendor-support-doc research (see access caveat below), verified 2026-07-19
   Backs: Protocols, Required hub or bridge
6. [6] google: SwitchBot support 35590663694999 documents that Google Home's platform restriction prevents the sensor being used as an automation condition; alexa: support 35590018658839 (dedicated setup guide); apple: product page plus support 13282638111127; home_assistant: support 37084079366551 (Bluetooth integration needs no hub, cloud integration does). Every level above rests on an affirmative vendor statement rather than silence. — vendor-support-doc research (see access caveat below), verified 2026-07-19
   Backs: Amazon Alexa compatibility, Google Home compatibility, Apple Home compatibility, SmartThings compatibility, Home Assistant compatibility, Required hub or bridge
7. [7] support.switch-bot.com sits behind a Cloudflare bot challenge, which was not bypassed. The support findings come from search-result extracts of those articles plus their titles rather than full verbatim page reads. Article IDs are recorded so the claims can be confirmed in a browser. Flagged rather than presented as full-text verification. — gap record — partial source access, verified 2026-07-19
8. [8] An Amazon listing title claims 'Zone Positioning' but no primary SwitchBot source corroborates distance or multi-zone reporting; SwitchBot's own 'zone' language refers only to physically aiming the magnetic base. The sensor reports a binary Space-Occupied / Space-Unoccupied state plus an unoccupied timer. Deliberately excluded rather than carried over from a marketplace listing. — gap record — claim rejected, verified 2026-07-19
9. [9] https://us.switch-bot.com/products/switchbot-mmwave-presence-sensor.json — SKU 810150546385, $29.99, listed in the current US sensors collection; launched 2025-11-17 — migrated hand stamp, verified 2026-08-20
   Backs: Market availability
10. [10] https://us.switch-bot.com/collections/sensors/products.json — migrated hand stamp, verified 2026-08-20
    Backs: Service status
11. [11] SwitchBot's own US storefront product record for the mmWave Presence Sensor (us.switch-bot.com, structured `.json` endpoint), re-read 2026-08-21 — replacing the BQ-131 migration placeholder that carried no source at all — vendor-page research, verified 2026-08-21
    Backs: Research status, Subscription
12. [12] SwitchBot support articles 38979658026519 and 35927178604311, already cited on this record — evidence read against sources this record already cites (BQ-193 bridge-vs-hub audit, R-3), verified 2026-08-19
    Backs: Apple Home compatibility
13. [13] BQ-187 capabilities assessment, 2026-08-20. Home Assistant's SwitchBot integration was read in full and enumerates "Motion Sensor (WoPresence)" with motion detection state and battery — but the mmWave Presence Sensor recorded here is a different, newer product and is NOT named anywhere in that device list. The vendor-side sources this record already cites are SwitchBot support articles, and support.switch-bot.com returned HTTP 403 to our fetcher throughout this pass, so they could not be re-read. — vendor-and-ecosystem-doc research (BQ-187 capabilities population, batch 8 — sensors + garage-access), verified 2026-08-20
14. [14] home-assistant.io/integrations/switchbot (counterparty platform documentation), read 2026-08-20, which lists the Presence Sensor under Sensors and enumerates what the integration retrieves from it: "get occupancy state", "get light level" and "get battery". The page also notes "Device battery data is stored in service data, not broadcast. This data can only be retrieved when Bluetooth is in active mode." — vendor + ecosystem-documentation research (BQ-187 capabilities population), verified 2026-08-20
    Backs: Capabilities
15. [15] switch-bot.com's own product page for the mmWave Presence Sensor, read 2026-08-20, which names the dependency in the same sentence as the platforms: "Presense Sensor supports Apple Home via SwitchBot Matter Hub, Home Assistant, Alexa, Google Home, and other platforms." It separately states the sensor "works without a hub for instant, second-level response" — a Bluetooth path, not a Matter one — and Home Assistant reaches it through its BLUETOOTH integration. — protocols-definition sweep (BQ-222 batch 2; ruling §1 of docs/decisions/2026-08-20-RULINGS-SITTING.md), verified 2026-08-20
    Backs: Protocols
16. [16] SwitchBot global store, Presence Sensor product page, 'Smart Automations' — "Presense Sensor works without a hub for instant, second-level response. Seamlessly pair with SwitchBot devices (e.g., Bot, Curtain, Light Series, etc. ) with local linkage and set up to 2 automations. For more complex automations, pair with a SwitchBot Hub to trigger smart scenarios" (vendor's spelling of "Presense" preserved). — vendor-page research, verified 2026-08-21
    Backs: Works without the internet

Compatibility and lifecycle information reflects the last-verified date above and can change without notice (firmware updates, cloud-service changes, discontinuations). It is provided as-is, for information — verify with the manufacturer before purchasing. Spot an error? Tell us and we'll fix it. Full terms: Terms of Service.

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