Light the entry after a verified arrival
After dark, confirm that someone has reached the entry before turning on the porch or path light. Keep the lock, garage, alarm, and every manual light control separate.
Best for: A home with a reliable Away state, an exterior or entry light control I have used, and a physical signal that confirms someone reached the property.
Not for: A phone geofence by itself, an unverified driveway sensor, theatrical multi-zone effects that have not been installed, or any automatic unlocking or garage movement.
Why this exists
Arrival lighting should make the final steps to the door easier, not advertise every location wobble. Phone presence can suggest that someone is approaching, but a door contact, deliberate garage operation, keypad event, or other tested property signal is stronger evidence that the arrival is real.
The old version of this page described a multi-zone driveway wave without verified hardware. This recipe uses lighting and contact hardware I have used instead. Add more zones only after each physical light and trigger exists and works independently.
Logic
- Trigger: A pending-arrival state is followed by a tested physical entry signal within a short confirmation window.
- Conditions: It is dark, the home was Away before the candidate arrival, no safety mode blocks the action, and the target light is not already on.
- Action: Turn on the approved entry or path light and mark only that light as owned by this welcome run.
- Wait / timeout: Keep the light on for a household-tested entry period, then turn it off only if automation still owns it.
- Stop condition: The pending arrival expires without a physical signal, the person returns to Away, or a manual light change cancels ownership.
- Manual override: Wall switches, outdoor plug controls, keys, keypads, locks, and garage controls remain independent.
What I used
Control plug-in exterior lighting
Minoston Outdoor Smart Plug. Use only with a suitable outdoor receptacle, enclosure, and lighting load.
Switch a fixed entry light
Leviton DG15S Zigbee switch. The wall paddle remains the normal control.
Confirm entry-door activity
SONOFF SenseGuard Gen2 Zigbee contact sensor. A door event confirms activity; it does not prove identity or unlock anything.
Suggest that someone is approaching
Use your platform’s built-in presence feature, driven by phone location, only to open a short pending-arrival window.
See recommended gear for the job-first checklist. Amazon product links on this page are affiliate links, and I earn from qualifying purchases. Product recommendations and the affiliate relationship are explained in the disclosure.
Setup notes
- Complete the safe arrival routine and use its Home, Away, and pending-arrival states.
- Start with one porch or entry light I have used, not a sequence of imagined zones.
- Choose a physical confirmation signal that occurs reliably during real arrivals.
- Log candidate arrivals and confirmation timing before controlling a light.
- Require both darkness and a real Away-to-arrival transition.
- If the target light is already on, leave it alone and do not claim ownership.
- Clear ownership whenever someone changes the light manually.
- Test the timeout, a canceled arrival, a second person arriving, and an internet outage.
Choose a confirmation signal
| Signal | What it can establish |
|---|---|
| Entry contact opens during pending arrival | Someone used that entry; it does not establish identity |
| Deliberate garage or gate operation | The access point was operated; keep movement control separate |
| Verified local vehicle or driveway sensor | Something reached the property; test animals, deliveries, and street traffic |
| Phone enters a geofence | Someone may be approaching; insufficient by itself |
Use the weakest signal only for reversible lighting. Never reuse it as proof for unlocking, disarming, or opening access points.
Advanced features
Add a second real lighting zone
After the first light is reliable, add one physically installed path zone. Turn zones on for visibility, not spectacle, and track ownership separately so one timeout cannot override another schedule or manual state.
Handle later arrivals quietly
When someone is already home, a later arrival may still need the entry light. Use the same physical confirmation and darkness rules, but skip whole-house mode, climate, and announcement changes.
Coordinate with dusk lighting
If the outdoor-night-light recipe already owns the porch light, the arrival recipe does nothing to that device. It may turn on a separate entry light, but it must not shorten the dusk schedule.
Failure modes
- Lights run while someone passes nearby: Require a physical property signal after the candidate arrival.
- The light is late: Measure the real delay and choose a confirmation point earlier on the actual path without enlarging the geofence blindly.
- Dusk lighting turns off after the arrival timeout: Track ownership per light and never claim a light that was already on.
- A manual change is reversed: Clear ownership and cancel the timeout on any external light change.
- The second arrival repeats whole-house actions: Keep this recipe scoped to entry lighting and let the first-arrival routine own Home-state changes.
- The entry contact fires for departures: Require the pending-arrival or known arrival context, not the contact event alone.
- The sensor becomes unavailable: Expire pending arrival without running the light and show a maintenance warning.
- The hub or internet is down: The wall switch, plug control, key, keypad, and garage control remain normal fallbacks.
FAQ
Why not turn on the lights as soon as a phone enters the home area?
Phone location can drift or trigger while someone passes nearby. Use it only to create a short pending-arrival window, then require a physical entry signal before running the welcome lights.
Should the welcome recipe turn lights off later?
Only lights it turned on. Track automation ownership, cancel the timeout after a manual change, and leave dusk lighting or already-on lights alone.
Can the same arrival signal unlock the door?
No. Lighting is easy to reverse; access control is not. Keep keys, keypads, or a deliberate lock action separate from this recipe.