TR-064 - FritzBox 7590 7.50 - no presence detection for android devices when on access points

I am using OH 3.4.2 on a raspberry and using the TR-064 for presence detection since oh 1.9 almost flawlessly.

Since I have recently updated the firmware on my Fritzbox 7590 to 7.50 presence detection based on the maconline feature for android phones only works when devices are connected to the 7590 and not when they are connected to any other access point in my LAN.

This does not appear to be a problem due by the TR-064 binding, as I verified that the android phones do not appear in the list of devices of the local network in the 7590 web interface, even though they are connected and can navigate. On the other hand, devices connected to the access points with a cable (i.e. the raspberry running OH) do appear in the list of devices in the network.

More specifically: my fritzbox 7590 is connected to a managed switch which is then connected to a couple of recycled modem-routers (with DHCP off and fixed ip) acting as a switch for ethernet connections and wifi access point for phones and smart device.

For some reason, the new version of the fritzbox firmware does not list properly wifi devices connected to access points in my network. Does anybody else is experiencing similar difficulties in presence detection in the fritzbox 7590 after upgrading to the new firmware? If I am the only one this clearly points to some misconfiguration or obsolescence of my network (but it is like this since years and I would not know what to change), otherwise I could try to ask AVM for some support.

Thank you for your attention

It might be that newer Android and iOS devices use randomized MAC addresses for privacy, and you have to turn that off for every WiFi network you join. If your SSID changed, you’ll need to do that again on each device.

When the device is connected to the network, view the connection settings and you should be able to change the MAC Address Type.

@Lionello_Marrelli can you describe quickly how you do it with the tr064 binding? The presence detection

That’s a setting on your android phone.
Wifi settings → gear icon next to your wifi → more options → mac type

Thank you for your answer, which, unfortunately, does not help in my case. But it is surely relevant for presence detection of newer android devices and should probably be mentioned in the docs of TR-064.

MAC randomization apply to newer versions of Android: starting from 10 it is enabled by default (and now I understand why my Android 11 tablet appear multiple times in the past connected clients list with different MACs), but the android phones of my family members are older. In fact in fritzbox firmware version 7.29 their mac was recognized. Moreover in fritzbox firmware version 7.50 their mac is recognized (and the device is listed as connected to the local network) when they are connected directly to the fritzbox.

I begin suspecting that in fritzbox firmware version 7.50, AVM somehow “dropped support” for older android clients . I will check if my Android 11 tablet with the option to keep always the same MAC is properly detected in the local network.

@milo
The presence detection with TR-064 is explained at this link in the docs. There is a section, towards the end, with an example of textual configuration of the required things. Be advised that configuration through UI is to be preferred as it avoids typing errors.

It turned out that by updating the firmware of my managed switch (Netgear gs108ev3), removing an unused ethernet connection for guest network on lan4, and rebooting the fritzbox, the old android phones are now correctly detected on the fritzbox and consequently on the binding.

I was too quick. After a reboot of the fritzbox, android phones are recognized as active in the local network, but when disconnected and reconnected after a while they are not detected anymore. I have reproduced this behaviour even without my managed switch. I emailed to avm assistance.

The AVM assistance answered that the phenomenon of disappearing devices can happen, as stated in the knowledge base document:
“Incorrect entries in the Mesh Overview”.
Based on this document, I conclude that presence detection surely works only if the access points are fritzbox routers with the same fritzOS.

I ended up using the tr064 binding connected to my older fritzbox 7360v1 which now acts as a simple switch and access point. It keeps track of all devices in the network, including my android phones.