[SOLVED] Using OwnTracks without mqttitude binding

I can’t find the mqttitude binding on a recent 0H2.5 snapshot and so I was wondering if it is possible to process OwnTracks MQTT messages without requiring the mqttitude binding.

I’m running a mosquitto broker and a recent OH2.5 snapshot on a RPi3+ running openhabian.

The MQTT broker is configured in a file as a Thing.

Now I want to process messages issued by my iPhone (through MQTT) in OH2…

It has been deprecated in favor of the GPS Tracker Binding, see also:

Good to know.

But that binding relies on a HTTPS link instead of using MQTT. Does it mean that I’m basically out of luck now, unless I ditch MQTT?

I wouldn’t say you are out of luck. I would say you are in luck because if you are using myopenhab.org, you no longer need to expose an MQTT port to the internet, reducing your exposure to attack.

You can still install the OwnTracks (formerly MQTTitude) Binding after enabling legacy bindings:

Configuration -> System -> Include Legacy 1.x Bindings (press Save after enabling)

Also note that OwnTracks advises to use HTTP instead of MQTT nowadays:

https://owntracks.org/booklet/features/android/#general-restrictions-on-android-6-and-higher

It’s reported only for the Android app but I assume it should be interpreted differently.

I switched to HTTP and everything works like a charm!

I wasted about an hour discovering this… more, because I went to all the trouble of setting up my MQTT broker to authenticate and accept connections from the outside world before I went to set up the OwnTracks binding, only to discover it wasn’t there any more. Any chance this information could be added to the documentation for the OwnTracks binding?

The owntracks a.k.a “mqttitude” v1 binding is deprecated.
Use the gpstracker binding.

If I understand this correctly, location is provided directly into OpenHAB by HTTP. I can configure my phone with HTTP instead of MQTT but does OpenHAB also share location back to other family member’s phones the way MQTT does?

My situation is I want the sharing functionality and would also consume the location data in OpenHAB if possible but if the latter precludes the former then I’ll stick with MQTT.

yes

Surprisingly and happily yes.

Cool. Setting that up tonight!