On-demand mobile device location polling

1. A method for determining a mobile device status comprising:

transmitting, by a home management controller of a premises, to a particular mobile device registered with a system controlled by the home management controller, a request to the particular mobile device to transmit a location notification to the home management controller, the location notification indicating a location of the particular mobile device;

determining, by the home management controller, either: (i) a status of the particular mobile device to be nonoperational or unavailable when the home management controller fails to receive the location notification from the mobile device within a predetermined amount of time, or (ii) the status of the particular mobile device to be operational or available based on the location notification when the location notification is received within the predetermined amount of time;

determining a system behavior triggered based on the status of the particular mobile device; and

controlling a component of the system according to the system behavior,

wherein the request is transmitted when one of the following events has occurred: the registered mobile device has not triggered a boundary of a GeoFence at a certain time, the registered mobile device has not been in contact with the home management controller for a preset amount of time; a user of another mobile device has interacted with the home management controller; or a motion has been detected in the premises during a time that motion has not typically been detected.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the system behavior includes one or more of the following: forwarding to another registered mobile device a notification based on the status of the particular mobile device, disarming an auto-arm security system, arming an auto-arm security system, activating or deactivating an HVAC system, activating or deactivating one or more cameras, and activating or deactivating one or more sensors.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the request is transmitted as a push notification.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the push notification is a content-available push notification that enables a background location determination by the particular mobile device for a limited amount of time.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the home management controller is included in a smart-home environment.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the status of the particular device is included in an occupancy estimate of the smart-home.

7. A home management system of a premises comprising:

a controller configured to:

transmit, to a particular mobile device registered with the home management system, a request to transmit a location notification to the home management controller, the location notification indicating a location of the particular mobile device;

determine, by the home management controller, either (i) a status of the particular mobile device to be nonoperational or unavailable when the home management controller fails to receive a location notification within a predetermined amount of time, or (ii) the status of the particular mobile device to be operational or available based on the location notification when the location notification is received within the predetermined amount of time;

determine a system behavior triggered based on the status of the particular mobile device; and

control a component of the system according to the system behavior,

wherein the controller is further configured to transmit the request when one of the following events has occurred: the registered mobile device has not triggered a boundary of a GeoFence at a certain time, the registered mobile device has not been in contact with the home management controller for a preset amount of time; a user of another mobile device has interacted with the home management controller; or a motion has been detected in the premises during a time that motion has not typically been detected.

8. The system of claim 7 , wherein the system behavior includes one or more of the following: forwarding to another registered mobile device a notification based on the status of the particular mobile device, disarming an auto-arm security system, arming an auto-arm security system, activating or deactivating an HVAC system, activating or deactivating one or more cameras, and activating or deactivating one or more sensors.

9. The system of claim 7 , wherein the request is transmitted as a push notification.

10. The system of claim 9 , wherein the push notification is a content-available push notification that enables a background location determination by the particular mobile device for a limited amount of time.

11. The system of claim 7 , wherein the home management controller is included in a smart-home environment.

12. The system of claim 11 , wherein the status of the particular device is included in an occupancy estimate of the smart-home.