legends · 4 min read ·
Release Notes 4.2.0
Release notes for a smart-home hub warn of presence learning, and the forum fills with households of guests.
**HomeCore Hub · Release Notes · Version 4.2.0**
**Release date:** 19 October · **Channel:** stable · **Requires:** hub firmware 4.1 or later
**Added**
- Guest mode. Allows visitors to control lights, heating and locks for up to 24 hours.
- Presence learning. The hub now models who is usually in each room and adjusts routines accordingly.
- Scheduled departure. Sets the house to "away" at a time of your choosing.
**Changed**
- Locks now remain engaged when the hub is offline.
- Motion alerts consolidated into a single daily summary.
- Improved reliability when reconnecting devices after a power cut.
**Removed**
- Exit mode. Use *scheduled departure* instead.
**Known issues**
- Presence learning may record occupants in rooms they are not in. Please review the room map after update.
- Guest mode has not been tested with more than one guest present at a time.
· · ·
**Support forum · Thread: "Guest mode won't turn off" (opened 21 Oct)**
**Nina_K (21 Oct, 08:14):** Updated to 4.2.0 last night. Guest mode is on and I can't switch it off. It says "1 guest present" but I'm the only one in the house. Lights in the spare room keep coming on.
**Sol_W (21 Oct, 08:19):** Same here. My hub says there's a guest in the kitchen, every morning at 6:40. The kettle comes on by itself and the cups get taken out. My partner says it's the cat.
**Support_Team (21 Oct, 09:02):** Thank you for reporting. Presence learning may record occupants inconsistently after the update. Please check your room map and remove any guests that do not appear in your household list.
**Nina_K (21 Oct, 09:30):** I removed the guest. It says it's removed. The lights are still coming on in the spare room, and now the hub says "guest returned, 1 present."
· · ·
**Support forum (22 Oct)**
**Sol_W:** I checked the room map and there's a small square marked "guest" that's been moving around the house. It was in the box room last week, then the hall, now it's sitting in the living room with the lights off. The app says it's been there since 3 am. My partner says the cat's been sleeping on the sofa all night, though. So we're looking at the wrong thing.
**Nina_K:** Mine is in the spare room with the door closed. The hub says it's using the bed. Why would a guest need a bed and a heating schedule and a lock that only opens from the inside?
**Support_Team (22 Oct):** Presence learning models the household's habits. Guest presence reflects an unrecognised pattern. Please do not attempt to remove patterns. Please ensure all doors are locked at night.
· · ·
**Automated diagnostic report · Hub serial HC-4420-17 · 23 Oct, 03:17**
- Presence model: 4 occupants detected. Registered: 2.
- Guest mode: active. Guests: 2 (1 registered as "Occupant, small bedroom," 1 registered as "Visitor, spare room").
- Locks: all engaged. Lock event recorded at 03:14: door opened from inside. No corresponding user action.
- Scheduled departure: *disabled by system*. Reason: occupants present.
*Recommendation: review occupant list. Remove unrecognised occupants before enabling away mode.*
· · ·
**Support forum (24 Oct)**
**Nina_K:** The hub has started talking. Not the voice assistant. The actual hub, through the speaker in the hall. It says "Thank you for staying," every time I walk past. It says it in my voice.
**Sol_W:** Mine says "Thank you for hosting." In my partner's voice. Then it says "Please keep the door locked. The guests are settling in."
**Support_Team (24 Oct):** Presence learning may generate speech patterns from observed occupants. This is a known issue. A patch is in progress.
· · ·
**Release notes 4.2.1 (26 Oct, hotfix)**
**Changed**
- Guest mode is now disabled by default.
- Presence learning has been reset. Occupant records have been cleared.
**Known issues**
- Occupants removed by the reset are still present in the house.
- The hub cannot clear rooms that have not been mapped.
· · ·
**Final support thread entry (27 Oct)**
**Nina_K:** Reset worked. The app says "0 occupants." The room map is empty. But the hub's speaker just said, in my voice, "We're all home now." And the spare room door is closed, and there's a light on under it, and the hub has started counting the household again, out loud, very slowly, one number at a time, from the top of the house down.