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Shelly has announced the Presence Gen4, a camera-free smart-home sensor that uses mmWave radar to detect the presence, movement and activity of up to 10 people at once. It is available from Shelly for $84.99 and supports several smart-home platforms and connection standards.
Shelly has launched the Presence Gen4, a camera-free smart-home sensor that uses mmWave radar to detect the presence, movement and activity of as many as 10 people at once. The device is available through Shelly’s online store for $84.99 and is designed to trigger home automations without recording video.
The sensor can sit on a shelf or table using its built-in stand, or be mounted on a wall. Shelly says its 140-degree horizontal field of view can cover spaces of up to 650 square feet. It requires a nearby power source for its USB-C cable, so it is not a battery-powered, place-anywhere device, according to The Verge’s report.
Users can configure up to 10 separate detection zones, with individual settings for each area. For example, a light could be set to turn on when someone sits at a desk, while a home theater automation could respond to someone sitting on a sofa. The sensor can also activate lighting, heating, cooling or music when a person enters and turn systems off after they leave.
The report says the Presence Gen4 works with Google Home, Apple Home, Amazon Alexa, Samsung SmartThings and Home Assistant. It supports Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Zigbee and Matter. Shelly’s online store is selling it for $84.99; the report says it is expected to reach Amazon and Best Buy, but gives no dates for those listings.
Camera-Free Detection for Home Automations
The device offers households a way to make automations respond to whether people are present in particular parts of a room, rather than relying on a camera feed. That distinction may matter to people who want presence-based lighting, climate control or entertainment settings but do not want a camera recording their living spaces. The supplied report describes radar detection, not video capture; it does not independently establish how the device processes or stores its sensor data.
Its multiple-person detection and independently configurable zones could make it useful in shared rooms where a single motion trigger may not convey where someone is or whether anyone remains in the space. Those capabilities could also help limit unnecessary operation of lights or other connected equipment. Actual energy savings or detection accuracy are not quantified in the source report.
Support for several major platforms and Matter could make the sensor easier to fit into existing smart homes. However, the source does not detail which functions are available through each platform or whether setup and automation options differ across integrations.
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How Shelly Describes the Sensor
The Presence Gen4 follows Shelly’s launch of a $50 subscription-free security camera the previous month, according to The Verge. The products take different approaches: the new sensor is intended to detect people and pets using radar, rather than capture images for security monitoring.
Shelly says the Gen4 detects presence, motion and activity and can be configured to include small objects such as pets. Its sensitivity can also be adjusted to ignore low-to-the-ground movement, which the report says can prevent automations from being triggered by a robot vacuum. These are product capabilities described in the source; the supplied material does not include independent testing of their performance.
“The Presence Gen4 uses mmWave radar technology instead of a camera to detect the presence, motions, and activities of people and pets.”
— The Verge, reporting on Shelly’s product announcement
Performance and Privacy Details
The supplied report does not provide independent test results for how reliably the Presence Gen4 distinguishes as many as 10 people, detects activity, or covers a space of up to 650 square feet. It also does not explain the sensor’s data handling, including whether radar readings are processed locally or sent to cloud services, or how long any data is retained.
Although Amazon and Best Buy are named as expected retail outlets, no launch dates are given. The report also does not specify whether all detection-zone settings and automation features will work the same way across every supported smart-home platform.
Retail Rollout and User Testing
The Presence Gen4 is available now from Shelly’s online store at $84.99. Shelly is expected to bring it to Amazon and Best Buy, though timing for those listings has not been provided in the source material.
Further product information or hands-on testing could clarify how well the sensor handles different room layouts, multiple people and pets, and how its features behave across supported platforms. Until those details are available, the stated coverage, detection limit and integrations should be understood as product specifications reported by The Verge, not independently verified results.
Key Questions
What does the Shelly Presence Gen4 do?
It uses mmWave radar to detect the presence, movement and activity of people and pets, and can trigger smart-home automations such as lighting or climate control.
Can it detect people without a camera?
Yes. The Verge reports that the sensor uses radar instead of a camera. The supplied material does not provide further details about data processing or storage.
How many people and how much space can it cover?
Shelly’s reported specifications say it can detect up to 10 people at once and monitor an area of up to 650 square feet, with a 140-degree horizontal field of view. Those figures are not independently tested in the source report.
How much does the sensor cost, and where can I buy it?
It is listed at $84.99 through Shelly’s online store. The Verge says Amazon and Best Buy listings are expected, but does not give dates.
Which smart-home systems does it support?
The report lists Google Home, Apple Home, Amazon Alexa, Samsung SmartThings and Home Assistant, as well as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Zigbee and Matter support. It does not detail whether every feature works identically across those platforms.
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