Shelly Presence Gen4: an mmWave Sensor That Tracks Up to 10 People, With Matter and Home Assistant

Motion sensors have one classic flaw: sit still on the sofa long enough and the lights go off. On October 15, 2026, Shelly launched the Presence Gen4, an mmWave radar sensor designed to fix exactly that. The Verge reports it’s available now for $84.99 from Shelly’s US store, with Amazon, Best Buy and other retailers to follow; the Shelly EU store lists it at €69.90.

Presence, not just motion

Instead of a camera or a PIR sensor, the Presence Gen4 uses mmWave radar. It can detect people who are reading, working or sleeping without noticeable movement, and, according to Forbes (via Yahoo Tech), it can track up to 10 people in a room.

• Up to 10 independently configurable zones: a desk lamp that turns on only when you sit at the desk, a home theatre that wakes when you drop onto the sofa
• Option to include or ignore pets, plus height thresholds so a robot vacuum doesn’t trigger anything
• A built-in ambient light sensor that reports dark, twilight or bright
• Wall mount: 140° field of view up to 650 sq ft (about 60 m²); corner mount: 90° up to 525 sq ft

Connectivity: the full set

The sensor supports Wi-Fi, Zigbee 3.0, Bluetooth (for setup) and Matter — not all at the same time. Shelly lists compatibility with Shelly Smart Control, Home Assistant, Google Home, Apple Home, Amazon Alexa and SmartThings, plus local scripting, MQTT, a REST API and webhooks, so automations keep working without internet.

The catch: it needs continuous power over USB-C. There’s no battery, so plan placement near a socket. It can sit on a shelf thanks to its built-in stand or be wall- or corner-mounted.

Rocks take

This is close to the ideal presence sensor for a DIY Home Assistant setup: Wi-Fi so it doesn’t need a hub, local MQTT and scripting, and multi-zone tracking that cheap single-zone mmWave modules don’t offer. The 10-zone claim is the part we want to test — how precise are the boundaries between a desk and an armchair two metres away? Shelly also says it works locally, which matters for privacy. Note too that Schneider Electric is planning a takeover offer for Shelly, so keep an eye on the brand’s roadmap.