Key Takeaways:
- Presence Sensing (Presence Detection) is available to all compatible Windows 11 systems.
- To turn on Presence Sensing, go to “Settings > Privacy & Security > Presence Sensing” and enable the “Presence sensing access” option.
- To turn off Presence Sensing, go to “Settings > Privacy & Security > Presence Sensing” and disable the “Presence sensing access” option.
Windows 11 supports Presence Sensing or Presence Detection. This how-to article shows you the steps to turn Presence Sensing on or off as needed.
In recent Windows 11 updates, Microsoft added a new feature called Presence Sensing. a.k.a. Presence Detection. Using this feature, apps can determine when you are near your computer and perform actions. Since this is such an important and useful feature, it has its own presence settings page from where you can enable or disable presence detection as and when needed.
In this simple and easy guide, let me show you how to control the new Presence Sensing feature on Windows 11.
Table of contents:
- What is Presence Sensing?
- How to enable Presence Sensing on Windows 11
- How to disable Presence Sensing on Windows 11
- Frequently asked questions (FAQs)
What Is Presence Sensing?
As the name implies, Presence Sensing is a feature that allows apps to determine when you are near your computer.
Apps can use this feature to detect when you are near your Windows computer to perform various functions like automatic login, preventing the device from going into sleep mode, mute notifications, changing wallpapers on detection presence, playing music, opening apps, etc.
Of course, the feature can also detect when you’re away from your device and turn on screen saver, lock the device, or put it into sleep mode to save power.
As you can guess, there are a lot of possibilities.
How To Enable Presence Sensing on Windows 11
Follow the steps below to enable or turn on Presence Sensing on Windows 11.
- Press the Start logo key + I to open Settings.
- Click on the Privacy and Security tab on the sidebar of the Settings app.
- Click on the Presence Sensing option on the Privacy and Security page.
- Turn on the “Presence sensing access” option.
- Enable the “Let apps access presence sensing” option.
- Turn on the “Let desktop apps access presence sensing” option.
- Finally, close the Settings app.
Note: If you don’t want desktop apps to access the Presence Sensing feature, turn off the “Let desktop apps access presence sensing” option.
That is it. With that, you have successfully enabled access to the Presence Sensing feature. From now on, apps can detect whenever you are near your computer.
How To Disable Presence Sensing on Windows 11
Follow the below steps to disable presence sensing on Windows 11.
- Open Settings on Windows 11.
- Go to the “Privacy & Security > Presence Sensing” page.
- Turn off the “Presence sensing access” option.
- With that, presence sensing is disabled.
- Close the Settings app.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
If you don’t see the Presence Sensing settings page, you might be on an older Windows 11 version, or your computer has no presence sensing hardware. You should be running Windows 11 build 22624.1610 or higher release.
Yes, your Windows device should have special hardware to detect human presence. Otherwise, you cannot access or use the Presence Sensing feature in Windows 11.
Yes, you can block apps from accessing presence sensing. Go to the “Settings > Privacy & Security > Presence Sensing” page and disable the “let apps access presence sensing” and “let desktop apps access presence sensing” options.
That is all. It is that simple to enable and disable Presence Sensing on Windows 11.
I hope this simple and easy Windows how-to guide helped you.
If you are stuck or need help, send an email, and I will try to help as much as possible.
