Aqara HomeKit Devices – an Overview
Aqara is a fresh new entrant into the HomeKit platform. They bring with them a reasonably priced solution for basic smart home devices and a solution to those who want to build their own rudimentary home security system. I’ll take a look at some of the devices they sent over and go through set-up of the hub and door & window sensor. Then a quick test of the security/alarm system. Aqara’s official release in the U.S. is imminent so stay tuned for more videos featuring Aqara accessories! Will update links below as Aqara devices come available.
Great video and overview. I just ordered an Aqara Hub off Gearbest and (I’m just going to use an adapter for now) and a bunch of switches and door/window sensors this week because I didn’t know when the US versions were going back in stock and my wife was getting sick of using Siri to turn on and off the lights in the house. And I can’t quite justify the expense for the switches and sensors already avaialble in the US.
I’m easger to give it a shot so I’ll let you know how it goes!
Hopefully everything will work smoothly, but if you encounter any problems, feel free to ask here if you have any questions. So read our Aqara 101 post too in the ‘how to’ section to prepare yourself.
I’ve got the wireless rockers and the window and door sensors working great. No luck on the WXKG01LM Aqara wireless miniswitches though. I saw you post a review of them and it looked like they worked with the Aqara hub, but I’m not able to pair unfortunately. everytime I hit the reset button on the back it flashes repeatedly and then gives me one solid light not the three blinks and the Aqara hub says “Child device not connected”. I’m working in the Mi Home app.
I’ve tried
rebooting
turning off the 5Ghz network
pairing it right next to the hub
Any other ideas or did I just get the wrong switch?
Hi Mike,
Yes, they should work fine with the Aqara hub. It does sound a bit like there’” might be a problem with the switch itself, but just to check – home many devices are connected to the hub already? The limit is 32 devices per hub. If you have less than 32 device then one thing to try is how you add it in the first place; if you haven’t already tried this (slightly different) method – click to the hub tile in mi home to get to its settings, then click on ‘device’. From there click on the hub in the list and then at the bottom of the next page click on ‘add child device’, then select the aqara switch and proceed adding it as before. Let me know if that makes a difference.
Any idea if more aqara devices are going to work with homekit? E.g. Aqara G2 camera, aqara airconditioner companion and others!
The current Aqara G2 won’t be getting HomeKit functionality, unfortunately, as they’re close to releasing a HomeKit-specific version – the G2H. I’m only guessing with other devices, but I can easily see one of their Air Purifiers and Fans getting HomeKit versions in the future, as both of these devices are fully supported via HomeBridge anyway, but it’s just a guess right now.