Mijia Smart Gateway
The Mijia Smart Gateway is both a hub for your Mi Home ecosystem smart devices as well as a bridge that connects many of these devices to Apple HomeKit in much the same way as the current Aqara hub does.
Specifications:
- Connects to your network via wifi
- Uses Zigbee 3.0 to connect to your Mijia Smart Home ecosystem Zigbee devices
- Uses Bluetooth to connect your Mijia Smart Home Bluetooth devices, like Mi and Aqara Smart Locks
- Uses Bluetooth Mesh to connect suitable devices, like Yeelight Bluetooth Mesh bulbs
Works with Mi and Aqara motion sensors, contact sensors, temperature/humidity sensors, Smart Plugs/sockets, Cube Controller, Mijia/Honeywell Smoke and Gas detectors and many more devices in the Xiaomi ecosystem, many of which are HomeKit compatible.
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Is this Homekit Compatible by default? Are there new sensors on the market for this? I had the old Aqara Homekit compatible but sold it with the sensors.
Hi, this comes with a HomeKit code, so it is directly compatible. However, just like the Philips Hue Bridge, this gateway is of no use until you add sensors, switches etc. It uses Zigbee 3.0 by default but it will also work with the devices that are already available (ie. using the older zigbee protocol), as well as the forthcoming Zigbee 3.0 devices. The only Zigbee 3.0 devices I’m aware of that are available right now are the Mi Light Sensor and the Aqara/Opple Switches. Both of these work with the Aqara hub and the new Mi Smart Gateway.
Received new Xiaomi Smart hub today, installed it and added sensors. Hub beeps 2 times in every 5 minutes, i have no idea why. App doesnt show any errors or messages, that is so annoying and it drives me crazy.
Hi, yes I have noticed this too. It seems to happen randomly, so sometimes it will happen two or three times in the space of a few minutes and then not happen again for at least another day, and other times just once every few hours or so. From what I’m able to gather it’s reporting an error when you hear this beep, but there’s no way of knowing what the error is, but I suspect it could be (at least in my case) the connection to the network dropping. Hopefully they will either add a fix, or a way to the notification sound.
I have the gateway for some days now. I am a bit disappointed for now. It is Homekit compatible, but only the Mi branded sensors / switches are exposed to Homekit. All Aqara stuff can be connected with the gateway but are only visible in the Mi home app. So it is still not the replacement for the Aqara gateway I was hoping for.
And it beeps and beeps and nowhere an option to switch it off.
Hopefully they fix these issues with an update, for now stick with the Aqara hub.
Hi, what’s the point for Xiaomi having two almost the same hubs (Aqara and Mijia). It was clear when previous generation of Mijia didn’t support HomeKit, so for me Aqara was clear choice. Now I’am a bit confused which device to choose and which app to use. What are thought on this?
Hi Eugene, I can see your point, and yes, the Aqara hub was the obvious, and only choice for HomeKit. I think at the end of the day it’s down to two separate companies wanting to sell their products to their particular customer bases. Aqara’s parent company is Lumi United, who also made all the previous mi hubs including the new one, along with the forthcoming Aqara M2 (and the Aqara M1S, but that’s another story…). They make their own hub with the Aqara branding but also the Mi hub under contract with Mi/Xiaomi, so I guess it’s just business to them and not something they need to question. As for which hub to go for, on paper I would say the Aqara M2, and in the absence of that being actually available, then the current Aqara hub. I’ll be posting my Mi Smart Hub review tomorrow, but as cheap and efficient as it is, it doesn’t do it for me personally.
Thanks for your reply. For some reason I was quite sure, that Aqara’s parent company is Mi/Xiaomi. But now it make more sense. And looking forward to your Mi Smart Hub review.
Xiaomi’s business model, from what I understand is that they invest in several startups, in exchange for a portion of the company and/or revenue, in exchange for access to Xiaomi’s distribution and branding etc. But as these companies find their feet they then go on to make the same or similar products under their own brand name, which is why some devices look the same but have different branding. Yeelight is an example of this too. They’ve made a few lighting products under the Mi brand, but they also release a few things under the Yeelight brand as well.
Xiaomi’s product branding is exactly like monkeys flinging poo.
At the rate they are going they will have more versions of hub than sensors.
I have thankfully so far avoided buying the wrong hub – achieved by not buying _any_ of their products. I am however interested in the Aqara Smart Curtain motor which will of course require a hub. I can now see thanks to your comments that the Aqara M2 Hub is not yet available. So far there do not seem to be any genuinely HomeKit compatible smart curtain systems other than the Aqara one.
Somfy have stopped mentioning an intent to add HomeKit to their Tahoma gateway, Soma and Ikea only do blinds, Slide say they intend to add HomeKit support but have not even started this so Aqara seems the only current option.
Yeelight are introducing a wifi version of a curtain controller, but whilst it won’t require a hub, I have a feeling it may not be HomeKit compatible. There’s a small chance it will, as Yeelight are only one of two companies that actually make HomeKit compatible devices as part of the Xiaomi ecosystem – the other being Lumi, who make the Aqara branded products (Aqara is Lumi’s brand basically), and Mi branded sensors and gateways. If I hear anything on this, I’ll let you know.