For a few months, Xiaomi has released a new version of its connection bridge which is compatible with HomeKit natively. Before that, it was already possible, but you had to tinker with Homebridge. Since it is no longer necessary, Aqara smart home products are much simpler to integrate into an existing ecosystem, and they are often an excellent complement.

How to use Aqara products in a HomeKit home automation system? What can they be used for? We take stock!

PREREQUISITE: AN AQARA BRIDGE CERTIFIED HOMEKIT

Like Hue connected bulbs, Aqara home automation system requires a connection bridge. The various accessories in the range are connected to the bridge via the standard ZigBee protocol, and it is the bridge which is connected to the local network and therefore to HomeKit. The first step is therefore to buy a HomeKit certified bridge, by verifying this last point when ordering. Indeed, the old Aqara bridges are not compatible with Apple home automation and they look like two drops of water to the new models. By the way, if you had bought a bridge, you will have to acquire a new copy to benefit from HomeKit.

Like buying Aqara accessories themselves, the best place to find a HomeKit-compatible bridge is several products under this name . Even more than on Amazon, prices are constantly changing on this site. Its basic price is around $60, but it is generally found around $40. Shipping costs are generally free, but beware, it is significantly longer than average, since everything comes from China. Count a good week at best, knowing that GearBest displays times that can go up to a month to receive the product.

Xiaomi does not (yet) market Aqara products officially in France. The connection bridge that you will receive will thus have a socket in Chinese format. I ordered two bridges from GearBest (the old model not compatible with HomeKit and the new) and the second was delivered to me with an adapter. I bought one for the first order, several products under this name , but maybe the adapter will be provided. The bridge is compatible with the 220 V that we have in France, you do not have to worry about this point.

Once the bridge is received, plug it in and you will have to connect it to the Wi-Fi network using the Mi Home app designed by Xiaomi ( several products under this name / several products under this name ). Once the configuration is done, you can use the Apple Home app to manage accessories, but this app remains mandatory for the first installation of the bridge, then to connect the new accessories to the bridge.

Aqara products are not meant to be sold outside of China and it shows. The manual supplied with the bridge is fully in Chinese and is not even translated into English. That said, the interface of the Mi Home app is translated into English and even (partially and poorly) into French. If you are really allergic to English, you will be hard pressed to get by. Otherwise, we get by without too much problem, sometimes with a hint of Mandarin (or Italian) to spice things up.

In the app, you will need to create an account and choose a region that also corresponds to a server location. Even if Xiaomi offers Europe, you must choose “Mainland China” to benefit from the maximum of functions. Please note, changing the server later requires reconfiguring everything, so be sure to make the right choice at the start. Note that the language does not depend on this choice, you can activate the French translation while using the Chinese servers.

The bridge is installed like most HomeKit accessories on the market. You must connect it to the local network, which is done only by Wi-Fi, and only by 2.4 GHz. Open the app, touch the + button at the top right of the screen, then open the ” Household ID security ” section on the left, and finally choose “Aqara Hub”. Connect the bridge, press its button for a few seconds, until the yellow light flashes.

Since it is a HomeKit product, you will then see the usual Apple interface, with the possibility of scanning the configuration code of the product. The latter is located on the back of the bridge, you will not have access to it, but you can use the code pasted on the first page of the manual instead. Thereafter, you will need to enter the Wi-Fi password and you will have a connection confirmation if all has gone well.

At first, you will probably have a firmware update to apply. I also recommend that you change the language of the voice prompts, because they can be useful. French is not yet offered, but you can opt for English. To change this setting, open the bridge in the Mi Home app, then touch “Device” at the top, select the hub again and you will find the “Language of voice command” setting.

The connection bridge has two functions, in addition to connecting to accessories. It serves as light with an LED strip and speaker. You can use it as auxiliary lighting, it is perfect for a night light for example, or as a bell or as an alarm. But for that to have an interest, it is time to add accessories.

ADD AQARA PRODUCTS TO HOMEKIT

Now that you have an Aqara bridge connected and configured in HomeKit, you can add accessories. Each model has its own procedure, but in the main it is always the same. Everything is done first in the Mi Home app, where you add an accessory with the + button, then follow the explanations. In general, you need to press a button, or use the tip of your smartphone’s SIM extractor in a small hole for a few seconds.

Finding the right model in the list is not always easy, especially since there are often several generations of the same product. Try to guess based on the image of the model, and also know that some accessories are specific to a generation of bridge, either the old one, or the HomeKit version that you have. If you see an error, the variant is probably the right solution.

The connection of an accessory to the Aqara bridge is normally done very quickly. If you find that it is dragging on a little too much, it is undoubtedly that there is a problem, perhaps of range. I had no problems in a duplex apartment, with the trendy bridge in the upstairs hallway, a fairly central position. In a large house, you may reach the limits of a single bridge, in which case the only solution will be to add another.

When adding, the app will ask you to associate the accessory with a part and give it a name. This is useful for finding your way around, but be aware that this information will not be recovered by HomeKit. In fact, once the device is connected to the bridge, you can open the Home app and you will see it in the room where you placed the connection bridge. His name will also be the name of the product followed by an identifier, which is not very pleasant.

At this point, you can quit the Mi Home app and do everything in Home. Press strongly or long the accessory to modify the name, the part and also the type. For example, an opening detector can be identified by HomeKit as a window, (garage) door or blinds. Choose the best type to benefit from all its functions, for example the possibility of receiving notifications if a door is opened.

There are two interesting points to note in the Aqara ecosystem. For starters, each bridge can handle thirty accessories. It’s already a lot, but if you need more, you’ll have to use a second bridge.

Then, all Aqara accessories are powered by button cells, usually type CR2032. A battery is provided and it should be enough for one to two years of use, according to Xiaomi. The ZigBee protocol has the advantage of being very economical, but it is a criterion to take into account, knowing that most of the components are to be bonded with double-sided. To change their battery, you will have to take them off and put them back together, which is not always easy.

SOME SCENARIOS

To finish this grip, here is how I use Aqara products at home, for several months. I had started using an old bridge and Homebridge , but I had some connection problems from time to time. By the way to the HomeKit bridge, all these problems have disappeared and the accessories work perfectly, every day.

Turn lights on and off without an assistant

This is the first reason which pushed me to try Aqara: physical switches sold around 10$ . For comparison, the HomeKit switch put forward by Apple sold around 10$ , not to mention the price of the hub required to accompany it.

Helping the price, I currently installed four switches. They are used to turn on or off a batch of connected light each. I have a Hue bulb in the bedroom, but these are usually connected sockets, connected to an existing lamp or an LED strip. Depending on needs, a switch can be associated with a stage, or with a series of connected accessories.

Each switch can support two functions: click and double-click. You can configure the behavior of the button in the Home app, but there is a big flaw: it is not possible to create a scenario to turn the light on or off. If you want to do it in the Apple app, you will need to set the click to turn on the accessories and the double-click to turn them off, or vice versa.

It is not the “natural” behavior of a switch, which turns on an off light, and turns off an on light. To regain this behavior with HomeKit, you will need to use a third-party app capable of managing conditions. I have long used Home which is quite expensive ( several products under this name ) and which is not necessarily very intuitive. There is a better alternative, however, with several products under this name , a free, clearer app translated into French. Designed for Elgato products, it works with all HomeKit home automation devices.

This app allows in particular to achieve what I wanted for my switches. Everything is done in the “Scenarios” section, then “Rules”. A rule is made up of three elements:

a trigger that activates the automation, in our case a click on a switch;

conditions which modify the behavior according to a parameter, in our case if the lamp which we want to light with the switch is on or off;

a scenario, which can be an existing HomeKit scene, or a custom combination.

For each switch, you will need to create at least two rules: one to turn on the lights if they are off, and the other to turn them off if they are on. You will have to repeat it for each switch, and for each action associated with the switch, for example for a single click and a double click in the case of Aqara models.

I hope Apple will add this ON / OFF functionality by default in a future version of HomeKit, because this method remains quite complex to create. But once in place, using Aqara smart switches is very simple: one click to turn on, another to turn off. The double-click is not as comfortable to use on a daily basis and I have configured it for less frequent cases. It is used in particular to activate a Cinema scene in the living room, which keeps only part of the lights on.

There are several different switches in the Aqara catalog, including this model which is more pleasant (the whole surface is used for clicking) and which manages the long click in addition to the other two. It is not always available, however, and it can no longer be set up when placed on the wall, which is problematic if you ever need to do it. For the rest, it’s the same thing, and reliability is also good.

Compared to a conventional switch and not connected, the main difference that may surprise at first is the latency. Between the time you click a switch and the time the scene is executed, it can take one to two seconds. I don’t mind using it, but you have to be aware of it.

AN EXTRA LIGHT AT NIGHT

In the range of accessories, there is a motion sensor that can be used in many ways. I configured it to create fill lighting at night, in the corridor where the Aqara bridge is located. This is good, the latter incorporates LEDs and lighting them in red at 10%, we get enough lighting not to fallon the cat at night, without waking up completely.

This time, the Home app offers exactly what it takes to accomplish this task. In the automation section, touch the + button at the top right, then choose the option “A detector detects something”. Select the Aqara accessory, then the “Detect movement” option. You can also configure the automation with two conditions: that at night, and only if there is someone at home (in this way, the cat alone does not trigger it).

The next screen allows you to define what should happen, you can either activate a scene or control the lighting of the bridge. In this case, it’s like for the connected bulbs, you can choose a color and a brightness. The other important point is to choose automatic deactivation, for example after one minute. The light will automatically turn off after this time.

The presence sensor is fine for this fairly basic use. On the other hand, I found it too unreliable to automate the switching on and off of lights in a room depending on the presence of someone. In this use, it tends to turn off the lights too often when someone is there, probably because the detection is not precise enough, or too slow.

To finish on this subject, I add that this sensor also measures the brightness. I haven’t experimented yet, but I’m thinking of automating the lighting of a room based on this setting.

Switch off the heating depending on the temperature and the window

For this scenario, you will need two different Aqara accessories: the connected thermometer ( around $12 ) and an opening detector ( around $8 ). I configured these two accessories in the same room, which I heat with an auxiliary heater connected to a connected outlet. The heating turns on and off automatically depending on the temperature, and also on the roof window.

A third-party app is again required to support all cases. The Home app does not even know how to manage the temperature sensor and we can configure an action for the opening detector, but I wanted to add a condition to turn on the heating if the window closes and the temperature is suitable. In this context, Eve is unfortunately too limited 1 and I used the Home app to carry out this automation.

I have four different automations, two that activate at each change in temperature detected by Aqara’s connected thermometer, and two that activate by opening or closing the window. Here is the logic that I set up in the Home app, to give you an idea:

in case of temperature change detected, if the temperature is less than or equal to 19.5 °, if the window is closed and if the light is on in the room (which means that I am there), then switch on the heater ;

in the event of a temperature change detected, if the temperature is greater than or equal to 20.5 °, then switch off the heating;

if the window is open, then turn off the heating;

if the window is closed and the temperature is 19.5 ° or less, then turn on the heater;

if the lights go out, then turn off the heater.

Being able to use two or even three different accessories in an automation is very powerful, but it can also quickly become complicated. In this example, integrating the connected thermometer was not necessarily useful, the heating incorporating its own thermostat. But I plan to reconvert the system to manage a fan in summer, again depending on the temperature.

It’s up to you how far you want to go, knowing that these accessories can also be used for much simpler tasks. As an example, I installed an opening detector in the lounge bar. When it is open, a light next to it lights up to illuminate the content, and it goes out when it is closed. It’s a very simple automation, which can only be done in the Home app.

TO CONCLUDE

Aqara products work perfectly well and they complement an existing HomeKit ecosystem very well. They are also very inexpensive, which is probably their main advantage over the competition. In return, you will have to accept an additional difficulty in the configuration.

Even if the Mi Home app is not used on a daily basis, it is still necessary to add an accessory and possibly update them. And you will have to go through a third-party app to fully benefit from Aqara accessories, where other manufacturers simplify the work for you. For example, the Logitech HomeKit switch provides ON / OFF behavior by default.

But this switch is sold around 100 with its connection bridge, plus 40 or 50 per additional switch. It’s a whole different price range, it’s up to you to decide if the simplicity brought by this product justifies the difference compared to the Aqara range. The low prices of these products make it possible to set up automation which would be unthinkable otherwise.

I just ordered the Aqara smart humidity sensor. I haven’t received it yet, so I don’t know if it works well, but my idea is to create an alert if it starts to rain and if the roof window has remained open. This is the advantage of these cheap products, one can very easily imagine new useful scenarios, without paying tens of euros each time. I certainly would not have paid $70 for the sensor sold on the Apple Store, but at $10, I want to test to see what it gives.

Beyond the price, the choice of ZigBee – which is also that of Hue, by the way – has advantages too. Certainly, it involves a connection bridge and it requires going through an app to add a product. In exchange, you get a large range, reduced latency and very limited energy consumption.

To use the example of the humidity sensor, the Aqara model can be placed almost anywhere, for example on the roof. The one sold by Apple is equipped with a Bluetooth chip and it must therefore be close to a hub, be it an iPad, an Apple TV or a HomePod. In my case, this is not possible and I could not use it, even if I was ready to put the price.

Home automation lighting - precious asset for our comfort

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