I’m using the Aqara T2 Relay along with the Aqara H2 US Switch in a few rooms of my house to control the light and fan of the ceilings fans separately with automations. I currently have the automations setup in the Apple Home app but I’m wondering if the automations would run faster or more reliably if I set them up in the Aqara app since I’m using all Aqara products for these specific automations. Are there any differences between automations setup in the Aqara app vs. the Apple home app?
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Personally, I try to implement everything in the Aqara app because I simply don’t like detours. Why complicate things when there’s an easy way? Since I use the M3 Hub, everything runs very quickly and reliably. Furthermore, the Aqara app offers more configuration options depending on the devices. For example, HomeKit can only turn lights on/off. In the Aqara app, I can set the brightness, color, on/off, etc. in an automation. Aqara is also currently working on implementing multiple conditions for automations. With Apple, you have to do this with an additional app like Controller for HomeKit or the Eve app.
So always go the direct route. My recommendation.
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I also use Apple Home to Setup and Control everything. Is there any advantage in using the Aqara App?
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If you’re using Matter then there should be no difference if terms of speed or feedback from the devices. But if you’re curious, just give it a try, especially that you can easily disable the automations in Home app and set them up in Aqara app.
I’ve been using both setups for some time for a while, with Aqara and HomeKit, currently switching everything to Home Assistant. From my experience, it depends on your setup and devices you have, also manufacturers of those devices. Not everything works perfectly or supported in HomeKit, but not in Aqara app either, especially if you have multiple devices with different protocols or from different companies.
But if you have only Aqara devices, then probably the best choice is to go with Aqara app.
I have Philips Hue lights and sensors, Xiaomi vacuum cleaner and humidifier, a lot of devices from Aqara including Camera and what I can tell there is no perfect place to combine them all, but I’m getting there with Home Assistant, cause it gives me the most flexibility and most of my devices supported by it.
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As i said. In some use cases u have more options to trigger devices
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I have been using apple home with Aqara devices using matter for a few years now. Have no problems with speed & very reliable. If you have multiple brands powering you smart home like me, your better off sticking with matter & apple home so items work together across brands
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I’m my experience Apple Home is generally the fastest home automation system and I don’t notice a difference in speed between Home and any first party app at all. You might be able to measure it with a stop watch but I never notice with the naked eye.
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The only problem with Apple Home is that sometimes devices will just start showing up as offline but they will still be accessible via their own app.
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I’ve been using both the Apple Home (HomeKit) and Aqara apps for a couple of years. I have used each on their own individually and recently am using them concurrently. In my experience, they are both nearly as quick in providing notifications and executing automations. Both apps are very similar to use but the Aqara app has more functionalities.
I basically trend towards Home because I use it to view and monitor a few other non-Aqara devices. Just note that not all devices will work with HomeKit but in my case some of them do. I also like that I can record video to iCloud. I have found that sometimes Home will record some video that Aqara misses and the same vice-versa so I’ve decided to use both at the same time to make sure I don’t miss anything important. With that said, I must say I really like that Aqara products work so well with HomeKit. In my view, if you have an Aqara product that is also a hub that is connected to Home, any of your other devices or accessories that use zigbee will react faster than those that only use wifi (while using the Home app). Again, the Aqara app seems to be just fast but cannot connect to other non-Aqara devices unless they have zigbee (or possibly). I do not have any devices that use the Thread or Matter protocols so I cannot comment on those. In my opinion, you can’t go wrong using either app.
I hope this helps.
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I appreciate that suggestion.
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Very few differences, I keep everything tied to Home just so I can streamline everything into one app. I am looking at moving to Home Assistant also.
I have exactly the same issue but with Hue devices in Aqara app. No issues in Home app, so it depends
App Aqara → più controllo sulle funzioni specifiche Aqara, trigger/azioni a volte non disponibili in HomeKit, e automazioni sempre locali se tutto è Aqara.
App Casa → integrazione più semplice con altri brand, gestione centralizzata, ma alcune azioni potrebbero essere leggermente più lente se non tutto è locale.
Se la tua priorità è la velocità e l’affidabilità solo tra dispositivi Aqara, conviene provare a rifare quelle automazioni nell’app Aqara e confrontare i tempi di risposta.