Welcome back! It’s 11 AM GMT+2, and I’m officially back online for the second half of our live AMA. There are plenty of interesting topics to cover in the next hour, so let’s get started!
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Since joining Aqara, I actually spent a long time planning our Hub products—the Hub E1, M3, M1S Gen 2, Smart Wall Hub V1, and M100 were all projects I led. Before that, I had only ever worked on cameras. Moving into the ‘Hub world’ gave me the opportunity to gain a much deeper understanding of the entire IoT ecosystem, especially the nuances of Zigbee networking and how local automation really functions at its core.
In 2024, we rolled out a new naming system to make things clearer. The letters represent the product series: for example, ‘G’ stands for Guard (our camera line) and ‘M’ stands for Master (our hubs). The three digits that follow generally indicate the performance level. Usually, ‘00’ or ‘10’ are our standard or entry-level models, while numbers from ‘20’ to ‘50’ represent our more powerful, high-performance configurations.
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First of all, thank you for the high praise! We’re thrilled you like the S1 Plus design. To be transparent, native Home Assistant support is not in our short-term plans. Currently, we only integrate third-party apps through deep, official partnerships to ensure they work perfectly. Allowing direct downloads of third-party apps would likely lead to performance lag, UI scaling issues, and unwanted ads—all of which we want to avoid. Plus, that level of deep collaboration can involve extra costs. We’ve definitely noted your feedback, though, and we’ll keep it in mind as we look at future roadmaps!
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That’s a great point. It’s interesting because back when I worked on professional security cameras 15 years ago, those manual settings were standard. However, those systems were meant to be installed and fine-tuned by professionals.
For consumer-grade smart home cameras, our goal is usually to keep things as simple as possible. We’ve found that for many everyday users, terms like ‘white balance’ or ‘saturation’ can be a bit confusing, so we typically focus on creating a ‘universal’ tuning that works automatically for most environments.
However, I totally hear you on how those manual controls would help in challenging spots. We’ll definitely take your feedback to heart as we consider future firmware updates!
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Thanks for your detailed feedback! Regarding your questions:
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The U400 uses a standard SC1 (5-pin) keyway. While you can’t swap out the entire cylinder like you can with a Schlage, it can be re-keyed by a locksmith by adjusting the internal pins. Here is a video guide that might help: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKRIllYqXk8
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The timeline for advanced features on Android depends more on the phone manufacturers than on Aqara. Our locks already support the Aliro 0.9 / 1.0 standards for NFC and UWB. However, Google and Samsung manage their own update schedules for these technologies.
We are currently working closely with the Google Wallet team on Aliro integration, which we hope to see progress on around mid-year, though Google hasn’t provided an official date yet.
Pro-tip: Our V3104 firmware already supports Samsung Wallet-NFC, so many Samsung users can already start using Aliro-NFC features!
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To be honest, Z-Wave LR and Sub-GHz aren’t currently in our protocol roadmap. Right now, we’re staying focused on Zigbee and Matter over Thread to ensure the best performance and compatibility for our ecosystem. Thanks for asking!
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Thanks for the detailed questions! For the G350, here is what you can expect in the next Matter firmware update:
- One-tap Video On/Off
- SmartThings Cloud Storage
As for PTZ and Motion Detection controls, those are scheduled for a later firmware iteration. We’re working through these features in stages to ensure everything is stable.
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Looks like you’ve already confirmed the bridge feature—great job with the technical breakdown! Just a heads-up: we’ll be pushing a Matter 1.5.1 update for the G350 shortly. According to the CSA, this version includes some essential security vulnerability fixes, which is why we’re prioritizing this rollout. We’d love to hear more of your thoughts as you explore the new firmware!
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It’s definitely in the pipeline! We’re aiming to roll it out later this year. Keep an eye on our official updates for the exact launch date.
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We’re actually working on bringing gesture recognition to more models, and our upcoming outdoor camera will support it. As for zone-based detection, many of our cameras already include area configuration within human detection. If you have any thoughts on how we can improve that experience, I’d love to hear them!
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Thanks for the input. Our current strategy is to prioritize implementing standard Matter features first. The reality is that many features on Zigbee aren’t defined in the Matter standard yet.
Aqara bulbs actually support both Zigbee and Thread. You can already find dynamic scenes on the Zigbee side, and we’re on track to bring them to Thread within Q2. Not much longer now!
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We currently use a closed protocol primarily to ensure data security and a stable experience for the vast majority of our users. Meanwhile, we are exploring the possibility of introducing a ‘Geek Mode’ within Aqara Studio, specifically designed to enable custom development and provide more flexibility for our users.
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Yes, we have plans for a 4K outdoor camera! Please stay tuned to our official channels for the latest updates and announcements.
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Thanks for your interest! While we don’t have an official release date to share just yet, here’s a little teaser: we have an upcoming event right here in the community that you’re definitely going to love. Stay tuned!
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@Kircuvaloglu @sslay678 Good news is that Aqara Studio is on the way, and it includes support for web-based control. We’ve also built in a ‘graph’ functionality that you might find really useful. Check the forum for the latest news so you can jump in and try it as soon as it’s ready!
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Sorry about that! Currently, we don’t have a dedicated channel for ordering the updated mount as a standalone item.
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Right now, the spotlight is treated as a transient action—it’s something the camera does in the ‘THEN’ part of an automation. I’ll check with our R&D team to see if we can expose the actual ‘on/off’ state as a condition instead. If it’s a straightforward implementation, I’ll look into adding it to our automation options. Thanks for the great catch!
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And that concludes our AMA! Thanks again for your insightful questions and your passion for Aqara. Stay tuned for future announcements!
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Anyway my question was completely skipped so 
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Thank you for taking the time to answer all our questions and for the insights!
This helps a lot to understand things better 
Glad you’re on board!
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