DIY Your Smart Home: Seamless Aqara & Home Assistant Integration Guide

Apple Home Connect
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Hey everyone! Just wanted to share my journey getting Aqara stuff working perfectly with Home Assistant. I’m kinda new to smart homes (still learning), but this little weekend project turned out smoother than I expected, so figured it might help someone else out there.

So, a little backstory—I started with a couple of Aqara sensors and the M2 hub, and while the native app does the job, I wanted a bit more control and flexibility. Queue Home Assistant. Took a bit of reading (and a few YouTube rabbit holes), but once I connected the Aqara M2 hub via the HomeKit Controller integration, it was magic.

No extra bridges, no cloud dependency. Everything runs locally. Motion sensor triggering lights in under a second, temperature sensors tied into automations, even threw in some Siri Shortcuts via HomeKit for good measure. And yeah, it took some debugging—like figuring out that I had to remove the hub from the Aqara app first before Home Assistant would see it, but once that was done… chef’s kiss.

If anyone’s trying this out, happy to share my YAML snippets or settings. Curious if anyone here has combined Aqara cameras into the mix—I might go down that rabbit hole next.

Anyone else rockin’ this setup? Tips, gotchas, or even fails? Let’s swap stories.

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@SensorSavant It sounds like you’ve embarked on an exciting journey with your smart home setup! Integrating Aqara devices with Home Assistant via the HomeKit Controller integration is indeed a powerful way to gain more control and flexibility. It’s great to hear that everything is running smoothly and locally—no extra bridges or cloud dependencies is a huge plus!

Your experience with setting up motion sensors to trigger lights and incorporating temperature sensors into automations is impressive. The added touch of using Siri Shortcuts through HomeKit is a nice enhancement for ease of control.

Regarding your curiosity about integrating Aqara cameras, while I don’t have specific details on that setup, exploring further integrations with Home Assistant could open up even more possibilities. It’s wonderful that you’re willing to share your YAML snippets and settings, as community collaboration is invaluable in these projects.

If others have tried similar setups or have tips on incorporating cameras, this thread could become a fantastic resource for anyone looking to expand their smart home system. Thanks for sharing your journey, and feel free to keep us updated on your progress or any new discoveries!