G400 and Apple Home missing 10-20% of motion detection & recordings - 48 hours+ of troubleshooting so far/observations

n1976jmk · March 29, 2026, 6:21pm

After the last 48 hours of deep observation and troubleshooting, I just connected some dots, why the motion detection and recording in Apple Home is still only at catching 80/85% in Apple Home. While I at home and on my home wifi and open the Apple Home app and view the G400 live view from Apple Home, the resolution / video quality is great. But when I view live video of the G400 when I am not at home, on my phone, then the resolution/video quality quality is noticeably lower. This happens all the time while not home, no matter how good my cellular connection is or even now when I am on vacation this weekend on a different wifi with good signal the resolution / video quality is noticeably lower in Apple Home. But when I watch the live view of the G400 from the Aqara app while I am at home or not home, the video quality/resolution is always normal and good. So it seems it’s something to do with how the Apple Home is accepting/receiving the video stream of the G400? When I view my two G5 pro hub ethernet cameras and G100 cameras from the Apple Home app when I am not home, the resolution/video quality is always great.

I am writing all this to say, I think?, part of the reason why the G400 is still only detecting motion and recording 80/85% of the events in Apple Home because Apple Home is seeing a lower resolution stream of the camera so it is the exact reason why Apple Home is having a harder time detecting motion and recording it since it does not have a clear enough video to view.

Also, I have noticed this after watching the problem closer over the last 48 hours, the G400 has no issue detecting people and animals and vehicles when they are physically closer (within 3-4 meters) but after the 3-4 meters is exactly where it starts to miss. Let me explain to help understand, if its a bigger vehicle (large SUV, delivery truck, trash truck, etc) it will detect and record that vehicle in Apple Home but if its a sedan or smaller animal or shorter less heavy set people it will miss detecting them when the are 3/4 meters away. BUT BUT, if I go to my Aqara app, it detected and recorded all those people, animals, and vehicles that were on the normal/smaller size that were 3/4 meters away. So that is telling me the detection and recording works fine in the Aqara app but the detecting and recording issues are definitely narrowed down to be in Apple Home, and again, I am no engineer, but if Apple Home is seeing a lower video resolution / quality of the G400, then of course that is why it is missing the objects that are 3/4 meters away while Aqara has the higher res/quality of the stream it doesn’t miss any of them.

I hope this information can help Aqara!

RO-Sorin · March 29, 2026, 6:36pm

There had been reports of delayed notifications to most aqara cameras over the weekend also.

n1976jmk · March 29, 2026, 6:56pm

Apologies @RO-Sorin if my post wasn’t clear. This is specifically about the G400 doorbell not detection motion and in turn not recording it in Apple Home but working fine with detecting motion & recording it in the Aqara app and also Apple Home seemingly has lower resolution of G400 when users try to view camera in Apple Home when not at home which I believe is contributing to it missing detections & recordings in Apple Home while doing fine with those same tasks in the Aqara app.

johnsond28 · March 29, 2026, 7:27pm

Posted. Response on Reddit.
Hope this helps

Aqara_PM_Donie · March 30, 2026, 11:26am

Hello friend

Thank you for your careful observation and feedback. I will explain some difference when Aqara cameras connected to HomeKit:

The video events displayed in Aqara Home do not have a one-to-one correspondence with those in Apple Home. They are two completely independent detection systems. Aqara uses camera built-in or cloud based algorithms to independently analyze videos, and provides results and displays them on the timeline. HomeKit’s logic is to rely on motion detection videos transmitted by the camera to the home hub for independent analysis. Usually, when the resolution is the same, the number of events detected by the two systems are comparable (the event content may differ)
I have already mentioned in another post that we have confirmed with Apple that the G400 has a low resolution issue after connecting to HomeKit. This problem depends on Apple updating the IOS system to solve (it has been confirmed that the current released 26.4 beta version still exists, and we need to wait for the next version). Therefore, I believe that the current thing we can do is to wait for Apple to fix this problem
Aqara has always emphasized that their cameras are native support for HomeKit, based on the above logic, because they are completely independent and do not affect each other when connecting their respective ecosystems. Unlike connecting ecosystems such as Alexa/Google/Smartthings, Matter 1.5 will also exist completely independent of Aqara and HomeKit, just like HomeKit, which puts higher demands on the hardware resources of the cameras
Regarding the issue of delayed notification push, I will post a separate explanation in the forum. The reasons and countermeasures have been analyzed and we will fix the problem as soon as possible.

n1976jmk · March 30, 2026, 2:08pm

hi @Aqara_PM_Donie, regarding:
#1- I do understand the video analysis is done completely separate on Aqara app and Apple Home.

#2- Ok, we will wait for future Apple update, maybe in 26.5, hopefully, but can that low resolution/bitrate known problem be part of the problem to what’s contributing to the Apple Home app/hub missing the detection of motion and said recordings though?

#3- thanks for that detailed information

#4- ok, I will look for your post about the aqara app delays.

thank you!

swimmer_gamut_00 · August 28, 2026, 6:29pm

Hi, I’m having the same issues that you’re having but I’m not certain if it’s video quality-related.
You didn’t mention which iCloud service you’re using. Starting with iOS 26 (I believe) Apple allows 4k streaming and 4k recording for up to 4 cameras only if you’re using iCloud+. If not, quality will be 720p or lower I believe.
I’ll respond to the support email with my findings, but I believe the problem is somewhere between my subscription time period running out and some features are toggled on and can’t be turned off (greyed out) and also streaming continuous video to local storage, NAS storage and to HomeKit for retention. Everything was working fine until my trial period ran out and then things quit working. I’m also not certain if Apple has anything to do with this, since I connected the G400 to Amazon’s Alexa for motion notification and even though the devices are funny connected through Alexa app, no notifications are announced.

swimmer_gamut_00 · August 28, 2026, 6:52pm

Hi,

My issues on the motion sensing started almost when my subscription to HomeGuard ran out and some features are still toggled on and can’t be turned off (greyed out). Also streaming continuous video to local storage, NAS storage and to HomeKit for retention may be confusing the camera software. Everything was working fine until my trial period to HomeGuard ran out and then things quit working. This may be a coincidence.

My setup:
G400 with local storage to 128G MicroSD – Works properly

Enabled NAS storage since I already have a NAS. Streams get recorded properly every minute and separated by day. Video is viewable in high resolution. – Works properly

HomeKit connection – Works properly

Video displays on Home Screen in iOS, iPadOS, macOS

Video gets recorded to iCloud+ as 4k and is viewable in high resolution.

Camera in Home is setup for detecting motion, person, animal, etc. (not for detecting vehicle) Zone is setup correctly. It’s not setup to “identify” the person. When someone approaches the door, I hear the Aqara app sending notification on the phone, but Home app either doesn’t or is delayed.

AppleTV is setup to display the motion from the camera. It does so, but it’s about 15-20 seconds delayed. So if Amazon delivers a package, I don’t get notified other than a popup on my iPhone and AppleTV displays the video of 15 or so seconds after the event, which is basically no one since the delivery person dropped the package and left in that time period.

There are no notifications through HomePod either.

I also connected the G400 to Amazon’s Alexa for motion notification (Echo and Echo Show) and even though the devices are fully connected through Alexa app, no notifications are announced. For what it’s worth, this feature used to work perfectly with Ring doorbell.

I hope this helps narrow things down. Not getting a notification notice through Echo tells me that there may be some other factors involved. I’ve also performed a factory reset and started from fresh install, but have the same results. I still can’t turn OFF some of the features that were toggled during the trial period of HomeGuard. I wish I could toggle them off and do more testing, but it seems like they’re attached to the device’s ID and factory reset didn’t give me options.