The journey begins with importing the lock from the US and bringing it to the Netherlands. It was okay, I bought it on Amazon and redirected the package using MyUS.
Then the next step was to make the deadbolt hole in my door to fit the lock. This was an adventure, mostly because my door wasn’t the easiest one. It had glass in the middle and some wooden frame around it that did not make the lock fit well. I cracked part of the glass, but it ended up working, so… nothing unexpected.
Then, I set up the lock. This was “okay-ish“. I added it to Apple Home, then the Aqara app via Matter, then to Home Assistant.
I had to reset and redo the setup several times because of its performance over the thread network that I had added it to. So, it ended up working well when I first added it to the Home Assistant thread network (which is actually my main one indeed), then added it to Apple Home, and finally to Aqara.
To see lock-specific settings in the Aqara app was also a struggle until I realised I needed to switch from the EU server to the US server in the app and add it through the Aqara QR code, which required another lock reset and repairing on each platform for some godamn reason.
Finally, now the lock is working well in all ways besides UWB. The UWB is not working well for me. Sometimes I have to stand in front of the door for 2 seconds until it realises I am there. Other times, I have to take the iPhone 17 Pro out of my pocket to make it work, and having the watch on my wrist also doesn’t make it better. Sometimes it works as expected, but it is 1-2 every 10 attempts.
My front door setup is like this:
I live in an apartment on the 5th floor.
I can only arrive through a narrow hallway to my front door.
I never arrive walking straight to the door, always from the left or from the right.
This last point is what I think is the issue, but again… it should work, right? I hope Aqara releases a sensitivity settings update.
I think the order of installation does not matter as long as your thread network is stable, my most stable thread network is the one in Home Assistant so starting with it was the golden ticket for success in Apple Home as well.
Aqara’s App does not matter since it uses bluetooth to connect directly.
That’s the thing about aqara you don’t have to use their app You can bypass the app totally and just import it into the platform you want but I usually connect it to aqara app first cuz I like to get it updated and then I’ll start adding it to all my other platforms that I use. But to be honest you’re pretty much better off adding and using your aqara lock with a different platform because for whatever reason aqara’s smart lock automations don’t work half of the time and there’s a lot of restrictions and not very much options for advanced automations.
Well adding the u400 to aqara app does matter for one thing and that’s to get it updated but other than that I agree with you totally, you don’t need to use the Aqara app which I don’t use either because half of the time the Aqara apps lock automations never work especially geofence automations.
My “doesn’t matter” was regarding the order of platforms to pair first, since in Aqara App you use Bluetooth and not Matter over thread.
I do think have it in Aqara App is relevant, brings device specific settings not available over Matter as well as beta updates which are very needed at this beginning
Dear user,
Sorry for the delayed response. Please contact our after-sales support team at support@aqara.com. We’ll have our developer team review your case and provide detailed guidance on how to optimize UWB performance based on your specific installation environment.
Doesn’t also support Zigbee like there FP300 presence sensors? I have those connected in Zigbee mode to my Homey Pro. That way I have all the functions (except updates) in the Homey app as well.
Thank for sharing your story. I also wanted to order the U400 (in my case it would suit better then the U200 EU version). However ordering for the Netherlands can’t directly. So grateful for your tip using MyUS. Do you know the extra costs? And how long is the estimated delivery time to the Netherlands?