Hey everyone, just wanted to share a few things from my HomeKit + Aqara setup that might help some of you trying to take it to the next level.
So I’m kind of a HomeKit nerd (not gonna lie), but I started out pretty basic—just a couple of sensors and a G2H Pro camera. Fast forward a year, and now I’ve got door sensors triggering lights, temp sensors adjusting the AC, and scene automations that make it feel like my home knows me better than I do.
Aqara’s stuff has been surprisingly solid (especially for the price) but it took some trial and error to really make it feel like everything talks together smoothly inside HomeKit.
A few things I wish someone told me earlier:
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Camera Triggers Are Gold – Setting my G3 to trigger lighting when it detects someone near the garage has been clutch. Just make sure to fine-tune the zones in the Aqara app before you bring it into HomeKit. Saves a lot of false positives.
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Humidity Sensors FTW – I’ve got the TVOC sensor in the bathroom. When humidity goes up, it kicks on a fan for 10 minutes. Super handy and totally HomeKit native once it’s in.
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Aqara App vs Home App – Set up your devices in Aqara first, but do most of your automation in HomeKit. The Aqara scenes sometimes don’t play nice unless you trigger them manually (learned that the hard way at 2AM when my entire house lit up thinking someone entered).
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Keep It Local – Stick to Apple Home Hubs and local automations if you can. Much faster. Cloud stuff throws in lag sometimes that just kills the vibe.
If you’re doing a hybrid setup or getting devices to behave in more creative automations, happy to swap notes. Always tweaking things here.
Anyone else doing cool stuff with their Aqara gear and HomeKit? Drop your setups or lessons learned below!