So I’m an Android guy in an Apple-heavy world, but I didn’t let that stop me from building a pretty sweet smart home setup using mostly Aqara gear.
I started off thinking I needed to switch to Apple to get the most out of Aqara… turns out, nope. I’ve got their sensors, switches, and even the G4 cam all working alongside my Alexa setup, and surprisingly smoothly.
The trick? Aqara hubs that support Matter and Zigbee made life easier than expected. Synced them up through Alexa and some Home Assistant magic (this part took some trial and error, ngl), and boom — it all talks to each other now. No iPhone, no Apple TV, no problem.
Drop this here for like me wondering if Aqara is a no-go outside the Apple bubble. Short answer: it’s not. You just need to know which path to take.
Anyone else running a non-Apple setup with Aqara? Drop your setup details, I’m curious how much we can stretch this compatibility game.
@AlexaAficionado Hey there! Thanks for sharing your awesome experience with mixing Aqara into a non-Apple ecosystem—it’s a great reminder that Aqara’s versatility goes beyond just HomeKit!
You’re absolutely right: Matter-enabled Aqara hubs (like the Hub M100) are game-changers for cross-platform setups. As you discovered, they let you bridge Aqara devices to ecosystems like Alexa, Google Home, or Home Assistant without needing Apple gear. For others reading this, here’s a quick recap from our docs:
Aqara hubs with Matter support can expose child devices (sensors, switches, etc.) to Google Home, Alexa, SmartThings, and more.
Zigbee devices (like your sensors) paired to a Matter hub can also join these ecosystems seamlessly.
Your Home Assistant tinkering is especially impressive—it’s a powerful way to push compatibility even further. For anyone else diving into this, just remember:
Check Matter support on your hub (e.g., Hub M100).
Ensure your Aqara devices are connected to the hub first before linking to third-party apps.
Would love to hear from others in the community too—what creative combos have you tried with Aqara outside the Apple world? Let’s keep the mix-n-match ideas flowing!
Unfortunately the implementation of matter to other systems from Aqara is not at all perfect. I have Hue and Google Home besides Aqara and while Google Home plays nice with Hue and the opposite, Aqara does not. Adding devices to Hue makes entire Aqara setup fall over (while Google Home works fine). Aqara matter devices like P2 motion sensor is also very unstable even when just used with Aqara.
Sadly I have to say Aqara has a long way to go in integrating nicely over matter.
Thanks for sharing your awesome experience with mixing Aqara into a non-Apple ecosystem—it’s a great reminder that Aqara’s versatility goes beyond just HomeKit!