One of my favourite lessons in home automation is that one sensor can completely change the meaning of another.
In my Home Assistant setup, Aqara presence sensors answer the first question. Is somebody really using the room? Aqara door sensors answer the second. What situation is the room in?
With those two pieces of information, my blinds no longer follow a simple occupied equals closed rule. The automation can decide whether the room really needs to be darkened with the roller shutter or whether closing only the interior blind is enough for privacy.
That small difference makes the whole automation feel much more natural. It does not just know that someone is present. It understands what that presence means in combination with the door state.
The really exciting part is that this context is reused across the house. The robot vacuum can make its own start decision, while the climate control independently reacts to presence, door state, temperature and humidity. One group of reliable Aqara sensors provides the context, but every system can make the decision that fits its own job.
For me, this is where a smart home stops feeling like a collection of remote controls.
Presence says someone is here.
The door says what kind of situation the room is in.
Temperature and humidity say how the room feels.
Home Assistant puts the answers together.
Presence plus doors. Such a simple combination and suddenly the whole house feels alive.
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@technotron007 Love this approach—“context stacking” (presence + door state + environment) is exactly what makes automations feel intentional instead of reactive.
On the Aqara side, presence sensors give you a pretty rich set of triggers to build that “really using the room” logic. For example, FP2 supports Presence / Absence, plus Presence for some time / Absence for some time (including zone-based versions), which is perfect for distinguishing “walked past” vs “actually settled in.” FP1/FP1E have a similar concept where absence/presence decisions aren’t instant (e.g., FP1 absence judgment can take up to ~30s depending on conditions), which often ends up feeling more natural in real life because it avoids rapid flip-flops in automations.
And your blinds idea pairs really nicely with illuminance-aware logic too: Motion Sensor P2’s brightness-based automations (e.g., only turning on lights when brightness is below a threshold) show the same philosophy—don’t act just because someone is there; act because it’s needed. FP2 can also participate in illuminance-based triggers (e.g., “Above/Below assigned illuminance”).
If you feel like sharing details, I’m curious:
- Are you using “presence for X time” as a debounce before closing privacy blinds?
- Do you treat “door closed + presence” as privacy mode, and “door open + presence” as active use mode?
- Any cases where the door state lies (e.g., bathroom doors left open), and you compensate with a timer or illuminance?
This information comes from community discussions and user experience summaries and may vary by environment. Please verify carefully. Original post link: https://forum.aqara.com/