Problem with Apple HomeKit automation

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Hi everyone,

After installing the Aqara Home app, my automations in Apple HomeKit stopped working properly.

Here’s what’s happening:
• Before adding the Aqara app, all my automations in Apple HomeKit worked perfectly (for example, location-based and button-triggered automations).
• After logging into Aqara and linking my hub and devices, automations that rely on location no longer work.
• Interestingly, some time-based automations (like closing blinds after sunset) still work fine.
• I don’t have any automations created in the Aqara app — everything is handled through Apple Home.
• I only use the Aqara app for device management, logs, and firmware updates.

It seems like the Aqara Home app or the bridge might interfere with HomeKit automation handling.

Setup details:
• Hub: Aqara M100 (USB “stick” hub)
• Devices: several Aqara sensors, switches (like H2), thermostat, and blinds
• iPhone running latest iOS and HomeKit updates

Has anyone else experienced this issue?
Is there a way to keep Aqara connected (for firmware updates and logs) but let Apple Home handle all automations without conflicts?

Thanks in advance for any help or suggestions!

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I had the same problem a while ago, I hope someone answers with the solution :pray:

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@Moderator @Expert @Creator Maybe you guys can help with this. :yehec8wxjw08bxitza4t8e_35015:

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Hello @maciekd638
If you use automation in Homekit, you should pay attention to the Apple hub, since the execution of automations depends on it. It may need to be updated or rebooted. If you have more than one and the hub is set to automatically select, you need to select it manually and disable the automatic hub selection.

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A couple of things come to mind. Do you have an Apple Home Hub device that never leaves your home?

Your iOS device comes & goes from home switching networks which can cause issues like you describe. Only using your iPhone as an Apple Home Hub is not recommended an Apple TV or HomePod is the recommended options.

Try signing out of the Aqara app and using it in “HomeKit Mode” you get better local reliability and automations don’t break if Aqara’s servers go down.

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Hi @maciekd638.

Everyone here will be eager to help you and what you want to accomplish is totally normal and should be 100% doable. I will go as far to say this type of conflict shouldn’t happen and there may be something else going on under the covers. Do you mind giving us a few more details of your situation so we understand a fuller picture?

  • Prior to setting up the Aqara app, were you using the M100 directly in HomeKit only?
  • What HomeKit hub are you using? Have you tried rebooting your HomeKit hub?
  • How is your HomeKit hub connected - wifi or ethernet? Can you tell us about your home network like what routers or mesh system you are using?
  • Some automations work - like time-based. But location-based automations and device triggered automations like button presses do not. Is this correct?
  • You updated to iOS26. Was this before or after you set up the Aqara app? Is your HomeKit hub also running the latest tvOS?
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@coletti.robert @srl77411

Hi everyone, thanks a lot for taking the time to respond — I really appreciate it. I’ll try to answer yours questions point by point so you can get the full picture.

Before installing the Aqara app, I was using Home Assistant with some of my Aqara devices connected through it.

When I bought the Aqara M100 (the small “USB stick” hub), I decided to remove the Home Assistant bridge from HomeKit and then add the M100 directly — because I didn’t want to lose my existing HomeKit automations and scenes. Which in part forced me to re-add some of them because removing the HA Bridge, however, the scenes and some automation were removed.

After setting up the M100, everything seemed to work fine(Also after pressing the “test automation in Apple HomeKit” button) at first, but now location-based automations stopped working (while time-based ones still work normally).

For example:

  • “Close blinds and turn on lights after sunset when I’m home” → :white_check_mark: works
  • “When I leave home → turn off lights and close blinds” → :x: doesn’t trigger when I leave, even though it works if I press Test Automation manually.

My HomeKit Hub is an Apple TV 4K (the version before the newest one, connected via Ethernet).

It’s always at home and connected, so that part should be fine. Both iOS 26 and tvOS are fully up to date.

My network:

  • Apple TV 4K connected by Ethernet to the main router (no mesh, just one router).
  • iPhone 17 Pro connected via Wi-Fi (same network).

And yes, you are right — I’m only using my iPhone as a mobile device, not as a Home Hub.

What confuses me is that a few times these automations did trigger correctly, but most of the time they don’t. So it feels like some sort of sync issue between HomeKit and the hub, maybe made worse after adding the Aqara app.

That brings me to my main question:

:point_right: Can automations or device bindings inside the Aqara app affect HomeKit automations in any way?

Even if Aqara automations are empty (I’m not using any inside Aqara), could the app or the M100 hub still interfere with the way HomeKit detects triggers or presence?

Also — slightly off topic, but maybe someone knows:

In Apple HomeKit, I can’t find any “Stop motor” option for blinds. I wanted to build a 3-action shortcut with the Aqara H2 switch:

  • Single press → open blinds,
  • Single press → stop movement,
  • Single press → close blinds.
    But “stop” is not available as an action - API - in HomeKit — only open or close.
    Do you know if this limitation comes from Apple HomeKit itself or from the Aqara integration?

Thanks again for your help — I just want to keep Aqara for device management and data (like logs and temperature charts), not for automation, but right now something seems to break HomeKit logic after adding the M100.

My first device from Aqar was roller shutter motors. I fell in love with Aqara almost immediately! Later I bought other devices. HA is a powerful tool, but I’m not patient enough to write any more codes. When buying a hub bridge from Aqara, life has become more colorful. Click and everything connected. Without dealing with a million functions and options that I don’t even fully understand. :heart:

Maciek
From Poland :wink:

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No, they should not. This sounds to me like not an issue with between HomeKit and the Aqara hub, but between your phone and your HomeKit Hub (Apple TV 4k). Unfortunately I’ve seen reports on reddit of location-based automations being damaged in ios26 for some users. Supposedly it’s fixed in the latest beta. Here’s one of the latest such posts: https://www.reddit.com/r/HomeKit/s/9m56nGeq3z

If you want to keep troubleshooting, here’s a few things to check/test.

  1. Using Apple’s FindMy app, double check your location. Does it show you at home when you are at home? You can then check in Apple Home by clicking on the 3 dots in the upper right and seeing if the location icon is next to your home’s name.

  2. Can you test location-based automations with non-aqara devices? If you’re able set up additional automations for testing with any non-aqara devices that you have and see if these work. You can add a non-aqara device to an existing scene or automation, or create a separate one. The important thing is to have the trigger be the same.

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Hi there, I can completely understand your frustration here and I have faced this problem myself. May I ask how long you have had your smart home set up? I suspect it is quite awhile. I would suggest looking at my post regarding a full reset, which I will link below and then taking a look at my second post on how to set up the perfect smart home. In this I explain about using Apple HomeKit as a kind of front end for your smartphone Father’s Day today, Contro, and using the Aqara app for the backend automations and set up of your smart home. This leads to a much smoother experience in my opinion.

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Hmm, it seems you might be right.

I thought for a moment and basically I only have one device from Merross (Ledy) that are already compatible with Apple HomeKit by default. And all in all, they didn’t turn off either. I didn’t pay attention to it before.

So it also looks like I’m not the only one who currently has problems with it. From what they write on Reddit, this situation is actually similar to mine. For principle, I removed all the location-based automation and added it again with the new location.

I’ll wait a little longer to update to iOS 26.1 and see. I’ll be doing tests for now.

So the automation between Aqara and HomeKit should not argue with each other?

If so, I will actually do such automation in Aqara. Because it is difficult to make shortcuts on the iPhone in the application, automation that would open - stop and - close the blinds with one button.

I did one in Aqara and it worked very well, but then the automation stopped working for me and I began to wonder if there was a conflict between Aqara and Apple HomeKit.

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They should not interfere. Just keep in mind if you run automations in two different systems for the same devices you might get conflicting results. I see this all the time when people forget that they set up an automation and then assume something is broken or maybe just a ghost :ghost: is turning on their lights.

Good luck with the blinds automation. Understand what you mean about the automation/shortcuts on a phone. If you have access to an ipad or macbook you could do it there also.

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It is in the shortcuts application, for iPad, MacBook or iPhone, that this cannot be done. I spent a total of one day on it. Aqara probably doesn’t provide Apple HomeKit with the „stop” (API) feature for roller shutter motors. I have already tried in different ways to make automation that would be able to stop the engines that rotate.

Automation I wanted to do:

The H2 button opens the blinds when pressed. Pressing the button a second time (when the blinds open), the blinds stop. When you click the third time, the blinds begin to close.

And in the shortcuts app on the iPad I did an automation (shortcut) that opens the blinds and closes them. However, I can’t stop the driving blinds. There is no such option in the shortcuts app.

Unless I’m doing something, please help. I’ll learn something then.

Overall, thank you for your help. I’m waiting for the iOS update and we’ll see if it helps. If not, I’ll come back here again :stuck_out_tongue::sweat_smile:

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Sorry - meant the convert to shortcut option in Apple Home Automations. I thought that’s what you meant you were using.

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As far as I know, there’s no way to stop blinds or rollers while they’re moving directly in the Apple Home app or the Shortcuts app.

You can only:

  • Fully open or close the blind, or
  • Move it to a specific position (e.g. 25%, 50%, 75%).

However, there’s a workaround using the Aqara app.
The Aqara app supports a real “Stop” command, and you can create a scene with this action and export it to Apple Home like this:

  1. Open the Aqara Home app
  2. Go to the Scenes tab and create a new scene
  3. As the action, choose your roller shade and select “Stop”
  4. Give the scene a name (for example, “Stop Roller”) and save it
  5. Go back to the newly created scene
  6. Tap the three dots in the upper right corner - this opens More Settings
  7. Tap “Add to Apple Home” - this exports the scene to Apple Home.

After that, the new “Stop Roller” scene will appear in the Apple Home app and can be used in automations or triggered with Siri like any other scene.

As far as I know, this is the only practical way right now to get a working “Stop” control for Aqara blinds within Apple’s Home app and Shortcuts.

But it’s probably a better solution if you handle it entirely through the Aqara app - unless you want to use it for personal automations, for example using your alarm clock or opening an app on your iPhone as a trigger, or something similar.