Hey all, just wanted to share my experience migrating the Aqara G4 camera over to Home Assistant—thought it might save someone some time (and headache).
So yeah, I’ve been slowly shifting from HomeKit to Home Assistant to get more control and integrate stuff that Apple’s ecosystem just doesn’t play nice with. The G4 is solid for its price, but moving it off HomeKit wasn’t exactly plug-and-play.
Here’s what worked for me:
- First, I reset the G4 (yep, full reset was necessary—sigh).
- I ditched the Aqara app after setup and connected it directly using HomeKit Controller in HA. You’ll need the pairing code on the camera or the box, so don’t trash that.
- Once added, it showed up fast in HA, and I could finally get the stream + motion detection working. Super handy if you’re trying to automate based on movement.
One hiccup: the G4 doesn’t expose everything in HA natively (at least for now), so some functions like facial recognition are missing. Still, for surveillance + basic automation, it works great.
Any other G4 users in here who got it running smoother or exposed more features in HA through workarounds? Always down to learn more.
Let me know if you’re stuck migrating—happy to help where I can.