Hey ! Share a little journey I went through recently. I’m mostly in the Android world, but I somehow ended up getting a bunch of Aqara devices (looking at you, sales alerts). At first, I thought I hit a wall—no iPhone, no iPad, no Mac, and HomeKit looked like a total no-go.
But good news: it’s NOT a dealbreaker.
Turns out, with a bit of creativity (and the right hardware), you can still get most of the HomeKit goodness without having to jump into Apple’s ecosystem. I used a cheap used iPad as a Home Hub (don’t even need it on full-time), and from there, things opened up. Most of my config came through Aqara Home, and once it syncs, boom—HomeKit automations started working like magic.
Also, for those going the Home Assistant route, there’s even more flexibility. I’ve got the best of both worlds now—HomeKit on the front end and HA brains behind the scenes.
Anyone else here making it work without going full Apple? Would love to hear your setup tricks!
Thanks for sharing your awesome journey with Aqara and HomeKit—it’s always inspiring to see how folks work around ecosystem limitations with clever solutions! Your iPad-as-a-Home-Hub hack is a brilliant workaround, and pairing it with Home Assistant for backend power is such a smart move.
)