Hey all, just wanted to share a few things I’ve picked up after diving deep into using Aqara devices with Apple HomeKit for the past few months. I started out pretty basic but slowly realized how much more you can actually squeeze out of these little gadgets once everything’s properly dialed in.
First things first, if you haven’t grouped your Aqara devices into rooms/scenes in the Home app, do it now. Sounds obvious, but once I did that, it unlocked a whole new level of automation. Like, my “Good Night” scene now arms the Aqara door sensor, shuts the blinds (E1), and turns off all my lights in one tap. So satisfying.
Also — if you’ve got the Aqara Motion Sensor P1, make sure you’re tweaking the “Motion Sensitivity” settings through the Aqara app before adding it to HomeKit. I didn’t realize HomeKit only picks up the final settings, and I was banging my head for days wondering why my lights weren’t turning on properly.
Another tip: Use those automations! I underestimated them big time. With a few careful tweaks, I’ve now got my place responding like it’s got a brain — bathroom light on if motion is detected but only after sunset, my air purifier starts up if AQI crosses a number (helps when you got that Air Quality Sensor paired in), and so on.
Not gonna lie, the learning curve threw me off at first, especially with some things needing to be set up in the Aqara app before syncing to HomeKit. But once I got the hang of it, it’s been super smooth.
Curious how everyone else is setting things up — are you relying more on Aqara’s app customization or focusing everything through HomeKit? Any cool automation ideas I should steal? Drop your setup flows below!