Aqara is a manufacturer that is fairly new to my smart home radar, so I was thrilled to use their devices and see how it works with HomeKit. This week, I want to take a look at the Aqara Smart Home Start Kit and the Aqara water sensor to see how easy it is to set up, how to connect it to the HomeKit and how it works every day.

Weekly HomeKit is a series focused on smart home accessories, tips and tricks for automation and everything related to the smart frame for Apple.

After posting my personal HomeKit starter kit last week, I received a few suggestions to check out the Aqara kit as a great first introduction to HomeKit and smart home technology. I bought it from Amazon when it was on sale and I also picked up the water sensor, because its size in the photo looked like it would fit under the door of my refrigerator, unnoticed.

I started paying attention to Aqara in July, with the announcement that they will remove the only HomeKit mode, which means you don't need to use the Aqara app. Since then, they have backtracked on that ad.

From a technical perspective, Aqara comes with a Hub that communicates Aqara devices through Zigbee. The starter set comes with a hub, door / window sensor, motion sensor, smart connector and a hand switch that can be programmed to trigger scenes and other automations.

After disconnecting the starter kit, I downloaded the Aqara app from the App Store, connected the Hub and then started the pairing process. Associating the hub with the application was quite painless and each sensor, except the smart plug, has a battery tab that needs to be removed, but the process of associating with the hub was automatic.

Once everything was set up, I was then able to "link" the HomeKit Hub to the Aqara application. Once this process was completed, all individual sensors were then exposed in the HomeKit. The hub works via Wi-Fi, so you can connect it anywhere. We connected it to the bottom of our steps and use the built-in light as part of a HomeKit automation to start at a very low level at night.

The smart switch is exactly what you expect from a HomeKit switch. One of the things I appreciate is that most of the size is vertical, where most of my others are horizontal. Especially in my bedroom, it fits much better in a wall surge protector than other smart switches. The window / door sensor works very similarly to VOCOlinc sensors. I still had a garage window to put a sensor on, so I covered the final window. The motion sensor is tinyso it is much easier to hide compared to others on the market. I use it in the dining room to turn on the lights if it feels moving at night. Finally, I use the wireless mini-switch to sit on my nightstand to trigger our bedtime scene. We have an Eve button on my wife's bedside, so it's nice to have options for both of us.

The last part of my Aqara installation was the water drain sensor. I already have several HomeKit water sensors, but they are too big to be hidden under my refrigerator door. A few years ago, we had a leak that damaged a few pieces of our hardwood floor, so I am extremely sensitive to make sure that the future will not leak. I replaced the leaking part with an OEM part that looks completely different, so I imagine it was a flawed design. Fortunately, it fit perfectly under my refrigerator, where it is barely visible and works with HomeKit. Because it's exposed in the HomeKit, you can create an automation in which your HomePod plays a specific song if a leak is detected, a certain light comes on, or you simply receive a notification from the Home app. For less than $ 20, this is the most cost-effective drain sensor on the market if you already have the Aqara hub.

Wrap on the Aqara smart home starter kit

At $ 129, the Aqara smart home starter kit offers a lot of value. It worked perfectly with HomeKit, was easy to set up, was easy to connect to HomeKit and looks like it could be a growing product ecosystem.

Because the Hub is the key to HomeKit compatibility, Aqara can easily expand to new products in the future. Because the connection between the hub and the sensors is based on Zigbee, the cost of the sensors may be lower than that of other competitors. If you want to buy a gift for someone to start with HomeKit, the Aqara smart home starter kit is one of the easiest ways to get started. Contains motion sensor, door / window sensor, mini-switch and connectivity hub.

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