Aqara Smart Hub M2 (2.4 GHz Wi-Fi Required), Smart Home Bridge for Alarm System, IR Remote Control, Home Automation, Supports Alexa, Google Assistant, Apple HomeKit and IFTTT

Been working on my smart home ever since the first echo dot was released. I wish I knew about Aqara sooner. As I’m now slowly changing each device over to theirs for the following reasons: easy set up, integration, ease of use and they just work. They do exactly what they are designed to do and the additional functionality of this hub being an ir blaster means I can also use it to control anything that uses a remote that does not have smart features built in. If you share starting out on your smart home journey. Do yourself a favour, save money in the long run and use Aqara. You won’t be disappointed

Got this to enable me to install cost effective door sensors within my existing home setup (mixed HomeKit and Home Assistant). The setup was a little clunky but once it was setup (using the Aqara app), everything works flawlessly. It can be added to both your existing HomeKit and Home Assistant setups at the same time. Because it's a hub, any devices (additional sensors) you add to it will automatically appear in your HomeKit / Home Assistant instances. It's Matter compatible so responses from the sensors are super quick. It has a quirky voice feedback thing going on via the speak every time you add/delete a sensor, but you can turn that right down. Looks smart on the desktop. Bit of a dust magnet (minor point, obviously).

Giving 5 star 👍😍

A1

There's not much to say about home automation hubs really - you kinda need it whether you wished you did or not really, if you want that brand's equipment to be usable. I'm using some buttons, the presence detector and the door bell and it all just syncs up and works superbly. Let's talk about it as a whole system - the app is superb, everything basically just worked out of the box as described pretty much and integration with IFTTT is very good across the entire range of products. I've not got them working in Home Assistant yet (i'm just getting that installed), but will be doing that at some point and see how I get on, looks like it might work but we'll see - untested at this point. Definitely recommend Aqara based on what i've used so far - packaging is super, products work well and the app is slick.

Absolute garbage. Can't connect to anything outside the room it's in. Totally weak, unreliable and unstable. If you want something to work with Apple Homekit, but something Matter compatible - this runs on the outdated Zigbee network. Gutted as I have missed the return window so this is cash down the drain.

The aqara range has alot to offer if your in the right eco system, the build quality is great and the set up with the hub is effortless. However, it says it works with HomeKit (which it does), and Alexa. The Alexa skill does not work or let you use the products with Alexa which means if your in the Amazon ecosystem your out of look until they fix the skill, it is a shame as they offer alot of products I was Intrested in but I have chosen a diffrent brand now. Returned the product for that reason however if your an Apple HomeKit user give it a go as my iPhone picked everything up

The hub seems to work well with the sensors, I’m using it in Homekit which exposes it as a security system with 4 modes (pictured) you have to set up each mode in the aqara app but can trigger other accessories in Homekit when the alarm sounds. The siren is very quiet on the hub so would definitely need additional speakers using an automation - I used a HomePod mini with a siren sound effect I found on Apple Music. My other complaint is that my sensors are already showing at about 70% in Homekit when I’ve only had it around a month. I would recommend this hub to users who want more affordable sensors than other brands especially if using Homekit. The downside is that it is a extra hub to add to your network.