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I just have a few Homekit compatible Meross lightbulbs. When I want to go into a dark room, I just say, "Siri, laundry room light on." Or off. You don't even need to say "on" or "off", it automatically toggles. If that's too much effort or you suffer from aphasia or are mute, well, I guess this would be a valuable tool.
 
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"Plug and Play" means I buy a smart light bulb and screw it into a socket. Siri notices and from then on I can say "Siri turn on the porch light. Siri asks if I mean the new light, I say yes and that's it. But today I need to pair the new bulb and then fiddle with some app and it takes many steps to make it work. I can do those things because I have some formal training and some experience. You can do them too.

But seriously what percent of the population can install a mmWave Zigbee radar and connect it to smart switches and the lights and make it work smoothly in 5 or six different rooms? Then we of course like to have color temperature and brightness adjustments. And we want it to work with siri, Google and Amazon voice assistant. We are not there yet.
Other than siri asking you, it’s almost like that

from 2021: https://www.sohu.com/a/492772380_258768

There are other quality of life improvements after that.

Now Mi Home also learns from your daily usage and sets up automation for you. So just use it for a few days and you don’t really need to tinker with the setup process
 
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This makes so much sense. Not everything needs to be networked! Where the use case supports it, I'd way rather have something that has zero reliance on a hub or a network of any kind, and will never need a firmware update.

Some of this smart home stuff, honestly starts to seem more like an exercise in expensive and fragile over-engineering, or maybe just a pricy hobby.
you say that, but without additional 'knobs' (think some sort of timebox for overrides) this means you can only ever get basic functionality (and that's ok!)

example, if you know you want your bathtoom lights to turn Red, 60% brightness on a single fixture, only on motion between 5a-8am on weekdays, that cool integrated switch cant help ya. that thing is coming on at full brightness.

it does look like this one does have a light sensor, so at least it will only turn on when needed. however some of us expect more granular control of complex automations.

smart home; not do the same thing everytime motion is detected because context means nothing home.
 
Why do companies continue to do this crap. Matter and thread is supposed to improve the smart home, yet some devices still require a hub, and so many lack thread.

Why?
Id imagine a zigbee radio is cheaper, smaller, and rock solid reliable. So it probably makes sense to hook the sensors to a hub and then send a consolidated signal to homekit
 
Id imagine a zigbee radio is cheaper, smaller, and rock solid reliable. So it probably makes sense to hook the sensors to a hub and then send a consolidated signal to homekit
yep. no lorawan, zigbee or zwave natively supported by home hubs, so if you want to break the mold with unique, low cost products, as a manufacturer you almost have to bridge.
 
-you- did that. perhaps you acquired all of this stuff before you realized having a separate app or means for controlling each of these systems. and that these products are not particularly open. i have a bunch of different non-homekit stuff specifically chosen because it was open and could integrate together. you have a hodge podge from vendors who would you rather you not own your equipment. easy to fix really.

Oh yeah - I'm not blaming anyone else for this mess. It took me eight years to tangle myself up this way. I guess my point here is that there isn't currently an existing solution that would consolidate everything through HomeKit. I would love that.
 
Oh man, this is exciting! This is the next step in motion automation.

I can put one of these in the bathroom, or near a shower and it'll the lights on, play music, and as I leave it'll turn all that off.

Or if the sensor detects motion while I'm away from home, it can start doing things, like have red lights follow the intruder as they go room to room, have an audio clip play loudly, etc.

Could even use it in my office, turns on/off lights, computer unlocks, etc.

I could even hide this near a theater seat, so as soon as I sit down it launches a media app, dims the lights, make window blinds go down, etc.

So many possibilities, talk about a solution to a problem I didn't realize I had.

Only downside is Aqara, I do really enjoy their products, but it sucks you need their hub and you can't easily get away with simply using it for HomeKit, sometimes (esp for troubleshooting) you have to connect their stuff (like cameras) to the Aqara App, then connect to HomeKit, then remove it... firmware updates? Same thing, connect it to Aqara, update, disconnect. I really hate that middle man stuff.
 
How FAST do the lights come on when the sensor detects a person? If it is less than 3 seconds, I might be interested, especially if we can start losing hubs sometime soon.

Instantly. I have the FP2. In my open concept condo, a single presence sensor can detect when I sit at my kitchen table, stand at the counter, sit on the couch to watch TV, sit at my desk to work or walk out of the room. The zones become like individual sensors in the Home app which can be programmed to activate HomeKit devices or through Shortcuts for more complex actions.
 
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Does Aqara hub still phone home to china? One of the reasons I’ve stayed away from their products

You can set it up directly in the Home app but you'll lose some of the specialized functionality. I like Aqara's products quite a bit after some initial reluctance for the same reason as you have.

I have a motorized camera with HomeKit Secure Video that I could set up directly in HomeKit without ever signing into the Aqara app but I'd lose the motorized function. I found a compromise. Once set up, you can create HomeKit scenes for predetermined positions of the camera that activate from the Home app, without ever using the Aqara app. If you feel particularly paranoid, you can block the camara's IP at your router and it won't work through Wifi and instead connects to a HomePod or AppleTV.
 
So for applications like this, I find it's more effective to get a cheaper alternative like the Lutron Maestro Motion Sensor Switch. Specifically for a laundry room, and other rooms like closets, the garage, my workshop, and storage room in the basement, it's great because I don't need smart control over those rooms in the sense of being able to control them with my phone or voice. They are more contained and dark spaces that I just need a basic IR sensor that can detect when I enter the room. You don't always need an expensive connected setup!

I have them set for different deactivation intervals depending on the room. The laundry room and walk in closet are small so it will always pick up on motion, and it's great for when you're carrying a basket in and don't have the hand available to turn on the switch, so I have it set to 1 minute delay before it turns off after it stops detecting motion for those rooms. For my garage, it is larger and sometimes if I'm in the corner getting something off a shelf behind the car it might turn off so I set it to a 5 minute delay, which works great with the high powered LEDs that I installed that make my high ceiling garage really bright. Same 5 minute timer for the storage room, which have a lot of lights that turn on including an LED bar that I wired in over our deep freezer. Then for my workshop, I put a 15 minute timer, as my workshop is a bit sprawling so if I'm in the back around the corner looking for something in storage or looking through my wood stock, I don't want it to go off. It works very well since I'm usually in the main section working 99% of the time where the sensor can see me.

My main problem with them is that you can't set an exact light level at which they will activate, so it might not be the best for some rooms, but I heard that if you turn them off shortly after they auto turn on, it's supposed to pick up on that and be less sensitive after a while. But the biggest problem is I wish that there was a way to easily deactivate the motion sensing, or have the motion sensing only work on a set schedule. That's where something like this would be more useful. After my wife shut down her daycare business last year, I have been slowly working towards repurposing that space for a movie room downstairs and have been planning out everything. A smart sensor like this would be great because I could hook it into scenes to make it not activate while watching a movie. I could setup automations such that if the Apple TV downstairs is playing, it could activate movie mode and only turn on the ambient backlight behind the TV and disable the motion sensors so it won't turn on any of the other lighting.

So while this is useful, I don't see the point in using it for simple spaces like laundry rooms, but I do see the application in some shared living spaces or bedrooms where you want to keep the motion sensors from activating at night but still want smart control.
I have one as well. I concurs with everything OP writes. Can work very well *if* it meets your specific scenario. ✅
 
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Oh yeah - I'm not blaming anyone else for this mess. It took me eight years to tangle myself up this way. I guess my point here is that there isn't currently an existing solution that would consolidate everything through HomeKit. I would love that.
I think Homebridge would have most of your list covered!
 
So a sensor in my home that detects if I am in my room needs to send that information to a server far away? It says it is even compatible with Google Home and Alexa. Amazon and Google are not really famous for respecting the privacy of people. Just imagine what that sensor could reveal about your life. If you are usually at work during the day and finally you are at home, you are probably either sick or unemployed. The sensor knows how long you stay up at night, how often you use the bathroom (if you install it there) and if there are several sensors, it might be able to figure out how many people are in that house at any time. Law enforcement might get access to that data if they suspect a crime.

Maybe I am lazy, but since LED lights consume virtual no power, I just leave them on if I leave the room. A dark room is an invitation for intruders. That system might detect intruders and make them flee, but the damage at your window will already be done.

Apart from that even if I enter a room, I still want to decide on my own which lights to turn on and the switch is usually next to the door. So this device seem like a solution in search of a problem.

I wonder what some authoritarian governments could do with that technology. They could force people to install such a sensor to learn more about their daily lives or monitor a curfew.
 
Why do companies continue to do this crap. Matter and thread is supposed to improve the smart home, yet some devices still require a hub, and so many lack thread.

Why?
For this sensor, it's because you need the app and hub to configure and run the zones and settings for the presence sensor. Homekit/Matter doesn't have the necessary functionality to configure it all natively.

I have a few Aqare G2H cameras and they are bulletproof. I've blocked any internet traffic from the cameras at my router and they work fine just speaking only to the Apple TV (home hub). I wouldn't personally buy this presence sensor if it can't work with the internet blocked -- Aqara is Chinese after all.
 
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If you feel particularly paranoid, you can block the camara's IP at your router and it won't work through Wifi and instead connects to a HomePod or AppleTV.
I would still block internet traffic at the router to and from the hub, even if you've only set it up in Homekit. Aqara's firmware is closed source and all companies in China work in partnership with its government. Who knows what logic is embedded in its firmware. E.g. to phone home to a particular IP address, particularly in the event of a war breaking out.
 
i have the previous presence sensor from aqara, and it sucks if you can't attach it properly, mine is in the corner next to the ceiling in hallway and it constantly detects clothes hanger as a person :(

but i love all other Aqara producst - light switches, power sockets, door/window sensors are amazing and works seamless with HomeAssistant
 
Needs the Aqara Hub.

Can Matter remove the need for a hub from each and every brand?
Their FP2 presence sensor is Matter over WiFi, and does not require an Aqara hub.

I assume this lower-end model is either cutting costs, or diversifying to target a slightly different customer that already uses Zigbee/the Aqara hub.
 
It’s not a product for me at least for use in my home. If I want a light on or off I just ask Alexa do it.
 
Oh man, this is exciting! This is the next step in motion automation.

I can put one of these in the bathroom, or near a shower and it'll the lights on, play music, and as I leave it'll turn all that off.

Or if the sensor detects motion while I'm away from home, it can start doing things, like have red lights follow the intruder as they go room to room, have an audio clip play loudly, etc.

Could even use it in my office, turns on/off lights, computer unlocks, etc.

I could even hide this near a theater seat, so as soon as I sit down it launches a media app, dims the lights, make window blinds go down, etc.

So many possibilities, talk about a solution to a problem I didn't realize I had.

Only downside is Aqara, I do really enjoy their products, but it sucks you need their hub and you can't easily get away with simply using it for HomeKit, sometimes (esp for troubleshooting) you have to connect their stuff (like cameras) to the Aqara App, then connect to HomeKit, then remove it... firmware updates? Same thing, connect it to Aqara, update, disconnect. I really hate that middle man stuff.
Logitech is in search of such provocative thinking.
 
Id imagine a zigbee radio is cheaper, smaller, and rock solid reliable. So it probably makes sense to hook the sensors to a hub and then send a consolidated signal to homekit
Thread runs on the same protocol, so I’m pretty sure this isn’t the case
 
So a sensor in my home that detects if I am in my room needs to send that information to a server far away? It says it is even compatible with Google Home and Alexa. Amazon and Google are not really famous for respecting the privacy of people. Just imagine what that sensor could reveal about your life. If you are usually at work during the day and finally you are at home, you are probably either sick or unemployed. The sensor knows how long you stay up at night, how often you use the bathroom (if you install it there) and if there are several sensors, it might be able to figure out how many people are in that house at any time. Law enforcement might get access to that data if they suspect a crime.

Tell me you dont know how Homekit (not sure why you are bringing up Google and Amazon) works without telling me you dont know how Homekit works.
 
Thread runs on the same protocol, so I’m pretty sure this isn’t the case
So why would anyone who has zigbee care? There is no benefit to using Thread or Matter for adept users that have the means to pair standard devices.
 
Only downside is Aqara... I firmware updates? Same thing, connect it to Aqara, update, disconnect. I really hate that middle man stuff.

While I agree this whole Homekit vs Mothership mode is silly (and why I dont use aqara ecosystem), firmware updates can be performed in homekit-only mode.
 
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