Hey guys! So when it comes to wired Homekit switches there are a lot of
different options out there for you. Different manufacturers, Different price
points. There's even a couple out there that have additional features built-in.
Like the one that reviewed, was the Ecobee+ which has Lady A built into it. Which is
really cool. But when it comes to wireless HomeKit switches there's really not
a lot of options. There are a couple Homekit enabled switches out there. Most of
them only work within their own brand of products and the ones that don't are
very expensive and they are Bluetooth which has a limited range. Well recently I
came across a line of Aqara products including these wireless switches which
are just awesome. Not only do they work with other Aqara products, of course, but
they also work with other HomeKit enabled products. Let's go ahead and
check them out.
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Welcome back guys my name is Eric you're watching ModernDayTech we're like simplify
tech for your life. This is part of my Homekit series if you guys are into
smart homes I hope you consider subscribing down below. For full disclosure
Aqara did send these to me along with a a couple of other smart home and security
products but that's not gonna sway my opinion in one way or another. If I don't like
something I'm definitely going to tell you. I'm also going to leave affiliate links
down below you can pick up all these products from Aqara. Some are here in
the US on Amazon others might be overseas because they're just not in the US
yet so definitely check out those links down below. For these switches to work
you will need the heart of the system which is the Aqara hub. Along with that
you will need a HomeKit hub which you can use an Apple TV fourth-generation a
home pod or an iPad with iOS I think it's 13 or better in home kit mode.
Aqara has three different wireless switches, the single rocker,
the double rocker, and the wireless mini switch. Which we're not going to talk a
lot about today only cuz it's very similar to the single rocker There is a
newer model however that has a shake feature but unfortunately that shake
feature is only in the Mi home app and you can't run Aqara and Mi home app
for HomeKit at the same time, and the shake feature is not in HomeKit just
yet. So I'm not going to talk about that anymore. Now since these are wireless you
can place these anywhere in your house as long as it's within range of your
Aqara hub. It is ZigBee so the range on ZigBee I think is maximum of 75 meters
or about 245 feet something like that but of course you know walls and other
factors are gonna reduce that single down. Either way it's still gonna be
stronger than Bluetooth. You can place these down on a table just like that and
easily use it or you can mount it on the wall. It does come with double-sided
adhesive and a couple screws but unfortunately there are no screw holes
on the back of this. It would be nice if they had some pre-drilled screw holes
for you. But personally, I'm gonna use some 3m velcro. That way I can
take it down and move it about. On the bottom there are two little lights on
each unit those are primarily just to let you know the batteries working so if
you're having issues you can easily just test the battery by pressing button you
can see it light up or not. Now when it comes to battery life they say it lasts
about two years I've been using mine about six months no issues thus far but
while I am right that change it is super easy to change you just pop off back
with a flathead screwdriver and replace the CR2032 battery which you can find
in your local grocery store. To set up a switch you have to install it in the Aqara app
first. Each switch does not have a QR code for HomeKit. Only the hub does so
once you're in the Aqara app, hit the plus in top right corner, select what type of
switch that you have, select what hub, you'll then be prompted to hold down
the switch for about 10 seconds and..... [HUB TALKING] Ready to connect to child devices. Child device connected.
[ERIC] and wah-la, you're connected!
Go ahead and name the accessory whatever you want to name it. Assign it to a room. Unfortunately when
you bring this over to Homekit, a lot of times that room doesn't come over or
it's assigned to a different room. I did go back into the Aqara app and do the
Homekit binding, unfortunately, it didn't work. It actually named that particular
accessory or that particular switch into a totally different room for whatever
reason. It was easy to find and I just reassigned it within the Homekit. Once
you bind Aqara with Homekit, the nice thing is that these switches were work
with your entire ecosystem of Homekit products. For instance these studios
lights are on an iHome plug but I can still turn them on and turn them off
even though they are different brands. Now within the Homekit app there are some
limitations when it comes to triggers and conditions. Unfortunately you only
have a single press, a double press, and a long press per switch. Now if you get
into conditions which you have to go outside of the Homekit app and go into
apps like the Eve app or the Home+ app to set conditions you can double those
simply by using conditions. Now if you want to use the Aqara app,
unfortunately you can only use Aqara products within the Aqara app. The bright side
is that if you do have a bunch of core products there are more triggers and
more features available to this product. For instance, on the double rocker switch
instead of just one single tap, DoubleTap and long-press per switch you can also use
both switches as a trigger together so you can do a single press together or a
double tap together or a long press together as additional trigger for a
total of nine triggers all in this one switch. Additionally in their Aqara app
they do have it on/off conditions for your triggers so you don't have to set
up multiple triggers for an on and off command for instance. These background
lights I have it set up within Homekit but turn it off I have to hit it twice
as an additional trigger and then to turn it on I have to press it once
Whereas I set these studio lights in the Home+ app with one click on and one
click off. So I definitely highly recommend that you check out the eve app
if you want something free or the Home plus app if you don't mind paying for
additional app. But when it comes to these switches I gotta tell you these
things are awesome. I think they're like $18 each. They're dirt cheap they work with
a Homekit, they work with other products they're wireless so they can go anywhere
where you put them plus they're a physical switch. You can't forget that
when you have family guests over they might not know the names of your rooms
or devices they can't talk to lady a and Siri they don't have a phone to control
your devices so having a physical switch out in the open is a must-have. I got to
tell you smart home guys if you're into smart homes
you got half switches still I'm sorry you can get into automations a little
bit but you still gotta have the physical switch. My personal opinion. If
you guys want to see the next video in my Homekit series click that video
right there if you're brand new here I you consider subscribing by pressing
that blue circle and I will see you on next video thanks for watching.