Thank you for this port , looking forward for the updates …
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I have installed the U100 in my home a few minutes ago. So far it doesn’t seem possible to pair it with Home Assistant without the Aqara Hub so I held off. It’s paired to Homekit though and it’s working pretty well with iOS, so I hope it’s matter of time before someone figures out how to make it work better with Home Assistant, for now I don’t have time to dive in.
Regarding the lock: it’s very cheaply made and the hardware doesn’t look that good up close, it’s awkward to mount on the door (the Yale x Nest locks felt much better built and were easier to mount for example) but once it’s on it works very well. I noticed that the plate where the big bolts screw in is slightly off so while the front lock is perfectly level, the part inside the house isn’t and it bothers me every time I look at it. Also accessing the pairing buttons or batteries requires to remove the plastic hood over the interior part of the lock with a prying tool which IMHO is just a bad design choice.
Bottom line: works well but I wish it was slightly less cheaply made and better designed.
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Since it works with HomeKit, can you pull that into HA a la HomeKit Controller integration?
First update from topic-starter.
I’ve got one lock installed, here are the most important take-aways so far:
- U100 DOES NOT seem to have built-in way to be reset and discoverable for your own Zigbee network w/o damn Aqara Hub, I wish I’ve found out this aspect earlier. Apparently, same issue exists w/ Aqara A100 and the rabbit-hole of adding it to your own Zigbee network is very very deep, see: [New device support]: Aqara A100 Pro Smart Door Lock · Issue #13087 · Koenkk/zigbee2mqtt · GitHub still work in progress for over half a year as deep as flashing Aqara Hub with custom firmware or rooting it.
- U100 can be added to Apple Home via Bluetooth w/o installing Aqara app or having Aqara Hub, however it won’t work over internet w/o Aqara Hub and has just Apple HomeKey and Access Codes settings. You can’t configure fingerprints or AutoLock w/o Aqara app, even calibration won’t work which forced me to install Aqara app as the lock couldn’t figure out which way to turn itself because I have it on the left side of the door and it wanted to close to the right by default.
- U100 can be added to Aqara app over Bluetooth w/o Aqara hub and then you get all the settings, calibration, however it requires you to register Aqara account which sucks because I hoped to never even need Aqara app and account in the first place.
- There were no installation instructions on paper in the box I kid you not, I had to download manual from website but when I eventually installed Aqara app to get more settings apparently there were detailed video instructions on the installation in the Aqara app.
- I’ve found the lock’s physical design and quality quite good, outer part is aluminum, fingerprint scanner is quick, inner side is matte gray plastic and looks nice in my home, it’s easy to operate.
TL;TR: I had to order Aqara Hub, my plan so far is to have hub added to HomeAssistant either through Xiaomi integration or as HomeKit compatible device and then block internet access to the hub so it can only talk to HA. Second goal is to try to hack it to run directly on my Zigbee2Mqtt network w/o Aqara Hub.
With Aqara A100 a user on GitHub reported figured that you can get A100 into Zigbee pairing mode by starting to bind it to Aqara Hub and quickly unplugging Aqara Hub from the outlet, but the problem with at least A100 is that Zigbee messages are encrypted and unreadable for other Zigbee coordinators like Zigbee2Mqtt unless someone pulls private keys out of the lock. But anyway, I’ll try putting U100 into hub pairing and then intercepting the pairing w/ my own Zigbee2Mqtt coordinator.
So far it’s really sad that U100 can’t be connected as normal Zigbee device w/o Aqara Hub, I planned to install more of these locks across the house because I have robust Zigbee network w/ lots of routers, but with this damn Aqara Hub I might need few Aara hubs to extend it to all doors in the house. Aqara decided to screw with Zigbee standard once again, what a bummer.
I’ve seen mentions that the U100 is supposed to get direct Matter support, possibly even over Thread, without the need for an Aqara hub. This could lead to direct HA integration?
The Aqara hub M2 has Matter support in beta currently, but it doesn’t look like the U100 would be exposed from that as it’s not on their list of matter exposed devices via the hub.
I have this working directly through Home Assistant. I have a Bluetooth adapter and a zigbee adapter on my server, used Homekit with Bluetooth for now. Unlock and lock, battery level, and an identify option that seems to do nothing for now. Initial setup with Aqara app, but no hub. Also, got a firmware update this morning that mentioned Matter with hub, but I don’t have or want a hub to test. If anyone with a hub wants to try, Matter may be enabled now. Did the update over Bluetooth just fine.
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Can you detail the steps you used for this? I have both BT and Zigbee integrations in use but am not seeing how to get the U100 recognized by them. Thanks.
Update 2 from topic-starter.
TL;TR: it’s really bad.
- I got M1S Aqara Hub
- I’ve added Hub to Aqara app on iOS and it wanted to add itself to Apple Home, ok
- I’ve “bound” lock with Hub in the Aqara app
- In the Aqara app it then integrated lock with Apple Home
- I’ve removed Hub from Apple Home and it immediately became available for integration into HA HomeKit Controller
- I’ve added Hub to HA HomeKit Controller
- But the lock does not appear as Hub accessory device/entity in the HA HomeKit Controller!
Without bluetooth as per comment above on my HA server it seems impossible to get U100 to work with HomeAssistant right now.
I’ve also tried adding lock to Zigbee2Mqtt as per [New device support]: Aqara A100 Pro Smart Door Lock · Issue #13087 · Koenkk/zigbee2mqtt · GitHub by clicking “Bind with Gateway” in Aqara app and quickly disconnecting Hub from outlet, lock eventually says “Zigbee connection failed, please check the hub and try later” but never appears in Zigbee2Mqtt UI or logs, I’ve tried like 5 times.
It kills me that Aqara M1S hub is listed as Zigbee 3.0 Certified and the U100 is a Zigbee lock yet they screw you with non-Aqara Zigbee compatibility. It’s like saying this device is Wi-Fi certified but it uses it in its own unique way and you won’t be able to connect it to your Wi-Fi.
This is really sad, the lock itself is great and fingerprint is extremely convenient, but I want the lock to be controllable through HomeAssistant to be sure that the door is closed/open when I need to.
I’m sure technically it’s completely possible for Aqara to release firmware update for the lock to make it compatible with non-Aqara Zigbee coordinators. But I don’t know if they’re going to listen to consumers.
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Thank you for the update, i was able to integrate it through homekit controller over Bluetooth, but it is slow, sometimes takes a few seconds. I have the m2 hub and I am wondering how is the experience when it integrate through Matter. Unfortunately, I don’t have Matter router yet
So I got an Aqara M2 hub installed. Updated it’s firmware and bound my two U100 locks to it. Used the Matter support to connect it the HA and it’s working great.
Now I have Zigbee communication with the locks, HomeKey support, and HA support through matter.
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Awesome, I did the setup using the Aqara app and got everything to work including HomeKey but couldn’t integrate it with HA. I’ll order a hub now and test it out. How responsive is it using the hub? If using Zigbee I would assume pretty fast. Does it report battery life in HA?
Leo - What are you using for Bluetooth? Is it on the “high performance” adapter list? I ask because many Bluetooth sticks work but take a few seconds to initialize a connection whereas those listed as “high performance” are quite responsive with all of my Bluetooth devices so far.
Thanks for the updates OP. Seems… kinda not worth it, for now.
Initial testing from HA (through Matter via Aqara Hub M2) was 1-2sec after pressing lock/unlock. Exactly the same when using the Aqara app. Both locks are a bit far away from my server room, where the hub is. Performance is perfectly fine for me.
It does report battery life: Imgur: The magic of the Internet
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Got an M2 hub today, set it up like you mentioned above and it works so well. Response time for me it’s pretty much instant, from the app to the lock and from the lock to the app.
Can this report the user who unlocked door to HA via M2 hub or any other means?
I have automations which run depending on who unlocks the door.
HomeKit does report who unlocked the door, HA with Matter just gets the state change.
I received the U100 2 days ago. I am able to pair it in HomeKit as the only reason I want this lock is to use the Apple HomeKey features. No complains about that.
However, I am sad to report that I am not able to connect the lock to Home Assistant at all. I have Bluetooth (with TRENDnet BT adapter), Zigbee and Thread (with SkyConnect) on my Home Assistant. I was hoping to control the lock via Zigbee (SkyConnect) but no go. There’s no way to put the lock into Zigbee pairing mode.
I read that the Aqara M2 hub is Matter compatible and I ordered one just for the lock. It arrived today. Got it setup in the Aqara app (via Bluetooth so that it is not added to HomeKit). Update the firmware, bind the lock to the hub and enable Matter on the hub. Home Assistant is able to connect to the M2 hub with Matter and the lock shows up! I am able to control the lock via Home Assistant now and the response is instant. Lock state and battery level are also reflected in Home Assistant. I am also able to add the M2 hub to Google Home with Matter and everything works as expected.
Am I happy with the lock? Yes and No. Yes, because this is the only lock with all the features I wanted with a reasonable price. Fingerprint, keybad, and most importantly, Apple HomeKey. No, because I really hate Aqara for locking it down to it’s own hub. Luckily, Matter is here and I am able to control it via Home Assistant locally. It is just a small price to pay (for the M2 hub).
I came from the Eufy smart lock but battery drain is crazy on that lock since it is running Wi-Fi. In addition, it lack Apple HomeKey and there is no official integration from Home Assistant. There is 3rd party integration but it is like a hack. You will never know when Eufy decides to kill that.
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That is unfortunate, it looks like a good lock otherwise. If I have not the need for automation based on who unlocked the door (I take a picture from doorbell of care workers when unlock, and also disarm alarm when someone in family unlocks), I would consider it.
I wonder if there is a way with the Aqara integration in Home Assistant (not matter) to get this information about the lock user?
Since Homekit reports who unlocked, there may be a way to get it to send some info to Home Assistant based on who unlocked using an automation, but that is getting a bit silly with all these hubs and stuff. However, when you make an automation in HomeKit, when someone arrives, An Accessory is is controlled, and select lock does it give options for a particular user?
I don’t see HomeKit automation based on who unlocks the door. I don’t think that’s possible for HomeKit at the moment.
There is a community integration which integrates Aqara hub into Home Assistant but that requires custom FW. I personally am OK with Matter so I am not going down that route.
niceboygithub/AqaraGateway: Aqara Gateway/Hub integration for Home Assistant