The Aqara M2 is a smart home hub developed by Xiaomi. The hub has a number of useful functions, which unfortunately are not always used well. Is it a good idea to invest in this ecosystem or is it better to choose an alternative?
Aqara M2
Name: Xiaomi Aqara M2 Smart Home Hub
Works with: Apple HomeKit, Aqara Home app
Protocols: Zigbee 3.0, bluetooth 5.0, WiFi (2.4 GHz), infrared
Connections: Ethernet port, micro USB, USB-a
Other:: Built-in speaker
Website: Aqara website 6.5 Score 65 
- Pros
- Cheap and accessible
- Automations and scenes
- Clear app
- Negatives
- Little or no external devices
- Not yet a Google Assistant
- App a bit slow
The promise of a smart home hub is huge. With such a hub in your home, you can connect all kinds of smart devices to each other and to the internet. Many smart home products also come with their own hub, such as the Philips Hue smart bulbs. However, when you have to use different hubs for all kinds of devices, you end up in a tangle of cables, plastic and wireless connections. That is why one hub is useful; but that is still really future music for the time being.
We do not expect one smart home hub to rule them all to be released on the market in the short term. But it would be nice if you buy a hub from a third, independent party, you can use that hub to connect other hubs. So you need one app for all your devices, provided they naturally offer the right support. Many hubs support Zigbee, Z-wave, or both, while Thread is also growing in importance.
The Aqara M2 Smart Home Hub
The Aqara M2 from Xiaomi is a round, nicely compact and sleekly designed hub with support for WiFi 5 (only at 2.4 GHz), Bluetooth 5.0 and Zigbee 3.0. In addition, there are also three physical connections, namely an ethernet, a usb-a and a micro-usb port. This way you have control over how to connect the hub. You can connect it to a power outlet with a USB adapter (not included) and you can use a power bank as a backup in the event of a power failure.
The hub can have up to 32 devices as standard. When you place extra nodes in the network, you increase that number to 128. Extra nodes are, for example, smart sockets or wall switches; these amplify the signal from the M2. For an average household, 128 smart devices should be enough. For many users, 32 may also be enough, unless of course you provide every door and every window with a motion sensor and place all kinds of smart sockets in the house.
Two other features are the infrared sensor and the built-in speaker. This sensor is used to link devices that work with an infrared remote control, such as TVs or air conditioners. Then your model must be supported and found by the hub and that can cause problems. The built-in speaker is useful for notifications, security notifications and things like an Aqara doorbell. Then it is a kind of chime.
Aqara’s communications are reporting that the Aqara M2 will offer support for things like Apple HomeKit, Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa. However, these connections are not yet active in the Netherlands. You cannot include the stuff that you buy at the hub in an existing network of, for example, the Google Assistant. That’s a real shame, because the hub also supports very few third-party devices. Thus, the system feels closed and limited.
The Aqara M2 in use
In addition to the smart home hub, we have also received some accessories from Xiaomi, such as a lamp, socket and various sensors. Connecting the various products is easy. However, before you can do this, you need to prepare the hub. That is also a piece of cake. You connect it, download the app and follow the instructions that appear on the screen. The same applies to all devices that you subsequently link.
The design of the app is somewhat like a combination of Apple HomeKit and the Tuya smart home system. After installing the hub and the devices, the app presents a number of options on the opening screen. These are devices, but also the measurements of sensors. You can view the measurements and by tapping the shortcut you get access to extensive information. In a graph you can see the measurements of the day or of the past week.
The options differ per device. You can switch a lamp on and off, or adjust the color temperature, for example. In our case it is a lamp without color options, so that cannot be controlled in this specific case. If you have such a lamp, those options will appear when you open the device via the shortcut in the app. You can also adjust the name and location and there is an overview of automations that are linked to this product.
Linking devices together
Not only the installation screen reminds us of Tuya (on the left you see a list of types of devices, on the right an overview of those devices), but also the way in which you control automations. That works according to a very simple principle: if this, then that. Actually, this can best be described as a basic version of If This Then That (IFTTT), but Tuya has actually made the principle accessible to the average consumer with all its white labels.
The most important thing is that it just works and that the app provides an overview in all cases. The competition simply looks at each other, so it is not surprising that really good aspects are taken over and worked out and adapted within their own environment. At the bottom of the app is a navigation bar with five options: Home, Accessories, Automation, Scene and Profile. With the third option you can control the automations, with option two you install the devices.
Despite the fact that the options are somewhat basic compared to IFTTT, there are still quite a few options. You can start an automation based on another automation, but also a timer or the weather. You can use almost any device as a starting point, but not as something that is affected. That makes sense. When you have a smart button, that is often a starting point. You cannot use that as an end point, as a lamp can.
Another option is to create scenes. Scenes are actually a collection of assignments that you complete in one go. For example, you can activate a smart and a dumb lamp at the same time at the touch of a button in the app. The dumb lamp must be connected to the smart socket. You can also combine scenes with each other and, for example, have all lamps on a certain floor or a room. You just get the tools for this.
Links
It is possible to use third-party devices with the Aqara M2 Smart Home Hub, but there are not many. These are speakers from Sonos, televisions from Hisense and robot vacuum cleaners from Ecovacs and Roborock (also Xiaomi). That’s really pretty thin. There is a small chance that you have one of those devices yourself, so you cannot make optimal use of it. If you have that in mind, it is better to look at a more extensive system.
Despite the fact that there is no Google Assistant support at the moment, there is a good connection with Apple HomeKit. You can operate all devices from the company’s Home application. This gives you access to many more links and options. However, here too there is a chance that you are not using HomeKit, which means that some of the promised functionality is not accessible. Assistant support is currently being worked on.
Conclusion
We did not encounter any problems with the products that we linked to the Aqara M2. The connection is stable, but somewhat slow. But that’s because we connected the hub via WiFi and not via an ethernet port. In addition, the app is also a bit slow with updating the shortcuts, which makes you tap too often more than once. But that doesn’t cause any problems, fortunately. But you have to show some patience.
The biggest problem is that you have access to relatively few devices to connect. Yes, Xiaomi offers enough sensors, cameras, lamps and other accessories, but that is only interesting if you have not yet started a smart home (or already use Apple HomeKit). For example, if you already have something from Philips Hue, with Google Assistant or another well-known smart home brand, then the Xiaomi hub cannot do anything with it.
Therefore, we cannot recommend the hub to everyone. Now the hub is of interest to people with Apple HomeKit or those looking for an accessible and inexpensive smart home hub. Unfortunately, you can use little or no external devices (which are not part of the Aqara system) with the hub, which makes it interesting for few people. That may change in the future. But for now, the accessible hub is disappointing because of that.
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