Aqara2K Security Indoor Camera Hub G3, AI Facial and Gesture Recognition, Infrared Remote Control, 360° Viewing Angle via Pan and Tilt, Works with Alexa, HomeKit Secure Video, Google Assistant, IFTTT

I like the camera. It’s replacing an old Eufy camera. I always received camera offline notifications in Apple HomeKit with the Eufy camera. So far the Aqara has been solid. It seems faster to load when I want to view videos and also I receive notifications faster.My problem was with setup. I want to have the camera connected to both the Aqara Home app and Homekit. I’d prefer to only use HomeKit but there is functionality (like pan and tilt, human tracking etc) not available in HomeKit. I went through the factory reset process so many times before I found an order of operations that worked.First, connect your phone to the WiFi network you want to use. I have a separate IoT network I use for my cameras etc.Second, power on the camera and add to HomeKit FIRST.Finally, open the Aqara home app and it should automatically detect the camera. Add it to the app when prompted.For the first 20 attempts I always connected it to the Aqara app first. But after a while, the camera would go offline permanently in HomeKit but still work in the Aqara app. It was frustrating.I bought another Aqara camera now that I have the first one working great. I love the pan and tilt and human tracking. It’s very snappy to respond in Apple home.

I could set it up in a breeze in my living room. Integrated with Apple HomeKit super fast. Video looks very clear, even when lights go off. It has allowed me to let people in and out of the house while I am away, for service and cleaning, and having the peace of mind of being able to monitor the house while I am away. It is able to detect motion of people, pets and faces. It is very small and can be placed anywhere. I feel I have got a good bang for the buck invested here.

Just received this today. The manual and the app are not terribly clear and contradict each other in places. Contrary to other recommendations here, I had to add the camera to the app first, which would then offer to add it to HomeKit. It was easy to add to HomeKit first, so if that’s all you want, do that first. Otherwise, add it to their app first. Perhaps HomeKit or their app has been updated since the earlier reports.The default notifications are very noisy, but fairly easy to tune.Now we’ll see how it does for reliability and function.

Its not my first product from aqara, works perfectly fine does it jobHigh quality camera with ai recognition makes it easy to use , if you have other aqara devices its perfect match for automation and security

EDIT: Lol I immediately purchased a 3rd camera after I wrote the previous review…..annnd of course the third one DID NOT work right out of the box. I think this has something to do with Apple and not the camera itself but I’m not quite certain.Basically it dropped out while pairing, and HomeKit decided it wasn’t going to let me add it after resetting it. It kept saying the device was already added. After talking with Apple it was determined that it could potentially be a faulty unit and not truly resetting to factory settings, so I returned. Other 2 cams are still working great off my HomePod Mini***This could also have something to do with the 3rd camera since I’m just running a mini…will update once I get 3rd and have time to set up.TLDR; If you have an AppleTV/Homepod/Ipad already (required to work with HomeKit without anything else) and you’re looking for a HomeKit camera without 3rd party apps; do yourself a favor and just click buy now. This simply works.This is the third camera I’ve landed on and it is absolutely the best by far and large.I initially started with eufy, because it was, well, cheap. I ended up having to download a third party app, then jump through what felt like countless additional hoops, and ultimately ended returning because it was the opposite of seamless, and knowing I would need additional cameras, it was not a process I wanted to repeat.After the eufy experience, I decided I’d give Blink a try and skip Homekit altogether because the third party app experience was so terrible with eufy, I figured why not give our guys and gals at amazon a shot. Also, because it was cheap.This experience was notably better at first. App was easy enough. First camera connected quickly. Second and third camera however we’re a different story…I started running into an error were the app was swearing up and down that I was entering my wi-fi password incorrectly. However, It was showing me the password I entered so I know that it was accurate. Long story short, 15 power cycles and camera resets later, ended up not being able to hook up the last camera, returned, which brings us to this cute little camera here.Now, the reason I mention these previous experiences is because it is critical in understanding exactly why this camera is worth every single penny.Aqara’s arrived, I unboxed, plugged in, hit the + icon in Homekit, scanned QR code, and it worked.That simple. Nothing else required. It simply worked. The entire process took me maybe 5 minutes for both cameras. In comparison, the previous 2 experiences mentioned were both 30+ minutes with negative results.The camera quality is great. Very sturdy and well built.Do yourself a favor and stop looking and buy this. It’s worth it, and it even comes with adorable little ears on the camera…common now, what more could you want?