Correct me if I’m wrong, but…

Buyer Beware! Aqara hubs use the Zigbee protocol, but lock out 3rd party devices!

A few months ago, I bought an Aqara hub and went deep into their ecosystem. I saw their hub and sensors had good reviews, plus they were using the Zigbee open protocol, so I figured I’d stick with their stuff. I had no reason to try other devices until recently.

I picked up a tilt sensor for my garage door from a 3rd party. I made sure it was also using the Zigbee protocol, so I assumed it would be compatable. Unfortunately, when I tried connecting it to the hub, I was wrong and it wouldn’t connect. Turns out, Aqara uses the Zigbee protocol, but locks out 3rd party devices. [source]

If anyone has a workaround to integrate a 3rd party device with an Aqara Hub (IIRC, I have the M3?), I’d love to hear about it. But until then - I’m looking for a refund. I would have never picked up their hub if I had known about their shennanigans; and consequently, I wouldn’t have picked up so many of their sensors.

    • spitfire@lemmy.worldEnglish
      3·
      17 days ago

      But a Zigbee coordinator with Z2M/ZHA already lets you do that. I have 126 Zigbee devices from many different vendors connected to one

      • Ted Lemon@mastodon.nl
        2·
        17 days ago

        @spitfire

        Right. The difference is that if the thing has the thread logo on it, it passed a certification that ensured that this was the case, and that’s also true for Matter devices. For Zigbee it’s entirely voluntary, so caveat emptor.

        • spitfire@lemmy.worldEnglish
          1·
          17 days ago

          Also there are a lot more Zigbee devices on the market, usually stable and cheaper. I know it’s going to be a lot easier for „regular ” consumers to get something easily though. But the matter over WiFi vs. Thread is very confusing to a lot of people