Aqara - Smart Video Doorbell G4

I have had two Aqara G4s fail partially. One just wouldn’t stay connected when mounted next to the door. The other one stopped sounding its chime. I moved one to the attic to watch for mice and moved the other one to a door no one ever uses. Replaced with a Reolink which I’m pulling into HomeKit with Scrypted.

If you get it make sure can hardwire for 24/7 recording to the sd card. The notifications are a bit delayed, about 30 seconds? With batteries most of the times the detection of motion is not great as it will only record after the event has happened, so having it hard wired to power its really recommended. This way you can always go back to the event that triggered the motion. Have it 2 moths now and really happy with it just the delayed notifications are a drag but again with 24/7 recording you can access all activity

I use an Aqara g4 doorbell and it works perfect. It struggled a little when I installed it using batteries (i was afraid to use the existing wires because I’m not good with electricity), but I manned up and installed it on the wires. It now works absolutely flawless, perfect with HomeKit as well.

Was using it on battery for 6 months up until recently due to our house not having wiring for a doorbell, and it was *okay* but I wouldn’t have recommended it necessarily. Got it wired-in a fortnight ago, and now I’d recommend it to **anyone**. Even on my crappy internet, it comes up practically instantly in the Home app and on my Apple TV. I can understand the criticism it has received about the orientation of the camera, however that doesn’t really bother me due to the layout of my front porch and garden.

I have this one as of well. Never had any issues

This, 100%. I’ve had mine for close to a year. Switched from Ring because I wanted HK. It runs in a 12V adapter now (was on battery originally but I wanted to record 24/7). Brilliant camera.

I got rid of my Ring doorbell, mainly because of the subscription fee. Replaced with Aqara G4. Uses iCloud+ to store recordings and appears on Apple TV natively. But you don't get the nice Halloween and Christmas ring tones though

Never had a problem with the G4. I plan to hard wire when I change my porch but have used batteries. 6 rechargable AAs. I was dubious but they last about 4 months on average (although a bit less in winter). I think it's entirely dependent on the chime even if you hardwire. That's what you connect to and it keeps the actual doorbell unit light of functionality

I want to wire my Aqara G4 but haven't got round to it. The 6 AA batteries last surprisingly long. Probably about 4-5 months on average

I love my Aqara G4 - it's a very solid doorbell. I will also agree that it has to be wired in. I had mine on battery only, but in a high foot-traffic area the battery drained very quickly. I have mine wired in, talking directly to HK (no third party control) and it works extremely well. It's been 5 months and I often recommend it and would buy it again.

I would the Aqara G4. Doorbell as you can create advanced automations with facial recognition,and it also includes a chime which has a micro so card for storage

The G4 doorbell is great, my only complaint with it is the aspect ratio (I wish it was a bit taller as well) but I knew that going into purchasing it and overall I am still happy with it.

I have the Aqara doorbell and it works well. You have to use the included chime with it, but it does have a MicroSD card slot on it so you can record 100% locally as well as using HKSV.

Love the G4, must be hardwired! Battery operation is non-viable.

I have had my G4 (wired) for a couple of weeks and love it so far

Wired using low voltage wiring to a door bell chime

Mine does ☺️

Aqara g4 has no issue for me. Honestly, I never have issue with any devices. I was also struggling to find a doorbell camera and any device seems to have issue (by reading online review). I just bit the bullet and get one and never really see any issue like the online review mention.

Great: - price - no subscription (biggest factor for me besides baseline functionality) Mixed: - style (too large for some, and should have white variant to reduce overheating IMO) - functionality (works well genrally, although in direct sun or any rain i get a lot of false loiter alerts - there are settings to help reduce false positives, but you may end up reducing how well it captures videos of visitors by doing so) - customization (pretty good settings options, but would prefer a little more specification with the automation/scenes. For example you can set loiter detection to only turn on after X time, but cant go so far as to turn loiter sensitivity up during X hours and back down during Y span) Bad: - Battery drain (dont think about purchasing if you dont plan to hard wire - the settings required to get full value out of this device will burn through batteries at an absurd rate. Like 6 AAs every 4-6weeks. If tou hardwire this is not an issue

does the unifi doorbell stuff pop up on Apple TV? we are doing a remodel and going to be adding their wifi and cameras, was considering their doorbell but wasn't sure if it did this, and we loved it with our aqara we had before

I have had the G4 for a bit more than a year. It integrates well with Apple HomeKit. My main problem has been with WiFi signal sometimes dropping out although my house has very thick walls and WiFi signal outside is not great. I had it running on batteries for a few months then I wired it in. Since then it is like a different device. WiFi signal is better and now I get notifications quicker when somebody rings the bell and it takes about 2 seconds to connect when I view it in Apple Home rather than the 5 to 7 seconds it used to take. It is the third doorbell I’ve had and the best one of them. I would say only get it if you intend to wire it in.

We have an Aqara G4 doorbell and I’m still very unsure about it. It will go unresponsive for hours or more. I’ll check the Aqara app and the connection from the chime to the doorbell itself shows as totally fine but the chime isn’t connecting to our WiFi…as far as I can tell. Seems like an overly complicated connection setup for no reason at all. About to try switching to the Logitech doorbell. If that doesn’t work, I guess we’ll just go back to a Google doorbell integrated through Starling. 🤷🏻‍♂️

Yeah. Ours goes unresponsive for hours or days on end and just magically comes back for no reason whatsoever. It’s FAR from perfect.

Got it a few months back for my new home. Ran on battery power most of the time never had an issue it is smooth in detecting any motion (was detecting buses cars too) Adjusted few things of person detection are all good now. Recently wired ot to the old bell chime now continuous recording notifications all works fine for me. Detects my NAS storage too. Yet to do HA integration. All this is just my experience and others might be different based on their requirements.

Aqara G4 works like a charm.

Bought the Aqara G4 on release. Worked really good and loved that the HomePods around the house were a chime. We sold the house 4 months ago and the only reason I haven’t got a new one is because our new house has this system with a buzzer and camera like you find in an apartment building so I need some more time in figuring out how it all works exactly, otherwise I would’ve gotten me a new G4 on day one.

Almost the same but not identical. Doorbell videofeed shows up on the Apple TV when someone rings it and the HomePods work as a chime. Both are very useful.

Loved mine but it died from the heat unfortunately. Moved on to Aqara

I learned not to use rechargeable batteries with the G4. Now, I get months of battery life, not days or weeks.

I learned not to use rechargeable batteries with the G4. Now, I get months of battery life, not days or weeks.

I’ve had a few issues that haven’t been ideal. I’ve had to reset it a couple times as it’ll just stop connecting for days at a time. But once reset it works good for a while. Also for some reason mine had to be connected to the existing wires for everything to work(like notifications of people and packages at my door) when only on batteries I don’t get notifications unless someone physically rings the doorbell. So if you are going to wire it then you shouldn’t have any issues.

Aqara g4, only thing I didn’t like was my eneloop rechargeable batteries would show up as low battery even when freshly charged but I went and got some EBL 1.5v 3000mAh AA’s and they have been flawless. Now have replaced all battery operated devices either them and have literally tripled the time in between charges. Only other thing to remember is to have the chime close enough inside so you get a good signal. I love the fact that the memory card is in the chime so if someone breaks or rips off the doorbell you still have the footage safe inside plus on Aqara cloud and apple cloud.

Send it back. Your unit clearly has an issue. My G4 has been working fine all summer in 90F

I just replaced mine with the Aqara G4 and it’s working great!

Look at Aqara - lots of integrations between their doorbell and lock system with triggers for other systems via HomeKit (or similar) for lights and such. Good AI where you can learn their face and run specific triggers based on a specific person - at least via HomeKit.

Aqara. No need subcription. Will stream on your Apple TV. Save video when you install a SSD card.

Just picked up the Aqara G4 last week and it’s working well so far. Running it on batteries and have had no issues with connectivity. Picture quality is decent and it seems to capture about 95% of all events at my front door. One of the big pulls for me was HKSV. Not paying for any sort of video storage subscription and having it all securely stored in my iCloud account is fantastic. My only wish is for the video orientation to be vertical. However, I made a workaround that angled the camera down a little more and I can see about 70% of my porch now. I also put instructions for all of my Amazon packages to be placed at the opposite end of my porch, so that they are clearly in view of the camera. So far, so good.

I have the Aqara G4 doorbell on wired power. Battery life was terrible and I was fortunate that it was easy to wire with a nearby power point. The face detection is pretty terrible. I have never setup the Aqara app as I don’t trust what their app would do with my data, so I have no idea if that improves things. And it has stopped working twice in about 12 months without notice, requiring a power cycle to restore operation. The time it takes for the doorbell video feed to load is so slow it’s quicker to answer the door in my small townhouse. I can count in one hand the number of times I’ve used the app to answer the doorbell it’s so laggy. No over heating issues here with it facing east into the morning sun. That is to say, it provides OK peace-of-mind but I’m not about to recommend it.

The Logitech Circle has been great for me. Have moved it to multiple houses with no problems. Wired up to my original chime easy as well. All my HomePods including my original chime ring when pressed and alerts are quick. Had the Aqara and it went completely dead on me within a few weeks.

Just turn off the heat warning in the app. Mines been going strong for a year in the same conditions.

I'd second the recommendation to wait for the G410. My Aqara wasn't particularly reliable and finally died towards the end of its first year. The replacement provided was much better, especially after I paired it only with HomeKit, but still goes offline occasionally and randomly takes a long time for the video to appear.

Aqara G4 or the new one G410 if you are able to wire it up. It’s been flawless with decent wifi. Incidentally I did the same and replaced my Ring Doorbell and removed it from my Homebridge hub.

Aqara g4 ! Hands down !

Unifi, Eufy, Aqara are all good options with local storage / NVR options.

I have had the G4 for over a year, and it works nearly flawlessly. Only downtime it has had has been due to general issues with Homekit that just require a restart. The seperation of the brains being in the chime is an absolute godsend since restarting just means unplugging and plugging back in. It also means that the doorbell is still usable and works in -40. I can't recommend the G4 enough.

I like the g4 from Aqara. Been using it since October

I had the Arlo doorbell cam but just moved away from them. Now have the aqara doorbell cam, very easy to install and set up. I had minimal issues with the Arlo camera doorbell. I moved away because of price increases. Good luck with your choice

Works really well. I like how videos are stored locally on an SD card inside the house, but I can still view remotely. The only issue I had was the battery would only last a couple of weeks if HomeKit integration was enabled, so I had to turn that off, now the batteries last a few months. Wired would be a better option.

I'm on aqara and that's what I'm recommending now. I started with ring but I needed to reset the connection regularly and there was a subscription fee. Then I went to eufy, but I needed to reset the connection all the time. I initially got it because it was supposed to link to Alexa show devices but after a year I think they dropped support. Really hated it. Next I went to aqara. Never needed to reset the connection since the install. Its wired and battery operated, so best of both worlds (battery backup). It uses a hub, which I thought would be an issue but turns out I like that better. The hub is small and right next to my router (no connection concerns), plugged into the UPS (no concern for power outage), the SD card plugs into the hub so if anything ever happened to the camera I'd still have access to my files. It works well enough with Amazon (will show the feed on Amazon devices on demand, will announce when I'm watching something on the firestick). There's also plenty of automation features (recognize faces, custom ring tones was fun for Halloween, ring tones for specific people when they are recognized). Gripes for the aqara G4 - only 5 custom ring tones, not sure why there's a limitation when it's all just stored on the SD card. Similarly there's a limit to 30 recognized faces, really dont understand why. It frequently reverts from continuous recording to event recording, which is a problem. The app is not streamlined at all. The functionality is there and easy to use for whatever you'd want to do but it's really not intelligently organized. Despite these gripes I'm taking the G4 over the eufy any day.

I'm not a fan of the looks of the G4, but for me it's been the most reliable out of the Wemo, Logi, and Aqara

When I first got the doorbell I had these issues too. It always worked in the Aqara app, just was flaky in HomeKit. I logged into my router and found out that the channel that the 2.4GHz band had chosen was not a good one. I changed it and saw in real time how devices came back online in the home app. My camera has been perfect ever since, as long as the channel stays put. If the camera goes offline I can always tell that my router changed channels. I’m getting a better router.

It works with our chime, so idk.

Just got a Aqara G4 for my sister. Hardwired is the way to go. So far so good, just wish the damn doorbell wires were compatible but other than that no problems. I kinda wish there was a HomeKit version of that one ring doorbell that replaces your entire peephole but I wonder how that would even operate

I strongly suggest waiting for the G410 in hopes it’s a more reliable product. I’m on my second G4. First one randomly died, and this one now no longer detects any motion.

I had the C30. It was utter garbage and demolished its battery in 3 weeks. I replaced it with an Aqara G4 doorbell and it hasn’t missed a beat. It does require 6x AA batteries, but these are lasting months for me. It can use fixed power though if you have that available. I recommend returning the Eufy and getting the Aqara.

Yes it does. Also has HomeKit built in so that when it detects someone, it can appear on the AppleTV as a Picture in Picture alert.

Works absolutely fine for me on batteries, no issues. I’ve said this in a different thread before, but I’m fully in the Apple ecosystem, so it’s only connected to Apple Home and not connected to the Aqara app or had its firmware updated. Reading the comments here it just confirms my belief that there’s something in the newer firmware causing the issues. TL;DR: Connect to Apple Home only if you can - no delayed notifications, no connection issues, no battery drain.

I’m more impressed with the sound clarity! Compared to ring and the aqara doorbell it’s freaking amazing.

I’ve had them replaced a couple times. On my third one over roughly 2 years. Connection says very good. But in the past I’ve had issues with motion detection. Losing connection completely. Some mornings it won’t work at all until maybe around 10am almost as if it needs time to warm up. Currently it’s not working at all “network connection failed please try again” and won’t let me update to the latest firmware. Gets to 90% then just stopped and I have to force close the app. Also Aqara customer support is terrible.

G4 is perfect when it works. But way too inconsistent

https://preview.redd.it/5trqm6kjepke1.jpeg?width=790&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=def8425f5ea5ab1961d62ee53f9c3f2d21debad8 Old picture so the g4 isn’t actually pictured here but the blue on the left is a pretty old existing doorbell. Still works. On the right in red is where I currently have the g4 mounted and just inside the door only a few feet away is where I have the chime.

Wireless. I don’t really have a wired option. I have an existing doorbell on the left side of the door but the G4 is on the right side and the door is mostly by brick and siding so not sure how to run the wiring from left side to the right

The separate hub for the Aqara is a small price to pay (for me at least) to get the benefit of local, sd card 24/7 recording. Doubly so if the nest is requiring me to get a starling hub anyway

Noted. Mine is wired so I can’t really speak to battery performance. Other than that, I can’t think of a time it was ever offline and not responding, and with HKSV it always includes a few seconds of pre and post recording (but if it ever failed there, having the 24/7 steam to SD as a backup is great piece of mind)

Got one a few days ago. Supports HKSV, Battery powered, Works with the Ring Doorbell External Power Adapter too if you want it wired up.

all homekit cameras have the same resolution. but some start recording a wider time window around an event than others. also, the g4 is ok when its wired. if you plan on using it with batteries, save yourself some time and throw it in the trash before mounting. it goes through a set of batteries in 3 days max.

I have both an Aqara G4 and a Logitech Circle Doorbell. The overall functionality of the two is the same but the Aqara is significantly cheaper. Cost aside, I actually prefer the Aqara \*because\* of the chime-repeater. The chimekit of my Logitech Circle doorbell shorted out so I'm probably going to need to get something like a Homepod Mini so I can actually hear when someone rings the doorbell (I just get a pop-up notification now)

I don’t know if there’s a date yet - if you don’t want to wait you can get the G4, it’s been great for me, but if you can wait it out, may as well wait for the newer version.

It’s ok except for angle of camera. It should cover height rather than wide. Had a few issues that their tech department fixed remotely. I miss my arlo

Aqara doorbell is great. Just replaced my netatmo one with it. Netatmo is meh at best

Assuming you mean for the Aqara? You get a small usb chime and it also chimes my HomePod

I have an Aqara G4 and I couldn’t be happier with it. Works perfectly with HomeKit.

Works like a charm for the past 2 years. Battery is lasting 2-3 months. Homekit works great with iphone and apple tv. Only complain is that the bell is played twice in a row everytime. Just WHYYYYYY

My Aqara G4 is a lot less responsive than my previous 4 year old Ring doorbell. The Aqara misses almost all of rapid movements (that were indeed captured by Ring). Am I doing something wrong? Could it be that I use it on batteries?

All I can say is, I tried the Ring Plus and the Aqara G4 and both were unuseable as a way to interact with anyone at your door, by the time it connects, they are long gone.

I had the same issue with the Aqara G4. It worked fine on battery for the first few months and then changed to permanently being in energy saver mode. After wiring it in I’ve had no further problems.

I just bought the s3 pro camera pack, with basestation. So thought I’d also get the e340 2K doorbell too. Well, as great as the spec is, I’m sad to say I return it and bought the lower resolution (1080p) Aquara G4 doorbell instead. If I was going for looks I would go Arlo. If I was going to spec the Eufy e340 but as I wanted best spec, that was HOMEKIT native, that led me to the Aquara G4. Very gutted, as I would have preferred to keep all my cameras Eufy, but for some stupid reason it’s not HomeKit native, so annoying. Still, Aquara is better than my 2nd gen Rind battery doorbell but about the same huge size 🙈 If you’re not a full blown Apple user (HomePods, AppleTV, iPads & Macs) then go for Eufy !!!

I have an Aqara G4 running on batteries and a logitech circle view doorbell, both in homekit. The logitech’s tall aspect ratio so i can see my steps and packages is desirable but the “night vision” is a bright light on the front of the unit. At first this bugged me cause it looks weird from the road in my initial opinion but i’ve got over it and really like it because of its reliability. It’s picky about the available power. there was ring installed before and i had to upgrade my transformer so this camera would be reliable. it has been solid since. The aqara’s battery life while cold is not great but night vision is actual night vision but i think events are missed because the contrast in real night vision isn’t great. It misses the tall aspect ratio but where it’s mounted the wide aspect ratio is actually a benefit. also when the batteries die you don’t get notified in homekit. i think it’s because the status is based on if the doorchime is plugged in or not. when the batteries die the video feed just spiny wheel loads forever. All considering it’s battery powered i am happy with it. Hope it gives some helpful experience and context. AMA

Just got the G4 about a week ago. No issues so far. Wired connection with batteries installed as well for backup (not sure if that’s frowned upon)

Just tried the Aqara G4 and it can’t handle the morning sun in Alabama. Got a heat warning in 81 degree weather at 8:35 in the morning.

Probably the best option right now is Aqara G4, but can’t say I’m that happy with mine. It has to connect to the charm box to connect and its connection is a little weak so it has to be really close and the charm box has poor WiFi signal, even though there’s a WiFi really close to it

Yes, it was flaky on batteries but wired it’s been working great.

For me the only drawback to the G4 was that the screw to secure the cam to the bracket is placed right of the unit instead of above/under it so if you plan to mount it left and flush to a wall it can’t be tightly secured. Otherwise it’s a fantastic cam and reports everything quickly. I once had a mosquito report as an animal detected 😁

I’ve been happy with the Aqara G4

The G4 can’t use your chime, but it does have a remote chime that functions as a repeater for a good connection that you plug in inside (USB-C powered)

It’s great but on batteries we’ve had ours for less than a month and stripped the screw, still trying to figure out a way to get it open and Aqara customer service hasn’t given any advice yet

Aqara works great for me for years.

I like my Aqara. Works great. AC powered.

Works great for me. I think that the key to a good signal is to have the chime really close. You want at good signal between the doorbell and chime. The signal between the chime and wifi router seems to be less important.

I bought this and sent it back. It’s bloody awful. I got the eufy and it’s the best I’ve had.

Picture quality really bad. Connection speed very slow. Very temperament

A wired Circle a total beatch to set up but must say has been flawless ever since. Today I’d go for the Aqara, though. The Circle’s view range is just too narrow horizontally.

Rock solid since I installed it, hasn’t been an issue and I bought mine second hand Latency in HK depends on network conditions, generally fine

I’m using an Aqara G4 doorbell with no issues, it’s been solid

I just bought the Aqara. No subscription and works great with HomeKit.

I just put this one in. Really like it. Stores videos via SD card. Works great with HomeKit. Video is clear. Easy to setup. You can download whatever door chime you want. I’m really liking it.

Link says unavailable. Bummer. I wanted to check them out.

Also, did I mention how easy it is to set up? For the last 7 years I’ve had a Vivint security system that I finally got sick of paying a monthly fee for. This is by far a much nicer system equipment wise.

Ha ha ha. Says opening soon.

Worked this time. Seems cool. Looks a lot like a Blink camera.

I bought an Aqara and have been well pleased. It works great with Apple HimeKit.

[https://www.aqara.com/us/product/smart-video-doorbell-g4/](https://www.aqara.com/us/product/smart-video-doorbell-g4/)

Aqara G4 Doorbell is pretty much the standard here. Use it wired or/and battery-powered.

I have had the Aqara G4 since its US release. Works fine for me so far. I use it wired.

Only for power. Network is still WiFi. It was battery mode for 3 months before I replaced the doorbell transformer and switched to wired power. No issues then either.

Aqara G4 has been faultless for me

I’ve had no problems with Aqara G4, batteries have even lasted for 4-6weeks in minus 10-20°c.

My Aqara is awesome. Being able to wear gloves and still use home key is awesome

I had similar problems with the Logitech Circle View Doorbell,until it completely died. Now I’m using Aqara G4 and couldn’t be happier. No disconnect’s and completely stable. I know other people like the circle view and I might have an early sample as I ordered it around when it came out in the US.

I will say that my experience using it for 2 years is the same. Really crappy connection. Also, mine ended up not being able to boot just when the 2 year warranty expired. I have replaced it with an Aqara G4 with no connection issues at all. Rock solid! When you look at different Reddit post, it seems like Logitech has issues with some batches and some are perfect.

I installed this recently. It’s be working perfectly. No issues so far. Integrated starting into Apple HomeKit. Notifications have been on point.

Seems to be pretty much realtime to me.

Mine seem to notify both at about the same time. To enable HomeKit notifications you need you go into the doorbell settings in HomeKit and then select notification. Then you will see this screen. https://preview.redd.it/g8wnft2jkv3e1.jpeg?width=1320&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d3906f17e3d972c7da225891a02ddef249838f4a

Real simple. I have an Aqara G4 that is not usable 50% of the time because “it needs to cool down”. I live in south New York, where it really doesn’t get that hot, so I’m sure it’s just a device limitation. All I’m asking for is some suggestions on doorbells that won’t give me this problem and are homekit compatible, thank you.

The best OEM Homekit experience youll get is with an Aqara doorbell, however if you can deal with some tinkering a Reolink or Unifi doorbell combined with scrypted is absolutely rock solid, I've been running the Reolink Doorbell via scrypted for over a year as well as 8 other Reolink cameras and you wouldnt even know they weren't OEM, everything works such as facial detection, onvif , HomePod and Apple TV announcements

Using Aqara doorbell g4 for the last year or so. No disconnects, set up once and forgot about it from tweaking perspective. I love it. Notifications on my phone/ipad and Apple TV when it’s turned on. The only downside is that it really needs to be installed close to the chime (there are two components - the doorbell and „main” unit). If it’s more than 2 meters it’s a problem. Also - I have it hardwired, heard that it sucks on battery only mode. But in my scenario - on wire, not battery - love it, I recommend it and would buy again.

Use Aqara, it’s amazing

Landscape video is so stupid. I returned mine immediately.

I have the Aqara G4 and it’s been reliable for 12 months. Good HomeKit integration for the basic user and it’s not expensive.

Got an Aqara about 4 weeks ago - no subscription needed and records all motion - can use Apple Home to store video or locally on SDCard without needed Aqara subscription

Aqara G4 has worked great for me. Better than Ring or Eufy in my experience.

This! I’ve had really good luck with this doorbell.

For sure needs to be wired to get the most out of it, OPs current is wired so it shouldn’t be an issue at all. No subscription is absolutely great

+1 for Aqara. Works well for me as well

Thus far. I like it. It the only Aqara device I’ve had zero issues with connection wise. Connects with HomeKit perfectly. I’ve had my unit for 2-3 months now. For battery, I’m not sure I have my unit hardwired. I agree with everyone that it is large so if you don’t have room it won’t mount well. I wasn’t able to fasten the security screw for my doorbell. However it’s impossible to get to how I have my unit mounted as I have brick on both sides of my front door. Only major con I have is it does a terrible job recognizing when ppl are at the door i.e. if a car passes by it will say that there are several ppl at your door or a person is at your door. I had an Arlo product and it did a phenomenal job recognizing things. The system for creating zones that prevent it from false reporting objects is very antiquated. Other con is it has sent me this temperature warning thing…my home sits a hill so the front side of my house gets beamed with direct natural light. When this happens it does offline for a few minutes.

Buy a plug in transformer from amazon and run it off that. Plenty of us have done it and loads of guides at r/Aqara 😊

Batteries on it don’t last all that long. I have that doorbell and get around a week on rechargeable AA batteries.

The Aqara doorbell is 1080p not 2K but I’ve had it for over a year and been 90% happy with it. The 24/7 recording is great to have on a doorbell in a prime position but the annoying bugs here and there can be frustrating with Aqaras slow support or software roll out.

Aqara ecosystem is arguably the best out there with the bonus of being well suited for and tailored to HomeKit. Biggest complaints I hear regarding the G4; 1. Aspect ratio is horizontal (landscape) instead of vertical (portrait) mode. So seeing head to toe when someone is at your door is not possible. 2. 1080p instead of 2K which is fine for HomeKit secure video, but having 2K available would be handy to view from the manufacturers app would be a nice option. 1080p in 2024 should not be a thing. 3. The form factor is too wide. If your surface is narrow, it presents an installation challenge.

I really like the Aqara doorbell, powers off existing cable. Has a doorbell chime/hub. I have Reolink for all my other exterior cameras. Aqara integrated easy into Apple home so it’s convenient for my wife.

Aqara, hands down the BEST!

Go with Aqara, no regrets.

Aqara G4. It can record 24/7 to a sd card

I wired mine into the existing doorbell wires.

I have it wired to the doorbell, so no batteries needed. But if you don’t have the wire, you can do a battery

I haven’t had problems with mine, and it is exposed to pretty extreme temperatures. Connectivity is great

I would highly recommend the Aqara G4. It has survived extreme desert heat and the connection works great. It also records 24/7 to an SD card that is inside of the bridge/speaker you place in your home. So even if someone were to destroy or pull off the doorbell, you still have the footage.

I’m very happy with my Aqara G4, especially since I wired it. I’ll wait and see if something better shows up, but I doubt it. It’s the complete package to me.

From my experience it is not worth it if you are using battery power only. With battery it constantly went offline and lagged a ton in both Aqara and HomeKit app. As soon as it was hardwired all those issues went away and it has been perfect. I have it set to record to the sd card 24/7 since it doubles as a security camera. Like others said having the chime as close to the doorbell is critical too.

Aqara g4 going great

I had questions on reliability as well. Bought one today, set it up about 2h ago. Up until now it’s working flawlessly. I can give a 24h/48h update if that’s useful.

Sounds like your G4 might be defective. Mine gets direct sunlight until around 10am. And it was 115+ here last week and my G4 was working with no issues But if yours is getting direct sunlight all day, or at least in the afternoon during the hottest part of the day then it’s possible the direct sunlight is actually the cause

i've been using an aqara g4 for about a year. if you're planning on using it in battery mode, you'll be disappointed. if hardwiring it is an option, you'll love it. the thing takes 4 batteries, and will be dead within a few weeks to a month (and you have limited video capability on battery power) hardwired the only real issue is that occasionally it complains about the heat on a hot sunny day, but if it really became a problem you could potentially just get a little roof 3d printed for it to keep the sun from pounding on it. i've been happy with the picture quality, and functionally it does everything it's supposed to do. i guess if i was to have one complaint, it's simply the fact that the mount the doorbell clips to is pretty tiny which makes getting everything to fit when wired kind of a pain (but since there's no batteries to swap, it's a one time pain).

Aqara doorbells support these features...

I think you are incorrect. My Aqara doorbell can save video to a NAS.

G4

The Aqara has been working well for us in Boston. Our front door face south and the doorbell is totally exposed to the weather. I 3D printed a little roof for the doorbell though.

I just returned mine today because of the battery draining over 60% in one day. I’ve seen the battery issues popping here and there and I don’t wanna deal with that considering lithium batteries aren’t cheap. Will buy again when I can hardwired. If anyone wonders, yeah, it was updated to the latest firmware and all the drainage happened after I reseted it because it had lost connection. Plenty of people recommending putting it in power saving mode, but that defeats the purpose of getting a smart doorbell. If I count the cost of the lithium batteries, I will be just better off staying with the Ring and the subscription. Much more sustainable.

Wow, maby I'll swap my current g4 out then. Never liked the horizontal lens

My G4 doorbell is always too slow to detect motion, or maybe it cuts off the beginning of the clip. I typically see the back of the delivery person's head as they walk away. It completely misses motion as often as it catches it. This makes it pretty much useless. I'm about ready to give up on HKSV doorbell cameras and get a Ring or something. Running power to where it needs to be is extremely inconvenient.

It is the worst Aqara product I own and I have lot of them and I’ll probably get more. Nothing works as intended.

Aqara G4 no doubts

I went with the Aqara G4 and it’s been awesome. It’s natively compatible with HomeKit if that’s something you like.

Switched from Ring to Aqara G4 as well! It’s good and the video quality is so much better than my old ring camera. Just fyi if you power it with only batteries they will go through them quickly. You can mess around with different settings to increase battery life but my Ring camera was battery powered too and lasted much longer. Otherwise, I love it.

My G4 faces south, gets a pretty good blast of sun and heat. I’ve not had any issues with it. As others recommend, hardwire it and make sure the receiver can talk to the doorbell and to your network.

It sounds like a defective G4. Mine stopped working and Aqara replaced it. It doesn’t have any problems on an unshaded south-facing wall.

Aqara G4 is HomeKit native, and subscription-free. I’m very happy with mine.

I only wish the Aqara G4 was portrait mode. I can't see packages and faces with the landscape view.

Happy with mine - also wired. I have a south-facing door and couldn’t do the LG one because of overheating. No issues with the G4 and have had it since it came out - I think several years now.

I have no experience with Logi Circle view but I Have been using G4 for almost a year, and it's battery powered. It really has no downsides, especially compared to the Nest Wireless Doorbell which I had previously. That thing lost connection at least once a week. God forbid the power outage, sometimes I would need to factory reset it, remove it from the home and add it again for it just to work. This hasn't happened a single time with G4. Always works flawlessly. Even after power outage, it sorts itself out very quickly. Just one thing that could be better - it sometimes takes up to like 5-6 seconds to connect to it and to see the live feed. And my chime is very close to it, maybe 3-4 meters but with 1 wall in between, and I cannot take it any closer to the doorbell. Have that in mind when you choose, if the distance from the doorbell to the chime would be any greater than this it could take even longer to connect

Well I’ve tried 2. Netatmo, which I liked the premium design of, but they never released HKSV support Aqara, which doesn’t look so nice as the Netatmo, but works well, especially when used with a U200 door lock. Aqara had lots of issues when it first came out, but I think is pretty good now. This is typical Aqara, which is to release before really ready and treat what is really beta software as a v1.0

Works very reliably for me. I would like if it had a second, downwards facing camera to alert me of a package delivered.

I have just converted it to hard wired, but before on battery with power saving enabled (wakes on press, so no presence monitoring) I was getting about 3-4 months out of battery. Impressive really.

I’ve had the same experience.

Definitely needs to be hardwired to work well. Has been for me ever since I took it off battery power.

As a counter point, I found the Aqara to be ‘if sun then overheat’. It was never in direct sunlight and the outside temp was 25 C but it overheated and stayed that way.

I’ve gone for the Aquara too. But disappointed with the battery life, and still need to get ontop of the notifications!

Ive tested a few HomeKit native doorbells. The best so far is Aqara g4.  hardwired for power would be best.    The only mainstream one I haven’t tested is the Belkin wemo 

Aqara has been rock solid for me. Sometimes it is a little slow to respond when attempting to watch the feed. I blame that on all of my household all trying to view the feed at once.

Overall it has been good. I’ve been using it on batteries because my home doesn’t have the wiring for it, it went through a stint where it was chewing through batteries but after resetting it the problem seems to be resolved

Definitely this. Haven’t had any issues with mine I just wish the quality on HK could be better. It’s superb within its native app, but I assume it’s pulling from the SD card at that point which might explain it. Further, it doesn’t seem to get the important clips you need unfortunately. I still recommend it highly though.

Mine broke after moderate rain, tbf they do advise putting it in a covered area but still… It also seemed to rinse through batteries in a few weeks even with battery-saving settings on. I found it also took a while to load a live feed. Moved back to a ring using scrypted to get it on HK

None at the moment, .The Aqara G4 is very underwhelming, and even with a nice Scrypted setup using Reolink (What I have now), you're still putting band-aids on top of band-aids...

Have and love the Aqara. Just recommend getting some rechargeable AA batteries.

I have two G4s, for front entrance and back patio, and a G3 for indoors (new puppy) They all work pretty flawlessly, I can recommend SD card storage, and it uploads footage to my Synology NAS Did have to get a transformer fitted tho, as G4s don’t come with one included in box, and existing one wasn’t high enough voltage Easy enough and not very expensive to get an electrician if you can’t DIY

I stuck some 3300mAh rechargeables in mine on 5th April and it’s still on 40% charge 3 months later, I recommend.

I’ve been really happy with my Aqara.

Love mine. If it worked easily in home assistant it would be prefect.

Its a realible fella but the only downside is the viewing angles, would have been nicer to have a 9:16 ratio closer to the Logitech that can watch your porch for parcels. but if your door faces the road then it may serve you better for capturing a wider area.

I also recommend G4. But maybe wait for the G410, it’s soon to be released

If you aren’t going down the Unifi+Scypted route (which IMO is the best, but expensive option), I found Aqara to be the most reliable after it.

I have the Aqara G4 and I love it!

I think it’s great - had mine for over 2 years, never experienced any problems. It’s important to have a good Wi-Fi connection, and to ensure the distance between the doorbell and the chime isn’t excessive. Works great with HomeKit - it’s superb.

Just don’t! I have a ton of respect for many Aqara products, I have two homes equipped with about 100 various Aqara devices, I tried the doorbell too but I was very disappointed. If you want a doorbell, go to Ring. They are the best. Second I’d say The Google one, it was not too bad but it’s huge.

Ring has poe. Aqara has HomeKit. I’ve used both and Aqara is better in terms of technology, once ring fulfills their 11 years and counting promise of HomeKit I’ll go back to ring.

TLDR at bottom. I recently had two encounters with different electricians which has put me off and I was wondering if I could please get some advice on what to do or where to look or even the right questions to ask. I recently got a video doorbell (Aqara G4) and wanted to wire it in as opposed to run it off batteries (which is what I’m currently doing) - I’m in a rental, but I have permission to wire it in if I can. Now whilst I’ve got a basic understanding of electrics (I did a course), I initially thought it best to get an electrician in to have a look as it seemed the fuse box with the label for the bell, didn’t actually link up (the old bell still rang when flicking the switch off). The issue I had with the two electricians: 1. The first guy was recommended by the landlord. He spent a lot of time sitting on my sofa just telling me how great my place was and how well I must be doing, then told me he didn’t really know much about video doorbells as they’re quite new, then proceeded to tell me it would cost me upwards of £350 to wire in (“to make it worth my [his] time”) and charged me for several hours of parking despite this supposed to be a short half hour check to see if he could do the job (I only agreed for him to come check because he told me on the phone he charged £60 for the first hour), he also quoted me £150 for a transformer - I feel this is him just trying to squeeze what he can out of me as looking at the price of these at screwfix, it doesn’t line up. I paid him for the parking even though I knew he was being cheeky with this only to cover his time, even though he spent less than an hour at my place and 30 mins of that was him just talking about my place as opposed to actually investigating anything (I also know he was trying it on here because my landlord accidentally posted a screenshot of a bill for another call out he did at the place and his cost for the hour were a lot less, even for parking). 2. The second guy that came out was recommended by a friend, he said he could do the doorbell for half the price but said he’d do it as a favour if I go for a drink with him. I don’t want to go for a drink with anyone, I don’t want to be mucked about. I just want to wire my doorbell in so I can run it without batteries. I hope you guys can understand my worry here, I don’t want to call out another electrician and encounter any of these situations again. Other info that might be helpful and questions: I think the original bell was connected to some large batteries in an old chime box (the place is quite old, was a former office, there is a closed shop downstairs) anyway, the landlords son tried to be helpful but ended up cutting the wire to the original bell down but before testingif the connection to the video doorbell worked and so now I can’t really rewire back to the old doorbell. Either way, wrapping the doorbell wires around the loops didn’t seem to work (tested without batteries) and therefore I think a transformer is most likely required. I have bought a voltage detector so I guess I could use that to check if the wiring is live currently but haven’t yet tested it, *is there any other way I can check where the wiring is connected to?* All in all, I do think this is something I should be able to do myself, *however, if I can’t get advice on how to wire this in with a transformer, could I get some advice on the right questions to ask electricians and what a realistic price for something like this would be, or anything else that might be helpful please?* I feel really anxious having to deal with more electricians now as I’m worried the same thing will happen but if I’m at least equipped with what to expect, I can at least be more confident with this. Any help is appreciated - Thank you. *TL;DR*: Dealt with two electricians, one seemed to overcharge, the other wanted a date in exchange, I just want to wire in my Aqara G4, advice appreciated! ETA: For everyone asking about why I don’t just stick with the batteries, my place is on a main road, whilst they advertise a few months running on batteries, this isn’t the case, I’m usually having to recharge every 2/3 days (I bought rechargeable batteries and switch them out so I always have a charged set ready to go in) but even weather has an impact so the battery can die very quickly - also, I can’t use all the functions I want to on battery such as continuous recording etc. EDIT: Thank you to all the helpful comments, this has made me feel a lot better and hopefully I’m able to resolve the wiring soon!

I’ve had mine for 8 months and no issues. It sits under an eve but still gets some “weather” when it rains hard. And full sun in the afternoons.

I installed the Aqara G4 on Friday. It has only recognized 20% of the people it sees. If I hadn’t recycled the box it would be going back. Played with height, distance to chime, etc. It doesn’t recognize people walking up the sidewalk, up the steps or standing in front of the bell. It didn’t even record someone after they rang the bell until they walked down the steps and halfway down the sidewalk. Don’t do it. Edited to add that I’m on batteries with no option to hardwire.

UK user here. Nanoleaf are having a clearance sale of their HomeKit only bulbs right now on their website. I’ve literally just bought 12 bulbs for £50. My current set up is: * Aqara G4 doorbell * Eve outdoor cam * Aqara door and window sensor * 9 Nanoleaf HomeKit lights * 6 eve motor blinds * u200 smart lock * 2 meross smart extensions * An Ethernet Apple TV to act as a thread boarder router * Collection of HomePods around the house, but I use two in stereo paired mode for TV watching. * Some Meross Mini matter switches Underpinning this are a pair of deco xe75 pro mesh WiFi routers. I will very rarely have problems that can’t be solved in 3 minutes by resetting the deco network via the app. I’m waiting for Apple to bring robot vacuums into HomeKit (likely December) before deciding which robot vac to get. Edited for ease of reading.

Bought one today. Tomorrow installation process. I am a little worry with some mixed reviews, hope the major bugs are already fixed and I don’t suffer with intermittent connectivity. I will get back to share impressions

So, after 5 days all good. HomeKit integration looks perfect and the notifications works perfect. My wife, who as in the household on Apple Home just start to get notifications. “Just works”

Aqara G4 is great.

You definitely need to wire it to power. Other than that (expected requirement) it’s been great. I love that video is only local or cloud service of your choice.

What a concept. You buy it and that’s it.

It’s my biggest gripe about my Aqara G4. I still chose it over the circle view because of all of the issues that Logitech owners have reported, but I wish I had that feature. I’m currently waiting for some free time to see if I can make use of a t2 to fire the mechanical doorbell on an automation.

Aqara G4 hardwired was my best option and it works well. Having great WiFi coverage solves a ton of problems that people have with home automation stuff. I wish it was a little smaller, and I wish it was portrait rather than landscape, and I wish that it would also ring the original home analog bell. Those are minor things but that’s what I would change if I could.

When I did the research, the Aqara G4 was the option with the least concessions. It can record to HKSV and the on board flash card.

I don’t like it, but I plugged it in to an outlet hidden in a cabinet above the stove and haven’t had any issues. It might be more than 5 meters.

Yes, the main difference is that it does not ring the original analog bell, if you have one. And it has a bridge/chime that needs to plug in somewhere in the house as well. Mine is hidden in a cabinet in the kitchen.

Aqara G4 was the one I landed on and I like it despite it not being perfect. I wish it was smaller. Not a huge deal. I wish it would record portrait instead of landscape, the extra “side” doesn’t help in my entrance way but being able to see packages at the door would very useful. I wish it rang the analog bell (ring could do this) I don’t care for the extra second hub part but it hides in a cabinet so it really isn’t an issue.

Everything I have is native HomeKit and HKSV. I didn’t want to need homebridge or scripted or anything. The Aqara doorbell has been dependable.

I added external antenna to G4 + power supply and it works with no issues. Over 20 meters and a few walls on the way to the chime.

I switched from Nest doorbell and I love it. The live feed is almost instant, the talkback has little to no lag and works well, the camera video quality is decent (Nest is better), and all the other things mentioned by other already (sd card and local nas storage) and free 7 day cloud storage, no subscription needed, homekit integration is almost perfect. The downsides are minor for me which include, the camera is landscape orientation and not portrait like all other doorbells so it doesn’t capture kids and below people’s waist/knees. there is no integration in third party apps - like HomeKit, IFTTT for doorbell press event meaning I can’t automate flashing of hue lights around the house when doorbell is pressed.

it’s on their website : https://www.aqara.com/eu/blog-eu/best-video-doorbell-without-subscription/ In the Aqara App go to open the doorbell card -> Device Settings -> Detection Settings -> Enable Recording for each of the tabs (Face alerts, Loitering alerts, Doorbell rings, Tamper alerts). Once done, you can see the recordings from doorbell card -> Albums -> Push Video. If you are an iOS user, the. you can also have secure video saved in HomeKit icloud storage which iI believe does not use your personal icloud storage. and I find that easier to view and scroll through than the Aqara app. Hope that helps!

I just installed a G5 Turret Ultra a couple feet above my door. I've got other G5 Bullets around the front of the house but I wanted to get a good view of anyone walking up to the door and being able to see packages left at the door. Now I have a great view areas that I wanted. Getting the Ethernet there was the biggest challenge of all my installs, but it's done/ I also have an Aqara G4 Smart Video Doorbell in the HomeKit system, while I love HomeKit for automation, I am not a fan of the HKVS for recording, it misses far to many motions for me rely on it. Even in my testing installing the Turret it failed to detect motions about 40% of the time. So at this point is a glorified doorbell, I'll probably just put my old door bell back in service when/if it eventually dies.

I wouldn’t recommend the Starling hub unless you have or plan to have more Google devices. The Aqara doorbell is abysmal on battery, I would only slightly recommend it wired.

I’ve only experienced the doorbell on battery, can’t speak to wired, I’m a fan of Aqara products in general.

I like having the back up recordings. I’ve tired all HKSV doorbells, this is the answer. It’s the most reliable, fastest doorbell.

Just switched to EcoBee from Aqara. Loved the Aqara minus 2 things: Didn’t work when it was super cold cause the batteries kept freezing, even though it was hardwired. 2: lack of portrait view. Have to pay for video recording on ecobee which sucks but the camera is better already.

This^ also ability to use battery or hard wired with HomeKit is awesome. Have heaps of Aqara HomeKit products and can’t fault any.