Aqara - Smart Video Doorbell G4

Interesting, is it powered from the mains or battery? I have the G4 that’s plugged in and it’s flawless for me

Forgot to add RTSP support and Home Assistant integration which is the main reason (other than the white color) that I was looking to upgrade my two G4s. No mention if in the G400 but I expect that to be there but not mmWave or the Zigbee/Matter hub

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.

Same here. I have these on two doors that face south and bake in the afternoon sun. Bought one in July 2023 and the other last year because my Aqara kept disconnecting.

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

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.

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 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'm with you, hardwired to a transformer and I've really liked it (only had it for three weeks). It's worked great. I thought about the Ecobee camera but when I saw it had a subscription, I decided to pass (even though I really love my Ecobee Premium thermostat).

I just got my Aqara G4 hooked up and am really liking it so far. As you said the SD card is in the chime, so I thought that was a nice touch.

I just changed the batteries out on mine, been in for 2 months with pretty regular use. No issues at all

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 ☺️

I went down this path last year and ended up with the Aqara G4. I have batteries in it and it’s wired so I don’t fear it’ll ever really die. I also like the feature of having the chime where I want it instead of using the previous door bell chime. I also wanted their smart door lock, so was already going into the Aqara ecosystem and they have both been great for my very basic smart home set up. Will add their indoor security camera later this year.

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

Just one more tally mark for my Aqara G4. Once I got over its looks and size, I’ve got nothing negative to say about it. In fact, one negative (two pieces) went from a negative to a positive once I understood the rationale and saw it not fail under intense summer heat.

I have no complaints about my Aqara G4. I wired it to my existing doorbell wiring so I don't have any battery issues.

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.

Aqara G4 baby. I have had one for a couple years. Works fantastic.

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.

I’ve been very happy with Aqara. I have four G5 POE, two G4 doorbells and a G3 inside. All have worked pretty much perfect. That said, unifi is superior if you can float it.

I’ve got two G4s and really like them. Pop ups on the TV when they detect motion, “free” cloud storage. I’ve got seven Aqara cameras all together and they work great.

POE is a massive massive deal. I have only had my G4's a few months and would absolutely upgrade to POE almost instantly. There simply aren't any POE HomeKit doorbells outside of one massively overpriced option. IMHO this is the #1 overlooked product right now. These things would sell like crazy. Love my G5 POE and is any other vendor had a reasonably priced POE doorbell I couldn't have an Aqara one right now.

Reliability is by far the #1. First the others eat batteries like candy so that it's gone. Video over wifi is laggy and not as reliable. Yes, my G4 work generally well but not near as responsive as my POE G5's. Many many complaints you see for wifi cameras are do to subpar wifi networks and not the cameras. Getting video off your wifi also frees it up for other uses. Similar to why zigbee and thread over highly recommended over wifi for other smart home devices. And while I think it's overplayed for the majority of users there is security. Wifi cams can be hacked. If you can wife a camera absolutely do so. Wifi is simply for convenience and understandably so as wiring a doorbell camera is not an easy task for most people but absolutely worth it if you can.

If you can do it yourself absolutely. I’ve had my G4s for less than three months and I’ll replace them with a POE version immediately. Not looking forward to getting back in the crawl space but will absolutely do it.

My house came with ecobee so I have that but don’t really use anything smart with it. Temp just sits in the dashboard. I use Abode for my security system. I’m a huge fan of Aqara. I have four G5 POE cameras, one G3 camera, two G4 doorbells, three U50 deadbolts and their lever lock but can’t recall the model number. A couple temp/humidity sensors to round it off. It all works extremely well.

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.

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

I have the G4 and it does its job. However the negatives like others mentioned are: it’s clunky, orientation, doesn’t use existing chime. Positive: I have it hardwired and the connection is pretty reliable. Face recognition is also good

Aqara G4 fits the bill. However, it does eat through batteries pretty quickly. I ended up buying a plug in transformer and used it with my outdoor outlet. I find it tracks events much better when wired vs. on batteries.

I have an Aqara G4 running on HomeKit and only have one real issue…battery life. I don’t have a way to hardwire it and I’m using 1.5v lithium ion batteries but I’ll blow through 6 batteries in just a couple of weeks with minimal usage.

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 !

I have the Agara G4 (the version prior to the G400/410) and it works very well with HomeKit. I set it up in the Aqara app and then used the app to add it to my HomeKit home. I added a micro SD card to the Aqara for video storage. It can be configured within the Home app to be triggered by motion (people, faces, packages) and I can replay the video within the Home app. It came be set up to show notifications on an Apple TV. I also bought some Aqara G100 cams that also work great with HomeKit ($31 apiece).

I have my G4 set up to show a notification and the doorbell camera feed on my Apple TV (it shows up on the corner of the TV screen). The notification can be triggered by video motion or doorbell push. I don’t believe I’ve ever seen it caused my apple TV and TV to turn on.

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

I have an Aqara and I consistently have an issue view live stream in the app and HomeKit.

I have it plugged into a transformer that’s plugged into the exterior outlet. My house was not wired for a doorbell for some stupid reason. I also have batteries installed for backup.

What you’re asking doesn’t exist. The next closest thing is aqara g4 which has the sd card stored in the chime not the doorbell (global version)

Have Aqara, very good and very happy. Previously had Google Nest and Arlo. Nest was kind a good but lacked connecting to Apple Home, Arlo - totally sucked

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.

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’ve come to the conclusion it’s simply a YMMV situation. Aqara works perfectly for me (not close to, not ok-ish, actually perfectly), but then other people says it’s a pile of trash that never worked properly.

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

Yeah I’m sticking to the G4 too for now, does the job pretty well

Aqara G4 for less than $100 USD - offers 4x AA batteries as a power option and supports HKSV and local MicroSD storage

I started with Unifi then chose to marry HomeKit over Amazon or Google an ecosystem which then led me to lean into Aqara (over Nest, Ring and the rest). Unifi is a Superior Network and Security Camera solution because it is remote-manageable, has no subscription fees, allows local storage options and has iOS apps to manage it. Even though I have some Aqara cameras and a G4 Doorbell - I will replace these with the Unifi Doorbell and Cameras going forward. I still recommend Aqara as an excellent starting point - especially for Locks, Water Leak detectors, Shade controllers etc. I have U100/U300 locks, an M3 Hub, and a harem of door open, vibration and leak sensors. I have have an Aqara Temp Humidity Sensor up in my Attic Crawlspace so I can monitor summer temps. The Unifi solution requires some technical skills to manage and setup, but it's clearly an Enterprise Class solution and the price point is amazing for what you get compared to Cisco Meraki or Juniper. Unifi is so price competitive it is reasonable for a home.

the hksv doorbell notifications that pop up on all devices and even when watching the Apple TV are better than a view on the theromostat. I have the G4 and love it. I also have the ecobee thermostat and love it too, but I wouldn't want it dealing with my doorbell.

Same here. Went from the wemo to the G4. Another PRO for the G4 is it allows for local onboard storage vis SD card.

I have totally different experience. Everything has worked perfectly with wired option.

I have the Aqara G4. You can massively reduce the battery usage by disabling some of its proactive monitoring options. This may not be feasible for everyone but I have another camera that can see my front door so I have it set to only wake up when someone presses the button. I get over 6 months battery this way.

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 have the g4 and, for me i like the horizontal view because i have a wide porch. the video quality and talk functions in the home app are great, so far i have no complaints with that and it's also really responsive. the only issue i've had is actually finding a good enough place to place the chime as aqara recommends it to be no more than 10 meters away from the doorbell. i highly recommend you get it wired and use batteries only as a backup (my doorbell ran through the batteries in a month while i was waiting for my electrician to come over and wire it) also it allows me to record 24/7 into a sd card (while wired) so i don't miss anything hksv may miss/not record.

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

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

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

3 weeks?! I only have to change the batteries every six months! You may want to check for a firmware update. I know sometimes their firmware updates tend to cause batteries to drain… so they release another update to fix it

I’ve been using the Aqara G4 over Wi-Fi for over a year now and rarely have any issues. Like with any smart home product, your home network plays a big factor into how well it performs. Yes having a quality product from the manufacturer helps, but a good network is also important. I feel like a lot of people overlook this…

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.

I’ve been happy with the Aqara G4

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

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

It will, but it will need a separate UNVR to record to. I would recommend the Aqara G4 if you want something local that does HomeKit with good quality

Never had an issue with the Aqara G4. Though mine is hardwired, most complaints are from people who use it on batteries

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/)

G4 v1.0, the one before was a beta. I had one, die one day to another after one month. Thank god, amazong refund me all the money it cost me. Also the connetion between door belt and chain is really bad, uisng wifi 2.4ghz. I need to change their antennas to a external one, and was still bad while it work.

Yeah, I got an aqara g4 3 weeks ago, no battery change yet and I'm happy with it.

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

Just a little clarification. The Aqara G4 does not need a subscription to enable HKSV. Also, adding an SD card to the unit lets you keep a much longer timeframe of video you can access from anywhere.

We switched from Ring to an Aqara G4.

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

Aqara G4 has never given me a single issue since it was released.

It worked for me in the beginning, but lately it has been freezing at random times and require a hard reset. On top of that, if someone rings the doorbell it always says that the feed is already in use when I try to open to see who it is. Even when my Apple TV is off. Design isnt exactly pretty either

Minus the landscape orientation

Everyone suggesting aqara, keep in mind the landscape view sucks

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.

Landscape video is so stupid. I returned mine immediately.

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.

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 G4 can record 24/7 to a micro SD card as long as it’s hard wired in. I’ve had mine for nearly a year and very happy with it.

How far is Aqara doorbell from the Aqara chime? They need to be pretty close to work well. On the app, choose doorbell > ... > Device Settings > Doorbell Signal. Is it reporting "Strong"? How about Network Information > Wi-Fi Strength? My only complaints are (1) the video quality isn't great and (2) landscape orientation (doorbell cameras should be portrait).

I am directly powering it. My only quibble is the non-wide angle view and image quality, both of which are supposedly improved on the new G410 model.

Go with Aqara, no regrets.

My G4 is already overheating when the sun shines directly on it. Living in the Netherlands, so not a hot climate.

Recently wired mine up. Everything worked fine even when it was on battery.

Beware the Aqara. I gave up on it's crappy Wi-Fi and link from chime to doorbell, both of which failed constantly. Returned. I went back to my Ring with Scrypted, but that's not great. Recently, notifications just stopped and hence no recordings in HKSV. The live view or snapshots mostly works, some of the time. Still searching for the perfect match.

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.

Battery life on the G4 was atrocious. It needs 6 (!) batteries at once and I was changing them every week and a half. It was on power saving mode too. Plenty of other users to be found on Reddit with the same experience. Called a guy and got it wired, has been absolutely perfect since. Easily one of the most reliable and enjoyable pieces of tech I’ve owned since I got it wired.

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

Mine is hardwired and been fine, apart from some initial drop outs that were my fault for having the chime/receiver too far away.

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.

i have the slightly older g4 and absolutely love it. my only real complaint (and this is more of an apple complaint) is that i can't customize the chime sound that plays out of my homepod. the aqara side lets me update what plays on **its** chime, but the apple side has a doorbell sound hardcoded and unconfigurable.

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.

Another vote for the Aqara G4. Great doorbell. Everyone always says "why is it so big" exactly. It's not a dinky piece of shit like most of the other doorbells. It has actual substance to it and its in an aluminum case. Great doorbell.

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.

Thank you for this video, I’m sure I don’t need to upgrade now. I got my g4 for 80 bucks for prime day and I’m pretty happy with it. Maybe in one or two years. My only sticking point would’ve been resolution but given that my main platform is HomeKit I believe there won’t be a noticeable difference. The camera angle was a non-issue for me. My 2.4ghz is The Wi-Fi band this doorbell would’ve been connected to so really even the dual band connection was not gonna be a benefit for me.

I’m literally looking at the improvements and it looks like apart from the camera angle, which again isn’t an issue for me, I really wouldn’t be able to take advantage of any of the new features either because of my setup or HomeKit limitations. Since HomeKit only supports 1080 P video max The increased resolution will only be available on the Aqara app which I don’t really use a lot. Same thing with the new protocol for detection, HomeKit uses image based recognition. While initially I had some issues with connection, I fixed it by bringing the chime closer to the doorbell and now it works very well. I also don’t plan on having the doorbell on 5 GHz Wi-Fi so yet another improvement I don’t really need. I don’t need another hub. Battery life is still crappy, which doesn’t even matter anymore since I hardwired it. Still doesn’t have a built-in rechargeable battery. So it looks like only a handful of users will be benefited from all these new things, or is it just my idea? Eddit: after receiving 30% of the new product, the update might be worthwhile after all 😂 especially because I am still on the 30 day return period

I wonder what would be the expected price, since it’s gonna be a home hub and a doorbell, I just bought the G4 for $100 on Amazon, should I return? I really don’t care for the home hub function. I’m actually liking the G4 now that I hardwired it.

Same, pretty happy with ours. It’s not perfect - we can’t directly power it, so are using batteries that require recharging every 3 weeks or so, but the performance otherwise is solid.

Yeah, we’re getting a sparky in to do a few things on the house. One of those is wiring up the G4

Our front door faces the street so records every time someone walks past.

I’ve played around with that, but there’s no way to define an activity zone that blocks out the foot traffic but doesn’t also block out people actually at our door. It is what it is - like I said, we’ll be getting it wired in soon, so that’ll solve it.

I use rechargeable (because I don’t own a gold mine), which I’m fairly sure don’t hold as much charge as non-rechargeable ones. It’s ok, but as I said, I’m looking to get it wired in soon. 2-3 months is what Aqara quote for battery life too, and I’m sure mine would last longer if it wasn’t pointed at such a foot-traffic heavy area.

The firmware is up to date - it’s because of the foot traffic that goes past our door that triggers the camera to wake up and record frequently. It’s not that big a problem with rechargeables, but we’ll be getting it wired in soon.

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.

I use the Aqara G4 Doorbell and Aqara U50 Doorlock. For cameras, I use Eufy. They are all connected in the Apple Home app.

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

I have two Aqara g4. I used to have August doorbell before HomeKit. I love the Aqara. No issues, instant, and HomeKit only. Hardwired. Customizeable in the Aqara app but that’s optional, but you can also delete it from that app and just use HomeKit if you want.

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.

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.

Personally, I have the Aqara G4 Doorbell and it works like a charm. I love it and I have had zero issues.

My front door is oriented south ... My G4 breakdown twice coz the sun :(

I’ve got an Aqara G4 and it’s been pretty solid (as long as it’s wired in and not just used with batteries which I found caused too much lag in recording after motion sensor is triggered). The rumoured Apple video doorbell is coming, so if you can wait 6-12 months or so it might be worth the wait.

Same I haven’t had any issues at all with it. It works better than my AU$600 Eve Outdoor cameras (also on HKSV). Mine is plugged in, when on battery there is a delay in recording because it has to wake up. When on power it’s constantly buffering video and captures everything. That first 2 weeks I was on battery was quite disappointing as the recordings kept kicking in as people had turned and walked off.

I've used both. **Positives for the Logitech:** \- Portrait field of view, great for a doorbell. \- has a lux sensor exposed to homekit **Negatives for logitech:** \- 5ghz is basically a waste (in my case), great idea, but being connected to a brick wall meant it always went to 2.5ghz, even though the physical location of the wifi was about 2.5m away. the only way I could see this as being usable is if I had an outdoor AP. \- video feed would time out after 20-40 seconds. (maybe due to the above) \- the motion sensor is done via pixels, so pretty much always false positives of motion just with a leaf blowing past etc \- zero integrations **Positives for aqara:** \- Can run on batteries (though I wouldn't recommend) \- the chime is somewhat of a "bridge" devices that connects to the wifi, and the actual doorbell part, meaning you have more flexibility for positioning the wifi chime for better comms \- better motion detection \- better heat resilience. \- ability to use in other ecosystems, aqara app etc, (im not using any of this just a pure homkeit pairing) **Negatives for aqara:** \- Wide field of view - this could be a positive if you don't have other security cameras in the area (you get used to it, but I do miss the portrait on the circle view) \- would've been awesome to also hardwire the chime to the doorbell to eliminate the dependancy on that "wireless" jump \_\_\_ final verdict, ***zero*** regrets moving to the Aqara g4.

The plastic on the G4 doesn’t hold up very well over time, I’m hoping this fares better but the gloss is definitely a fingerprint magnet.

I think it depends how exposed it is to sunlight. I got two when they came out, one for me and another for my dad’s house. Mine has faded slightly (looks lighter than a new one) but still looks alright, it’s mostly in shade for the majority of the day. The one at my dad’s is exposed to sun all day long, it has gone very faded and patchy like this [one](https://www.reddit.com/r/Aqara/s/gkT2ldgm5D).

Sunlight degrades a lot of materials, I hope the new G400 is better. The IP65 rating will also be a welcome improvement. The button on mine stopped working due to water ingress (fixed now) and the lens gets moisture in it whenever it rains. Last week the microphone on my dad’s G4 stopped functioning so there’s room for improvements.

Same good experience for me, perfect on battery, good sensing, hooked to HomeKit straight off,been going ever since without a glitch in sight. Way better than the ring it replaced.

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

I have a few Aqara products. I have the G4 Doorbell and the U100 Doorlock. The G4 Doorbell is very unreliable!! I cannot view my camera most of the time and I have found it not recording events that it should be recording. For example, it didn’t record a few doorbell rings. Aqara support are also bad and horrible. They will just try to waste your energy and tire you out by doing things and sending them videos and screenshots (again and again) without providing a solution. They refused my warranty claim and I am now preparing to lodge a complaint with the consumer watchdog. Their other products have also been hit and miss. My E1 blind rollers stop working at 40% battery, FP2 presence sensor glitching out and reliability issues. T1 sensors are same performance as 5$ AliExpress sensors. Overall, my recommendation is if you can stay away, do!

Only reason I’m using Aqara is because it’s the only HomeKit doorbell available

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.

>I’ve read through A LOT of posts in this sub and can’t help but conclude that all doorbells with HK have multitudes of issues and no one seems happy.  People post to complain. They don't post to say "everything is working". Not just here but on the internet in general. FWIW my Aqara G4 has always worked without issue. However, I do have it wired. It may perform differently on batteries.

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

Been using this for about a month. It’s priced around €100, but for that price, it doesn’t even have an internal battery. On battery power, it’s basically useless—doesn’t ring for the first 2 attempts, disconnects constantly, and the motion sensor doesn’t work. Batteries drain in a week. After hooking it up to a power source, it works, but the features are super limited compared to brands like Tapo or Eufy. Definitely not worth €100. I got mine for around €50, and even then, I’m thinking of switching to something better. Wouldn’t recommend.

Wired connection works, battery powered on the other hand is a joke!

This is what I'm getting.

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...

I had a Nest Doorbell via Starling hub and now have a G4. Liked the nest but wanted native Homekit and battery powered. It’s fine, but definitely prefer vertical orientation now that I’ve had both.

Get the Aqara G4 which can work entirely locally, so they don't get hold of you videos

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

I’ve had the Aqara and replaced it with a Logitech after the Aqara died out of warranty. I think the Logitech is much nicer and also more responsive. I live in an area where heat is not an issue though, I might have a different opinion if I lived in Arizona with a southern facing front door.

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.

I have the G4 and had issues with it before I added power to it. It sucked batteries like crazy and would drop WiFi connection frequently. Rarely have disconnect issues after hard wiring it. I live on a narrow lot, so I have no need for a wide angle camera.

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.

The U50 is a smart lock only. I paired it with the Aqara G4 video doorbell.

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.

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.

Upgrades with the extra resolution and mmWave sensor are welcome. But I am wondering how is the battery life like as compared to Aqara G4 doorbell which I am using now.

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.

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.

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.

Hola, tuve el G4 y de vez en cuando, con cortes de luz o cuando al G4 le parecía, se perdía el enlace tanto con la campanilla como con las app de Aqara y de Apple HomeKit. Las primeras veces lo podría enlazar nuevamente, costaba pero podía, luego no esta posible ni reseteado ambos dispositivos. Lo reclame y me dieron uno nuevo pero me pasaba lo mismo, luego de investigar que muchos usuarios reportaban lo mismo hable con el fabricante y me reconocieron la falla. Saben si este modelo corrige esto?, se sigue desconectando aleatoriamente?. Muchas gracias!

I’ve had a few problems with it. Also hksv in general. I have it hardwired but sometimes it goes offline. My network is pretty solid, about 100 devices, the Logitech cameras go offline often and Aqara rarely but when it does it takes a hard reset to get it going. Eufy even more rarely but they have had their security issues. I think it’s mostly Apple’s fault with hksv that most of these products are so buggy. Wirecutter did an article on it a while back.

Also it’s nearly the same as the G4 but it includes a hub for other Aqara devices. Hub works great

Yeah - I have the Aqara one, which is battery powered and works through HKSV. So that’ll do for now

The Aqara battery one and drilled it in to mount.

Native HomeKit: Aqara G4/G410 More involved: UniFi G4 doorbell -> Scrypted UniFi Plugin -> HKSV

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

Although you can stick with the doorbell, I really really do recommend the new Aqaura Smart doorbell. It can be wired or battery operated, and have fallen in love with it. Reason why I mentioned this, I’ve never had a good time with Logitech products specifically made for smart home use like the Apple Smart home water detect devices that they sell. I bought a Logitech circle home view camera .. worst decision of my life since they lacked on updating the software on their end, and have made the products pretty much unusable with connection losses, happening with hours or even minutes of first time on boarding… it’s been a living, nightmare, even after having them send me out a second product of it, same issue

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.

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. No subscription, saves to my 512gb SD cards in each ringer for front and back door (the ringer comes WITH the door bell), and then it saves those recordings from the SD cards to my local NAS, no subscription required. And works very well with my HomeKit, no subscription.

I have 3 wireless Aqara camera & their doorbell, rarely had any issues with them. If I were starting from scratch I’d have ethernets everywhere, which may change my camera choices, but in general they’ve been pretty good.

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.

I don’t like the Aqara doorbell purely because the chime needs to be within 5m of the doorbell which is not great for my use case. Not sure why it has to be linked to the chime in that fashion

I use a Aquara. Couldn’t recommend highly enough.

Aqara has a good one. Battery or hardwire.

We had a Logitech circle doorbell but it was really unreliable and we replaced it with the Aquara, which has been pretty good. Both overheat in the sun but the aquara drops off the network far less.

Aqara do some good HomeKit compatible gear. Their doorbell and hubs work really well. Best to hard wire the doorbell as it’s a hungry beast and chews through the batteries. For lighting, heating and shading control I would go wired over wireless for reliability. KNX is best if you can get it, and don’t want to be locked into one of a myriad of proprietary systems out there. Good luck!

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

Use Aqara, it’s amazing

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.

My only gripe with the Aqara is that it’s got really poor visibility for packages. It’s been reliable and seems fairly priced.

Another vote for the Aqara doorbell. The HomeKit integration is great and I love that it comes up on my AppleTV when it rings. I have it hardwired to a transformer/chime.

I have the Eufy T8213 integrated with Homebridge, which allows me to receive notifications on my Apple TVs and HomePods. I also get notifications on my Echo Shows, when the TV is off. The Google Home app integration works well on Android, but unfortunately, it does not work on iOS. I briefly had the Aqara doorbell, which worked great with HomeKit, but it performed poorly with Amazon and Google.

Having great luck with an Aqara doorbell and Aqara door locks. For cameras I use Eufy wireless (make sure to get the pros to get HomeKit integration). Run all of that without Homebridge and was pretty easy to setup.

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

Rumour is new HomePods are coming which are more powerful for Apple Intelligence. I’d wait a while. The Aqara doorbell is pretty good.

Same experience, been using my Aqara Doorbell just on batteries and works surprisingly well.

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.

I’ve had 2; Logitech and Aqara. Aqara, if it wasn’t for the aspect ratio I’d have 0 complaints. Logitech ; if it wasn’t for the simplicity of connecting via HomeKit I’d have only complaints.

I am very happy with my aqara doorbell

Simply Aqara. They have quite a number of devices that you might want to get in the future, their devices work great in their app, play nice with Apple Home, no Subscription.

How do you like the Aqura? I have this and the switchbot trying to figure out which works better for my situation. (Euro cylinder)

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 doorbell is by far the best. I’ve tried almost all of them

Been great. It’s not in direct sunlight for more than a hour or two a day though. But never had it overheat like the Logitech did