Aqara produces many smart products, but at its core, they are a brand that produces smart sensors . Their Presence Sensor FP2 is the darling of the 2023 Consumer Technology Show. Aqara continues to be the go-to sensor library for measuring just about anything, and they offer sensors that no other company has. Today, they launched their new motion and light sensor, the P2 , which uses the Thread and Matter protocols.
According to the release, the P2 features an ultra-wide passive infrared sensor and a lighting sensor, and claims to offer light detection up to 23 feet and 170 degrees horizontally. The P2 can measure light intensity independently of motion detection, a new feature for these sensors, and each unit has a battery life of two years. The sensor's sensitivity can be fine-tuned, but this requires the Aqara app and Aqara's Matter center. Here, Aqara lays out the blueprint for Matter products: Use multiple system hubs like Google Home for overarching functionality like "on" and "off," but for any kind of customization, you'll need the Aqara app and hub. Now, here's the weird part: Currently, you can pair it with any Matter or Thread hub, but you can't (yet) pair it with the Aqara app itself. This will require an M3 hub, which won't be available until late spring. At that point, you'll be able to pair it with the Aqara app and fine-tune it, which means the P2 version feels a little half-baked to me.
Motion and light sensors are logical triggers for on-off light automation, but they can also control curtains, smart doors and windows, and function as basic security alarms. For example, you can program a trigger to turn on the coffee machine when someone is detected in the office, or to send an alert when someone is in the file room.
The P2 connects to any Matter controller with Thread border router capabilities and works with nearly all smart home platforms, including Amazon Alexa, Apple Home, Google Home, and Samsung SmartThings. Aqara has announced or released a number of Thread-based products in recent months, including the Smart Lock U100 and the upcoming hub M3. The P2 is available today for $33.99. I will be testing and reviewing the M3 and P2 over the next few weeks.
