Aqara 2K Indoor Security Camera E1, Pan & Tilt, HomeKit Secure Video Indoor Camera, Two-Way Audio, Night Vision, Person Tracking, Wi-Fi 6, Plug-in Cam Supports HomeKit, Alexa and IFTTT

I got this camera to replace an old canary camera, I picked it because it’s compatible with HomeKit and it was super easy to get set up. It is a million times better than the canary and it doesn’t have an additional monthly cost. I really like that it’s quick to check the video feed in Apple home.

I purchased this camera to go in the garage to monitor ins, outs, and packages that happen to come there instead of the front door. However, I decided to put it in the home office. It helps me monitor who "borrows" my office items that I am constantly looking for when I work from home. I can also see if the cat is in there when I am not there. I know I can use it for some automations or scenes. I need to think about that for a while. The price is right, and the video quality is great for the size of the room. This is an item I would get more of if I could figure out what more I could do with it.

We’ve been using the Aqara 2K Indoor Security Camera for a while now, and it’s been a fantastic addition to our smart home setup. After the Nest security system was discontinued, we struggled to find a fully customizable solution that worked seamlessly with Apple HomeKit, and this camera fits the bill perfectly.Not only does it function as a camera, but it also serves as an alarm system and door chime. One of my favorite features is the privacy mode—when activated, the camera physically closes, adding an extra layer of peace of mind.Setting up automations, like chimes for when the door opens (using Aqara magnetic door sensors), was easy initially, though it didn’t consistently work. I reached out to the manufacturer, and they were quick to address and fix the issue—a big plus in my book.The integration with Apple HomeKit is seamless overall, allowing you to view secure recordings directly in the Apple Home app with no need for SD cards or third-party subscriptions. However, the scenes you set up in Apple HomeKit don’t always work properly, which is why I’m giving it 4 stars instead of 5. If Apple HomeKit integration wasn’t a key feature for me, this would easily be a 5-star product.The only other improvement I’d suggest is for the alarm system’s built-in speaker. It’s not quite loud enough, even at its maximum volume. I wish there were a way to turn it up louder, or that Aqara would consider upgrading it to a more powerful speaker in the future.Overall, I’m very satisfied with its performance and especially its compatibility with Apple’s ecosystem. Bonus: we also use the Aqara deadbolt lock, and it integrates perfectly with the camera. If you’re in the Apple ecosystem and looking for a flexible, reliable security camera, this is a great option.

Recently switched my whole house over to HomeKit and needed to replace my Blink devices so I went with Aqara (for indoor cameras and doorbell). This camera has been great since plugging it in a few months ago. Set up was easy in the Aqara app and adding it to HomeKit took no time at all. I do wish the light on the camera wasn't red though (it seems all Aqara devices are red when connected) to me it makes it seem like there's an error. Other than that the pan and tilt of the camera works great from the app (no HomeKit support yet for controls as far as I can tell). Picture is clear and the connection hasn't dropped at all.

The video quality is pretty good. That is the only nice thing I can say about this camera.TLDR:- The app is bad- Homekit integration is terrible- Maximum recording time of 12 seconds, and a 3 minute delay before you can record again.- Major privacy concerns.- All of my issues were either confirmed by Aqara support or completely ignored.INITIAL REVIEW:Yes, the video quality is good. But the mic/speaker for two-way communication is as bad as a child's walkie-talkie.Unfortunately the integration with HomeKit is very poor and the iOS app is not very intuitive. There are preset PTZ locations that can be set in the app, but you must manually to rotate to those locations. You can’t use any HomeKit automations or shortcuts to trigger rotating or recording. The app has its own “automations” (see screenshot) and “scenes”, but they are completely independent of HomeKit and don’t integrate with them at all.UPDATE:After using the camera for a few weeks, it gets so much worse than I initially realized.When it detects motion, it will only record for 12 seconds total, no matter what movement is still happening. AND it will not detect movement again fro another 3 minutes. I have contacted Aqara support directly and they have confirmed this is the case. The only way around it is to set recording to "continuous." Also, it will only capture video from the moment the motion starts – there is no pre/post event recording like you get with other cameras.But wait! It gets worse. There’s a setting for “detection frequency” that I mentioned above, which defaults to 3 minutes. So after it initially records an event it will not begin to detect and record motion again for 3 minutes. If you want to shorten that amount of time…YOU HAVE TO BUY A THEIR SUBSCRIPTION. See screenshot. Even if you subscribe, you can only reduce that time down to 15 seconds. Why have any non-recording time at all? If something is happening, record it!!Next, in order to save a recording to your phone (iPhone app anyway), they require full access to all of your personal photos. Apple offers a "Save Only" permission that allows apps to save photos and videos, but not see anything in your library, but the Aqara app does not implement this permission. When I contacted support about this, they basically pretended to not understand me and said they couldn't see any of your photos. Then why would they ask for that level of permission? I even sent them the direct link to Apple's developer documentation showing how easy it would be to implement this. They ignored me.In addition, there is a lot of non-local network traffic generated by this device. I am not using their cloud service, and all recordings should be saved only to the SD card. So it's odd that there is 3.72 GB of UPLOAD traffic over the last 24 hours. There's another 101MB of download traffic despite the lack of any firmware updates available. I still need to do more research on this and block it at the firewall, but this is just one more reason not to trust this company.CONCLUSION:Absolutely do not buy this camera. It can't reliably do the one thing I bought it to do, which is to record all human activity. Since it's past the return window, I'm just going to give this away to someone else and be done with the Aqara brand.

Works perfect just what I needed for house love that it pans!