Only other way I'm aware of currently is via Home Assistant (using the HomeKit Device integration) and Home Assistant Device Bridge to bring the zone status back into Hubitat.
Despite the name, that integraton doesn't require you are a HomeKit user. It simply uses an integration on Home Assistant to allow it to act like a HomeKit Controller (which was the former and less confusing name of it). Once the FP2 is added to the HA HomeKit Device integration, the zones you setup in the Aqara app for the FP2 will show up in HA as occupancy entities. HADB can then bring these entities into Hubitat where they show up as motion sensor devices.
The FP2 doesn't need a hub. It's WiFi, not Zigbee like the FP1 was. Currently it uses HomeKit over WiFi for communication. Eventually it is supposed to support Matter over WiFi and then it should be able to work with Hubitat directly.
So if im understaning correctly i can just download homekit and the aqara app, set it all up and do the virtual switches in hubitat? so wouldn't need any other equipment or home assist?
Sort of. You’re not actually “using” HomeKit per se, when you add that integration to HA. You’re just adding an integration and connecting the FP2 to that integration. The integration between HA and Hubitat happens via HADB.
Using Home Assistant as a bridge to get Aqara devices into Hubitat is extremely useful and works very well. I have many Aqara devices. Since adding Home Assistant two years ago as a bridge, they all connect easily and stay connected. I then use Home Assistant Device Bridge to bring their state into Hubitat where I automate everything.
Agreed, that's my preferred way to run it too, but if you want to first test the waters, you can start out with a virtual machine or a docker. I started out with a Linux VM, and then moved to a Python VM (which was very fast, but limited and difficult to install), and then finally I imaged the full HA Supervised on a high endurance microSD, installed in a Raspberry Pi 4 8GB. Most of these are super easy to setup, becuase there's an image that has the HA OS and HA, plus the Add-ons all in one. That's been very stable and plenty fast for my needs.
True, but a VM or Docker has to still run on some piece of hardware other than the Hubitat Elevation hub. I was just wanting to make sure that was clear to @Davinci515.
Sure, if you have a device on your home network that can perform the role of an "Apple Home Hub". This needs to be a Apple HomePod Mini or fairly recent Apple TV. And, of course you'll need an iPhone, iPad, or Mac to configure things on the Apple Home side of things.
The "Apple Home Hub" is needed to run the automations that will make use of the Hubitat Virtual Switches that your share to Apple HomeKit.
So, your options today to use a Aqara FP2 with Hubitat are:
FP2 -> Genuine Apple HomeKit (Automations) -> HE Virtual Switches (as described above - requires additional Genuine Apple hardware) LOCAL
FP2 -> Amazon Alexa (Alexa Routines) -> HE Virtual Switches (requires no hardware, but does require Alexa Cloud) CLOUD
FP2 -> Home Assistant (via HomeKit Device Integration) -> Hubitat (via HADB Integration) (requires additional hardware running Home Assistant) LOCAL
Thanks for the info, guess I’ll be returning it for now lmao. Already have more Google minis than I need, not a fan of HomeKit or Apple in general (so over priced) but I do have a iPhone. Went with hubitat over home assist due to feeling like it was too much to bite off while trying to figure out everything else lol. Hopefully the matter integration is released soon
