Aqara Smart Hub M3 for Home Automation, Matter Controller, Thread Border Router, Features Zigbee, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, PoE, IR, Supports Alexa, Google Assistant, Apple HomeKit, SmartThings, IFTTT

Seamless Upgrade: Aqara Smart Hub M3 for Easy Home Automation
I upgraded to the Aqara Smart Hub M3 to replace my old Aqara hub, and I’m so glad I did! The setup was a breeze, and it integrates seamlessly with all my smart devices. The hub supports Matter, Thread, Zigbee, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi, making it incredibly versatile. It works perfectly with Alexa, Google Assistant, Apple HomeKit, SmartThings, and IFTTT, giving me full control over my home automation. It’s a fantastic, reliable hub with excellent connectivity. Highly recommended!

It works for me
I’m gradually building my smart home and wanted a hub that could integrate with Home Assistant, work offline, and still support features like the Aqara G3’s facial recognition. After five months, it’s working well, with a few important details to keep in mind:
Zigbee Support: The hub supports Zigbee but only for Aqara Zigbee devices. If you have other Zigbee brands, they won’t work directly with the M3 hub.
Matter Connectivity: Matter devices, such as plugs and lights, do work. But I seem to get the best results if I connect them to the M3 hub first, then add them to other ecosystems like Home Assistant or Apple HomeKit. But this is just personal preference.
Infrared (IR) Control: The M3’s infrared sensor works well for controlling devices like TVs and heaters. However, only Aqara devices connected to the M3 will show up in Home Assistant, not the infrared or Matter devices. To work around this, I’ve set up an Aqara button that works in both the Aqara app and Home Assistant. In the Aqara app, for example, a single button press turns on the TV, while in Home Assistant, that same press triggers automations to control non-Matter devices.
Offline Functionality: The M3 is connected via Ethernet, and I’ve restricted its internet access, allowing it to function mostly offline. However, for some automation adjustments, internet access may need to be restored briefly.
Expectations: When the M3 was first announced, I expected more from its Zigbee capabilities. But since I use Home Assistant for broader automation, this wasn’t a major issue. In practice, it has become a solid addition to my smart home setup.
Overall, if you’re considering purchasing the Aqara M3 hub, as long as you’re aware of its limitations and capabilities—especially regarding device compatibility—you likely won’t be disappointed. It’s a compact size and good value for money considering what it can do. If you can get it reduced, even better.
I’m giving the M3 4 stars, as I can’t give it 4.5 due to the review system. It doesn’t deserve a full 5 because it’s not fully Zigbee compliant, but it’s close.

Oh Aqara what have you done!!!
Most likely the worst product Aqara has ever made, I love Aqara products my house is littered with it. But this product is just rubbish, all my automations stopped working, can’t load anything Matter related and the IR Blaster can not pick up my LG TV or Shy Box. Adaption into Apple Home worked and transferred most of my kit but left out many items in the transfer.
Only thing I feel is worthwhile is the new built in speaker to use as an alarm, speaking of which, this hub has broken that too.
My advice is AVOID, AVOID, AVOID. it pains me to say that as a Aqara fan boy, but don’t waste your money!

Not an all in one hub, only aqara and token 3rd party support.
Disappointed.
I have a few hubs for one reason or another, I decided I wanted Aqara lights in the near future which requires a hub.
But, now just checking out the hub it sounds amazing… Bluetooth, WiFi, ZigBee, Matter, Thread + “THIRD PARTY DEVICES”, lots of talks of Hue working with it etc, so I’m thinking this can replace all the hubs, nice!
… Reality is, “Third Party” list consists of Tesla & Sonos, that’s it.
And the Hue support amounts to your Hue Hub pairing with the Aqara app, but you still need the hue hub, so that was poor.
I also have a number of ZigBee devices I’ve collected over the years, using 2 other cheapo junk hubs and id hoped the 3M would replace them, unfortunately despite ZigBee written all over it – it only detects Aqara ZigBee devices and not third party brands.
So, Very much a product for Aqara users and not third parties looking for an all in one hub to take over there smart home & tidy things up.
As for the device, it looks well designed, high quality, nice little wall mount etc but quite disappointing, would return it but I’m still wanting Aqara lights and hopefully further down the line with updates etc maybe Aqara will make the product what it should be, both for the price tag and the technical specs it boasts.

I’m not new to Smart devices. For the past two years, I have been using a Samsung Smartthings hub with their door and motion sensors. The problem? Every 2-3 months I was replacing the batteries in those sensors. I was completely dissatisfied with Samsung devices.
Aqara was not the first remedy I sought. Sure, their accessories are dirt cheap, but wading through the number of reviews, there are just as many bad as good. On top of that, the fact that this is a Chinese company raises security concerns.
I decided to replace all my Samsung sensors with those from Aqara. Additionally, since I wanted to integrate them into Apple Homekit, I wanted to get the latest and greatest hub from Aqara. And, once again, the reviews on this product were all over the map. At worst, I would return the hub if it didn’t work.
I am amazed at how quickly I not only set up this hub (pairing it with the Aqara app), but all the sensors and motion detectors I bought in addition to it. I wired the M3 hub directly out of my Eero mesh unit’s ethernet output. It quickly connected to the Aqara app and soon afterward, I was connecting my accessories.
No issues. Everything showed up not only in Homekit but in the Alexa app as well. Whenever my doors were opened or closed, an alert was sent to my iPhone (iOS 18) and Mac.
All of this was set up within 35 minutes out of the box.
The only downside to this hub is that it’s expensive. It only covers approximately 60-65 feet and I have a very large home. I am either going to have to buy more of these hubs or the cheaper Aqara extender if I want to add more accessories at the further end of my home.
I do completely understand, from the extensive research I have done that this is a half-baked product which has a lot of bugs. The fact I am only using it for basic monitoring functionality is probably the reason why everything has worked as smoothly as it has including quick pairing to devices.
I will say that I went from being skeptical about Aqara to becoming a huge fan of their devices. I am amazed at how well they work, how long their batteries allegedly last, and how cheap they cost. I’m also optimistic that their new M3 hub will only get better through software updates. It’s nice to have a device that can help all my different security devices, Alexa and Google hubs, and Apple Homekit work together.

The aqara cameras and motion sensors all connect to this hub and it does exactly the job it’s meant to do, the app is easy to set up and automations are great, I’ve had Alexa before and prefer this. This also connects to HomeKit making it work on my HomeKit app as well as my aqara app, i would definitely recommend if you are interested in getting some aqara devices like the door sensors, cameras and motion sensors

Werkt super