The Aqara app allows users to configure the FP2 sensor for various room environments, creating zones and areas for the sensor to detect. The Presence Sensor entity is there and fully usable as well as the illuminance reading. The identify button simply blinks the LED on the Aqara FP2. What even neater, is that you can add more zones and presence templates which will be automatically exposed in Home Assistant. In the Aqara Home App, create a few more other detection zones and they will be added as separate entities in Home Assistant: To setup this mode, you need to leave the room and toggle the moving fan. Trigger the Automatic Configuration within the app and it will identify the fan as an interference source, ignoring it in the future. This eliminates false positive triggers, which were a plague in the Aqara FP1. HomeKit News is not in any way afflilated or endorsed by Apple Inc. or any subsidiary companies related to Apple. Home Assistant users can also take advantage of it's HomeKit compatibility and use that to get the FP2 to work with Home Assistant too, with the presence, light level and zones all passed through: The sensors available here are the same sensors available in all 4 platforms Is it Local?

You can now continue to setup the detection mode and detection zones in the Aqara Home App. Detection Mode NOTE: If you remove the Aqara Home App after setting your detection zones, the Aqara FP2 will still work without the app with Home Assistant via the HomeKit Controller Integration. Everything you’ve preconfigured will be functional and working, so you do not actually need the app after the initial deployment of the sensor. You will need it again if you want to edit zones and tweak settings. With firmware update 1.1.6_0005.0025, the device works locally and without an internet connection in Home Assistant. Aqara FP1 vs FP2 Design The Aqara Presence Sensor FP2 is an innovative and cutting-edge smart home device that offers significant advantages over traditional PIR infrared motion sensors. With its millimeter-wave radar technology, it can accurately detect the presence of people even with slight movements, ensuring the continuity and stability of the smart device. It also has the function of zone positioning, which allows for the automation of different conditions in different zones, such as beds and tables. The FP2 can divide a space into up to 30 small zones and recognize up to five targets, making it ideal for multi-person households. The FP2 can also control other smart home devices through ecosystems such as Apple Home, making it a versatile addition to any smart home setup. Its functions such as human fall recognition and a built-in light sensor make it a great helper that can truly combine the diversity of the user’s home life and realize the automation of different personalities. With its local automation and flexible installation methods, the Aqara Presence Sensor FP2 is easy to set up and use. Its IPX5 rating allows for installation in wet environments such as bathrooms, and its hidden USB-C port increases placement flexibility.One advantage the FP1 has over it’s successor is that it’s swivel rotates for a full circle or 360°. While the FP2 still has a versatile mounting swivel with a powerful magnet, it does not rotate at all. Here is an image showing the logo upside down because it can’t be rotated. One of the standout features of the Aqara Presence Sensor FP2 is its zone positioning capability. Unlike traditional PIR infrared motion sensors, which monitor a room as a whole, the FP2 can be divided into up to 30 small zones, such as a sofa, bed, or desktop. This allows for highly precise automation based on the specific zones you define. For example, you can set up different automation conditions for different zones, such as turning off lights and adjusting temperature when no one is in the living room, while keeping the lights on and temperature comfortable in the bedroom. Multi-person Detection: Smart Automation for Everyone Thanks to its powerful hardware, the FP2 sensor will be able to support much more cutting-edge features in the future such as posture detection, which not only recognizes falls but also other postures including standing, sitting, and lying. Sleep monitoring and respiratory rate detection capabilities could also be achieved via the FP2 in the future. These advanced features will be added to the FP2 sensor via future OTA updates 4.

The Aqara FP2 contains a 60 to 64GHz mmWave sensor, offering a 120-degree field of view, motion zones, interference sources, and multi-person detection. The FP2 can function as up to 30 individual motion sensors in Apple's Home app with an extremely high level of sensitivity and accuracy, making it easy to recommend over buying a more limited motion sensor. Matter compatibility is set to come to the FP2 Presence Sensor via an over-the-air update, and Aqara has more features planned for the device in the future, making it a good choice for any smart home setup. The sensor uses millimeter wave radar technology to detect human presence in a room with greater precision than traditional passive infrared sensors, allowing for more specific automations and a more reliable experience. Aqara says that FP2 detects even the slightest movement, such as breathing, to ascertain human presence. This level of precision means that users can set up automations to turn on lights and keep them on when someone is in an area, even when there is very minimal motion that more conventional sensors would not be able to sense, for example. Each of those, as you can see, is showing up as sensors in the Home app. You’ll also notice that I’ve got additional sensors listed on this screen. Abode OSis simply an Abode motion sensor, but for some reason, it’s exposed as an occupancy sensor. I also have the FP1 listed (FP1 L). Additionally, the FP2 shows up as a separate sensor, that I assume covers the whole area, not just zones. New to the Aqara FP2 is the ability to split a room into multiple areas, which could allow it to be the only presence sensor a room needs. As you might know, I have specifically built a chair occupancy detector to activate my office scene in Home Assistant. The difficulty is that I have a sit/stand desk and thus, Home Assistant thinks the office space is unoccupied whenever I stand up. The Aqara FP2 would allow me to create an office zone, similar to how a robot vacuum cleaner lets you divide a whole floor into various rooms.The multiple zones are possibly the most important one, as you can split up the FP2’s coverage area into separate zones, each of which is exposed to HomeKit as individual sensors. Watch the video to see me put it through its paces. The app allows you to define up to 30 zones within a room, each with their own automations. After setting up these zones in the Aqara app, the configuration can be synced to Apple's Home app as multiple motion or occupancy sensors, allowing you to use the FP2 natively in a ‌HomeKit‌ setup and create automations. The built-in light sensor is also exposed to ‌HomeKit‌.

In this menu, you can also define exits and entrances of the room as well as it’s edges. This is important for optimizing it’s performance, so it has better presence detection in an object crowded room. Home Assistant Integration To get optimum performance from the FP2 along with all it’s features, you are bound to their app, at least for now. Like the FP1, additional tweaking, positioning and extensive testing is going to be needed for avoid any issues the FP1 had, like false positive and negative triggers. You can create a template or edit the existing area The app is loaded with a few preconfigured templates to get you started Loading a Sitting Room Template Loading an Office template Creating your own template The need for constant power via USB-C is virtually the only caveat to the FP2, since many of the less capable motion sensors on the market use battery power, which makes it easy to place them exactly where you want them. The need for wired power means you just have to think a little more carefully about where you plan to use the FP2. I was surprised the sensor pinpointed my exact location while I was in the chair. The person symbol kept hovering while I was moving around and If I tried sitting completely still it stopped moving. This is a very capable sensor! Moving around the room, it gave me the following results:Before diving into the capabilities of the Aqara FP2, here is a side-by-side comparison with it’s predecessor noting some design differences and choices. The Aqara FP2 can be configured in three separate modes, which you can subsequently fine-tune for optimum results: Some features of the FP2 sensor such as Matter support, posture detection and sleep monitor are not available by the time of launch. I feel like the Aqara FP1 is still a capable mmWave presence sensor, if implemented correctly. Better yet, the Tuya ZY-M100 is an incredible alternative at a really low price. I may be biased, because I love local communication (Zigbee) and don’t really like to depend on Wi-Fi for these types of devices. The choice is yours.