Aqara Camera Hub G2H, with all the advantages of HomeKit Secure Video

We analyze the Aqara Camera Hub G2H camera, compatible with HomeKit Secure Video platform and that also serves as a central for other home automation accessories of the brand, with a very attractive price.

Features

Aqara's G2H camera captures images in 1080p quality, with a viewing angle of 140º and night vision. It also has a microphone and speaker, which allows you to communicate with whoever is on the other side, and perhaps the most interesting detail for Apple users, it is fully compatible with HomeKit Secure Video, Apple's video surveillance platform, which offers you very advanced features like face detection, smart notification, and iCloud recording, for "free" (more on this later).

With a very minimalist design and made of white plastic, its build quality is good, and it has a fairly small size, so it can be placed almost anywhere. Its magnetic support helps this, so you can fix it on any metal surface, and if not, you can always use the metal plate that is included in the box to place it on a wall or furniture. Its articulated foot allows almost any position to guide it to the area you want to cover with its objective. It has a microUSB connection, and the cable and power adapter are included. It does not have a battery, it needs to be always plugged in, and by replacing the cable you can use longer cables if necessary.

It has a microSD slot in the base (you have to unfold the foot to access it), to store the videos physically. Much more interesting is the possibility of storing the videos in iCloud, as we will detail later. Also interesting is the Hub function (central) by which you can add other Aqara accessories to your home automation network. It uses the Zigbee protocol to communicate with compatible accessories, with a greater range and higher transmission speed than conventional Bluetooth. The connection of the camera to your network is done via WiFi (2,4 Mhz networks only).

It is not a camera intended for use outdoors, because it does not have resistance to dust or water. I have mounted it outdoors, but in an area where it is sheltered from direct sunlight and water, so I hope I don't have any problems. For a long time I have had another indoor camera in that same place, and everything has been perfect so I hope that with this new camera from Aqara I will not have any problems.

Setting up HomeKit Secure Video

The setup process is done through the Aqara app (link), but it's basically the same as you'd follow if you used the iOS Home app: scan code, select room, change name, and little else. It is a very straightforward configuration process, although once added to your home's HomeKit network, there are many configuration options that you should know to get the most out of the camera and create your video surveillance system to your liking.

Among all the options that HomeKit Secure Video offers us, the ones that stand out the most are:

• Smart notifications: You will receive detection notifications depending on whether they are people, animals, vehicles or packages, and you can also configure it depending on the time of day, or if you are at home or not.
• Facial Recognition: it uses your faces detected in the Photos application so that it does not notify you when it detects a certain person. Or receive notifications telling you who it has detected.
• Turn off, stream, or record: you can put the camera in different states: completely deactivated, only live transmission or transmission and recording. These states can be configured to change depending on whether you are at home or not, and you can decide whether to record everything or only when it detects people, for example. You can even decide if you want to record sound or not.
• Activity areas: you can define which zones will make the camera activate, to avoid unnecessary notifications.

All these options get you notified when it really has to be done, avoiding unnecessary distractions or alarms. And all this is completely free, as long as you have iCloud storage contracted:

• 50GB: allows you to add a camera
• 200GB: allows you to add up to 5 cameras
• 2TB: allows you to add an unlimited number of cameras

All videos are stored in iCloud, and you can watch them for 10 days. Those videos can be downloaded to your device if you want to keep them longer. An important detail: Videos that you store do not count as occupied space in iCloud.

Picture and sound quality

The camera records in 1080p quality, more than enough for a security camera. In daylight the images are very good, and the sound quality is sufficient to be able to carry on a conversation with the person on the other side of the camera. The small speaker that the camera has is surprising, because the sound it emits has a fairly decent volume. As I say, having a conversation is perfectly possible. The camera also has night vision, with a good image quality, without more.

Editor's opinion

Apple offers its HomeKit users the ability to create a fantastic video surveillance system thanks to HomeKit Secure Video. With advanced options that other services charge (and well charged), Apple all that asks us is to hire extra iCloud storage, and from € 0,99 per month (the price of 50GB extra) we can enjoy everything that this offers us security system for our home or business. And Aqara has managed to create a good quality camera with a very good price that takes full advantage of this, and can also act as a Hub for other devices of the brand. The Aqara G2H camera is priced at 79,95 at Apple (enlace) y pronto estará disponible en Amazon España.