Aqara, makers of many popular smart home devices, is teasing on their Instagram page an imminent announcement on the release of their highly anticipated FP2 Presence Sensor. Tidbits have been coming out since CES 2023 in January and it has been available for pre-order in China since March. Billed as a game-changer for smart home automation, the Aqara FP2 differs from their standard Motion Sensor because it uses an mmWave sensor instead of a PIR sensor to detect presence instead of just motion. This means that you’ll be able to automate lights to turn on/off based on whether someone is in a room, instead of based on whether they move past the sensor. If you’ve ever had your lights turn off because you didn’t move for a few seconds/minutes, then this is the sensor for you.
While Matter hasn’t been specifically confirmed, the FP2 sensor does have both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth (the latter of which is used for onboarding/setup) so many expect for it to receive a Matter firmware update in the future.
Stay tuned for more details.
Awesome. I hope Canada is included right away!