Best Smart Home Experience in 2022: Home Assistant, HomeKit, or Xiaomi?

The following is purely my personal opinion and may not be correct.

Let me state the conclusion first: As of now, there is no product in China that implements the Matter protocol to interconnect smart devices across different brands. In other words, smart devices under the same brand will work much better together. If you choose products from multiple brands, it is theoretically not recommended at all.

Here is the main topic:

My current personal solution: Home Assistant + Xiaomi Mijia devices to achieve HomeKit connectivity and usage.

Why does it have to be integrated with Apple HomeKit? Because without integrating HomeKit, you cannot use the devices in Apple’s built-in Home app, making the experience inconvenient—you always have to open the Mi Home app and manage everything through it. Another reason is that Mi Home’s scene automations rely on sensor devices, but once integrated with HomeKit, your own Apple devices can serve as sensors to trigger certain automation scenes.

What is truly worth integrating into a smart home are: smart plugs with power monitoring (for automated switching), smart AC adapters (for automated temperature management), and smart bulbs and door locks managed through automation (mainly because you don’t need keys anymore—opting for fingerprint or keycard instead). Smart speakers with voice control are also useful (for those lazy moments when you don’t want to get up).

For example:

If you only use the above-mentioned smart plugs and bulbs, upgrading old appliances, and just use Mi Home alone, it is impossible to achieve true automation. As for controlling them with a Xiao Ai speaker, I’m not sure if that works, but:

Because the current smart home solution in China has chosen a model that frequently collects and gathers user data, you basically are not given the option of local deployment. Therefore, each brand releases its own independent app, and you use that brand’s app to manage the products. The general processing path is like this:

You send a command through the app (or through a compatible smart speaker or TV), and the command is uploaded to the cloud. After cloud recognition, the execution command is sent down to the device, which then recognizes and executes it.

This process inevitably involves uploading commands to the cloud, processing them, and then sending the execution commands back. This will certainly lead to several problems:

1. If the brand’s cloud server experiences heavy load or crashes, your home devices will go offline or disconnect, making management impossible. (This has happened many times with Xiaomi.)

2. If your device vendor goes out of business, and since they do not provide a local area network solution, your smart home devices will become ordinary home appliances.

3. As everyone knows, servers cost money. Currently, the brands are bearing this cost themselves. As the number of connected users grows and loads increase, costs will rise. Could it be that in the future, you will have to pay a fee to manage your smart devices via phone or voice if you exceed a certain number of devices?

These are all inevitable problems in China’s current smart home landscape. Just think about it—what will you do to manage your smart devices if you no longer have the corresponding brand’s app? This is a problem you may face.

What is excellent about Apple HomeKit is its local area network–based management. Once integrated with HomeKit, you can break free from the limitations of smart home apps and directly use Apple’s local Home app and smart speakers for control and management. This is why you should buy devices that natively support HomeKit.

I have personally experienced Xiaomi Mijia devices but have not tried Aqara products. By using Home Assistant (a local smart home server) to connect devices from different brands and integrate them into HomeKit, my experience is as follows: HomeKit management and control are streamlined (you lose some management capabilities, but it does not affect normal use), more refined (you can control devices by voice, manage them through the phone’s Home app, and set up automations), and smarter (your iPhone or HomePod can itself act as a location trigger or timer trigger, eliminating the need to buy additional sensors). Smart homes are extremely profitable. If you have DIY skills, I strongly recommend building your own smart home devices, ideally ones that can be integrated into HomeKit.

Problems with the Home Assistant + Mijia device setup:

1. Currently, the main implementation integrates Mijia’s open API and operates through device account permissions. In other words, what is achieved as “local network management” is actually a simulated local network. It works like a robot simulating operations through the integrated API to transmit commands to the cloud account. The manufacturer’s cloud receives the command, recognizes it, and sends the execution command back to the device. Therefore, if the manufacturer’s server has issues, you still cannot avoid being unable to use the system. I have experienced devices suddenly going offline, after which my refrigerator, air conditioner, and Wi‑Fi smart plugs lost power and stayed that way until they recovered after a long wait.

2. For remote management—especially when family members need to manage the system—you must have a dedicated gateway at home. Although many devices have built‑in gateways, the devices are directly tied to the account. If that account leaves the local network, all devices will collectively go offline and become unreachable. So whether or not they are integrated into HomeKit, you need to share management permissions for your family and home devices through the manufacturer’s app. (Once integrated into HomeKit, you do not need to grant permissions in the app, but the account gateway must be connected locally for management; otherwise, it will still go offline.) Actual usage is still rather troublesome, and I have not tested the gateway situation. The best solution should be to have a device, such as a phone or iPad, logged into the account at home to stay permanently connected to the devices. (I experienced this when my family member took their phone, which was bound to the devices, and all the devices went offline collectively. My refrigerator lost power for a whole day. Luckily, there was nothing sensitive inside, so I removed the smart plugs from the refrigerator and Wi‑Fi connection.)

Based on my overall experience so far, do not blindly believe influencers who hype smart homes. You buy for a good experience, while they build a toy to attract followers and make money. For ordinary people, if you can avoid smart home integration, save money and do not buy. If you really want smart home devices, the best solution is still a local HomeKit setup (natively supporting Apple—do not rely on Home Assistant integrations; integration may feel great at first, but disconnection will be a disaster). If you can manually buy components to build your own devices, the cost will be lower. If you cannot build them yourself, buy devices that natively support HomeKit for a worry‑free experience.

Of course, you can wait and see whether the Matter protocol will gain traction and interconnect devices. Whether China will follow suit is another matter altogether, because right now Matter is probably more profitable than it will be in the future.

Finally:

My core view is that any smart device management that cannot run locally is pseudo‑smart, and it is a potential future vampire (who knows when you will be forced to pay a membership fee just to manage your apps)? Currently, the best option supporting local operation in China is still HomeKit. You can try it yourself: disconnect your home broadband and see if the devices still work. If they do, you can rest assured. If they do not, just treat them as traditional home appliances without smart features.

If you want to experience smart home automation (connecting with future protocols early), you can set up Home Assistant. You can buy a cheap Raspberry Pi or a used WanKeYun dongle for about 40–50 RMB, flash Home Assistant onto it yourself. Or you can buy a pre‑flashed device for around 70 RMB. If you want a more durable WanKeYun, feel free to contact me on WeChat at 17678319606. That one is a bit more expensive, runs the native system directly without a middle layer, has low system overhead, and is more durable (I have used mine stably for a year). You can then bridge it to Apple’s HomeKit.

Currently, the lowest‑cost smart home devices should be from Xiaomi Mijia:

The most recommended set is a basic three‑piece kit: a universal smart light bulb, a power‑monitoring smart plug, and an smart AC adapter. These three items are the cheapest three‑piece kit you can buy directly and are also the devices through which you will most immediately feel the smart home experience. Then you can pair them with Home Assistant to simulate integration into Apple HomeKit and try out the HomeKit experience.

In fact, the above setup is not highly recommended because it is not a one‑step solution. After using it for a while, you will feel the connectivity issues and want to replace it. Therefore, I very strongly recommend going straight to devices that natively support HomeKit, especially from Aqara. They are about twice the price. For example, the same three‑piece kit:

HomeKit‑compatible smart AC adapter, HomeKit‑compatible smart light bulb.

I am not saying HomeKit has no drawbacks—it does. The protocol mainly relies on your home Wi‑Fi for control, which requires your Wi‑Fi to be sufficiently powerful. Only then can the system run relatively smoothly without causing network lag at home (it does not consume broadband bandwidth, but processing will use Wi‑Fi device performance). I would recommend Wi‑Fi routers such as the Xiaomi AX3600 or AX6000 and above. Otherwise, you may occasionally experience latency or卡顿.

If you have too many devices at home, to prevent signal confusion and to distribute device signal traffic (preventing any single gateway device from being overwhelmed), you need to purchase a gateway to act as a signal node for distribution (devices connect to the gateway first, and the gateway connects to the management system). Also, the gateway itself seems to support partial local processing—I have not tried it and would need to verify myself. Because I rarely use my own gateway, I took it out to try once, and it still went offline in the Mi Home app and became unusable. So I have very little trust in the local capability of domestic smart devices.

Currently, the recommended gateway setup is a multi‑gateway model because the protocols used by Chinese manufacturers are messy (Bluetooth, Bluetooth Mesh, Zigbee, Wi‑Fi…). If a device does not support the required protocol, it cannot be integrated. This is why multi‑protocol gateways exist and why Home Assistant is popular. I mainly recommend multi‑protocol gateways to prevent future problems: if you buy devices from various brands, devices from different makers may use different protocols. To connect them, you will need a multi‑protocol gateway (to enable communication and recognition between different protocols) and Home Assistant (an integrated system that allows commands to be recognized and forwarded). If you buy devices from multiple manufacturers and want them to work together, a multi‑protocol gateway and Home Assistant are absolutely necessary.

Currently decent multi‑protocol gateways include:

A highly cost‑effective multi‑protocol gateway

A better‑performing gateway (make sure to choose a multi‑protocol version)

If you already have smart home devices from multiple manufacturers, you can consider getting a gateway and Home Assistant. If you have a NAS at home, you can search online and install Home Assistant yourself. If you do not have one, you can consider buying a WanKeYun dongle and flashing it yourself. I can sell you a pre‑flashed WanKeYun system for about 100 RMB. (WeChat: 13273782437.) Of course, this only makes sense if you already have many devices. If you do not have many, do not waste your energy—consider selling them and switching to native HomeKit instead.

If you just want to try out smart home:

The main recommendation is still the three‑piece kit: a universal smart light bulb, a power‑monitoring smart plug, and an smart AC adapter. These three items are the cheapest three‑piece kit you can buy directly and are also the devices through which you will most immediately feel the smart home experience.

My final conclusion:

Do not trust influencer recommendations too much. Currently, and even for the next few years, the best solution remains a local, native HomeKit setup. Do not hesitate and do not doubt—switch fully to HomeKit to avoid trouble.

P.S. The simple and practical use of Home Assistant: If you set up Home Assistant, it is generally used as follows (there are screenshots in the links):

1. Check whether you have HAC. This is another reason I recommend native, local HomeKit. Integrations are maintained by third‑party developers. If a developer abandons the project or if a manufacturer closes its API, the integration will stop working. There is a lot of uncertainty.

2. Download plugins here. The circled ones show the main Xiaomi and Aqara integrations available (there are multiple options for each, some of which are no longer maintained). Therefore, I still recommend native HomeKit for peace of mind.

3. Add devices and create automations. After completing these steps, you should be able to use the system. Because it simulates signals through the API, commands still have to pass through the manufacturer’s cloud service. If the cloud service changes, the integration may stop working.

Therefore, I still recommend native HomeKit. Do not listen to random influencers promoting Home Assistant and various manufacturer devices. If a device cannot be natively integrated into HomeKit or cannot run locally without relying on the manufacturer’s app and cloud service, it is a fake smart home device (because there are too many unstable factors).

If you can accept the following situations:

1. The app plugin may go years without maintenance and eventually become unusable? (This is a low‑probability event. Generally, once imported and working, it remains usable without updates. Updates are usually aimed at new hardware. For basic plugs, lights, and common AC adapters, integration is currently sufficient for basic use.)

2. The manufacturer blocks the API, making the device unusable? (If the manufacturer wants to push its own cloud‑service membership, this blocking is possible.)

Aside from these issues, there are generally no major problems. If you can accept the above, go ahead and buy a pre‑flashed system box to integrate and use, and experience automated smart homes. (Apple’s automation is truly comfortable.)