The archive · Product Ideas · Product decision · 2023
Aqara FP2 uses radar presence so smart lights stay on when you sit still
A millimeter-wave sensor that detects people from their breathing, tracks five people across 30 room zones, and adds fall alerts — no camera required.
Aqara
What it had to solve
Smart-home lights and automations depend on passive infrared motion sensors, which fire only when something moves — so reading on the sofa or working at a desk made lights switch off. Aqara wanted a sensor that detected people, not motion, and could tell where in the room they were.
How it works
Motion sensors built on passive infrared only fire when something moves, so a person reading, sleeping or working at a desk would make smart lights switch off. Aqara's FP2 replaced the assumption behind the automation: instead of sensing motion, it senses presence.
Millimeter-wave radar lets the FP2 detect a person from the slightest movement — even breathing — across a room up to 40 m², without requiring the person to wear anything. The sensor divides the room into up to 30 zones and tracks five people simultaneously, so lighting, heating and alerts can follow what is actually happening in each area.
Each zone syncs to Apple Home, Alexa, Google Home and Home Assistant as its own occupancy sensor, turning one device into thirty automations, while ceiling-mounted fall detection alerts family or caregivers without a camera. MacRumors found detection impressively instantaneous and noticeably more accurate than conventional motion sensors.
Why it lands
- Presence radar answers the question automations actually need — is someone here — instead of the proxy PIR measures, which is movement.
- Breathing-level sensitivity means lights stay on for a still reader or sleeper, eliminating the category's most annoying failure.
- Thirty zones turn one sensor into a map of the room, so lighting follows the person rather than flooding the whole space.
- Privacy by design: no camera and no wearable, yet the sensor can raise a fall alert — capability without surveillance.
What it did
MacRumors called the FP2's presence detection 'impressively instantaneous and noticeably more accurate' than simpler motion sensors, with the device appearing as up to 30 individual sensors inside Apple's Home app.
What you can take
Detect presence, not motion: reading breathing instead of movement turns 'someone is still here' into a reliable signal — the difference between a light that respects you and one that fights you.
Since then
Aqara launched the FP2 worldwide in April 2023 at $82.99 through Amazon and specialist retailers, and treated the hardware as a platform: posture detection, sleep monitoring, respiratory rate, people counting and Matter support were planned through over-the-air updates, and the sensor's zone automations kept working locally even without internet.
Sources
- Aqara Adds Presence Sensor FP2 to its Smart Sensor Portfolio
- Presence Sensor FP2 — official product page
- Review: Aqara's Presence Sensor FP2 Is a Unique, Ultra-Accurate HomeKit Accessory
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