Aqara Home App Guide Malaysia: Setup, Pairing and Sharing
An Aqara Home app guide for Malaysia: what the app is for, how to pair devices to your hub, how to name rooms, and how to share your home with family safely.
Homeowners
Aqara Home vs Aqara Life: Which App Should You Use in 2026?
Answer up front — If you already use Aqara Home, do not switch to Aqara Life yet. Aqara's own documentation says so directly: "For users who already use Aqara Home, existing devices may be migrated to Aqara Life by pairing them with Studio again, subject to actual product support. However, we recommend waiting until Aqara Home data migration is supported. At this stage, Aqara Life is better suited to new users." Aqara Home remains the app for existing households and still does things Aqara Life does not. Aqara Life is currently aimed at people starting out, or living in a home configured by a service provider on the Aqara Studio platform.
There are two Aqara apps, a newer one that sounds like the future, and almost no honest explanation of which one a person with an existing home should actually use. Most write-ups skip the awkward part — that the vendor's own documentation tells existing users to hold off. Here is that part, plus what each app genuinely does.
The recommendation, in Aqara's own words
Aqara's Aqara Life overview documentation states, on migration from Aqara Home:
"For users who already use Aqara Home, existing devices may be migrated to Aqara Life by pairing them with Studio again, subject to actual product support. However, we recommend waiting until Aqara Home data migration is supported. At this stage, Aqara Life is better suited to new users."
Three things are packed into that paragraph and all three matter.
"May be migrated" is not a promise of a clean migration. It is conditional on actual product support — meaning whether your specific devices can be moved at all is decided per product, not per app.
"We recommend waiting" is a vendor asking their existing user base not to act yet. That is unusual to see published, and it should carry weight rather than be read past.
"Better suited to new users" tells you who Aqara Life is actually for today. It is not the app that supersedes Aqara Home. It is the app for the other kind of user.
Nobody is going to tell you to switch today, and we are not going to either.
What Aqara Life actually is
Aqara Life is a mobile app for end users within the Aqara Studio product ecosystem. Aqara describes its audience as primarily households and DIY users. Its stated purpose is to deliver preconfigured space solutions, device capabilities and intelligent services.
Structurally it is different from Aqara Home in a way that matters. Aqara Life is not a standalone app that talks to devices directly. It requires an edge hub that supports Aqara Studio, connected to the cloud and linked to the user's account. You sign in, select a linked Studio, and access its space.
That single dependency explains most of the differences. Aqara Home is a direct app for a household's own devices. Aqara Life is a front end onto a configured space running on Studio.
Aqara Life does not configure anything. Advanced configuration happens in Aqara Builder or on the Studio platform itself. The division of labour is explicit in Aqara's documentation: Aqara Life is for operating the space, not for building it.
| Task | Aqara Home | Aqara Life |
|---|---|---|
| Turn devices on and off | Yes | Yes |
| Create or edit automations | Yes | No — configuration happens in Aqara Builder or Studio |
| Firmware updates | Yes | No |
| Advanced settings | Yes | No |
| Operate a space configured by a service provider | Not its purpose | Yes — this is the core of it |
| Requires a Studio-capable edge hub | No | Yes, plus cloud connection and an account link |
| Appropriate for an existing household today | Yes | Aqara advises waiting |
What Aqara Home still does
It would be a mistake to read the above as Aqara Home being retired. Aqara's contact page states that all devices are managed through the Aqara Home app. It remains the consumer app.
It also retains functions that third-party ecosystems do not replicate. Aqara notes on its Apple Home page that while you can control all core functions through the Apple Home app, its native Aqara Home app may offer additional features such as firmware updates and advanced settings. Firmware update access in particular is not something Apple Home or Home Assistant exposes for you, and losing it is a real downgrade for a household that maintains its own kit.
There is a Matter-specific point here that catches people out. Adding Matter accessories, including Matter over Thread devices, requires a Matter controller such as Hub M3 — and that controller must be set up in Aqara Home first. So even if you are building toward Aqara Life, your path in runs through Aqara Home.
Which app should you use
| Your situation | What to do now | Why |
|---|---|---|
| You have Aqara devices working and you are happy | Stay on Aqara Home | Aqara explicitly advises existing users to wait for data migration support |
| You have Aqara devices and want firmware updates or advanced settings | Stay on Aqara Home | Those functions live here and are not offered in Aqara Life |
| You have Aqara devices and are curious about Aqara Life | Wait; ask us to check current support | Migration is "subject to actual product support" — per product, not per app |
| You are starting a new home or new system | Aqara Life becomes relevant once a Studio-capable hub is part of the design | Aqara describes it as better suited to new users |
| Your home is configured by an installer or service provider | You may end up using Aqara Life as the occupant app | One of Aqara's two stated usage models: the provider designs and configures, occupants operate |
| You are a self-configuring user | Aqara Home or Aqara Life for operating, with Aqara Builder for configuration | Configuration does not happen in Aqara Life |
| You are evaluating hardware right now | Confirm the hub situation before choosing | A Studio-capable hub is a prerequisite for Aqara Life, and that constrains the whole design |
The plugin angle, and why it matters
Aqara Life was described on Aqara's community forum as plugin-powered, with the observation that the same device, in different users' hands, can present completely different use forms. At launch the MVP supported 23 device types, and the plugin store initially covered lights, switches, door and window sensors, and water leak sensors.
Read that carefully, because it has a consequence for buyers. Aqara Life is not presenting you with a fixed device list — it is presenting you with whatever the plugins provide. That is genuinely interesting if a service provider has configured the space for you. It is a weaker argument if you are choosing hardware on the expectation of a long fixed feature list, because the feature list is set by the plugin, not by the device.
A capability named Connect links Studio capabilities, device states and the plugin engine. It is the mechanism, and it is where third-party and developer-built capability enters.
What this page does not claim
- It does not tell you to switch to Aqara Life. Aqara's own documentation advises waiting, and we agree.
- It does not claim Aqara Home is being discontinued. Nothing in Aqara's documentation says that.
- It does not give a price for Aqara Life, Aqara Studio, Studio Connect, the Hub M3 or the Edge Hub M300 — confirm with us.
- It does not claim the Edge Hub M300 is available in Malaysia. It has not been listed as a Malaysian-channel product; talk to us about availability and project fit.
- It does not claim your specific existing devices will migrate. Aqara's wording is explicitly conditional on actual product support.
