Aqara Smart Curtain Driver review: Luxury convenience

Some people spring out of bed each morning ready to take on the day. Others hit snooze five times and shove a pillow over their head to avoid getting out of bed. Sometimes, some of us can be both people. But if you’re someone who habitually struggles to get out of bed, you likely have tried multiple ways to force yourself to get up. Maybe you move your phone to the other side of the room to require you to stand up to shut it off. Maybe you’ve got a smart alarm clock that is made to gently wake you up.

If you’re someone who wants some help getting up, there are smart home devices that can be of assistance. Something to automatically open your curtains is one of them, such as the Aqara Smart Curtain Driver. This device attaches to your curtains and can automatically open them when the sun is up.

I’ve had the chance to test out the Aqara Smart Curtain Driver for a little while now and there are definite advantages to having something like this installed in your home. You can set up automations to open or shut the curtains if a specific occurrences happens or you can tell your smart speaker to open the curtains for you. Here’s more of what I found during my testing.

Recommended

Aqara Smart Curtain Driver

$88 $98 Save $10

The Aqara Smart Curtain Driver is a motor that attaches to your curtains to open or close them. This smart home device can be used for automations as well as can work with voice commands and in-app controls. 

Pros

• Integrates into many smart home ecosystems
• Long-lasting battery
• Tool-less installation

Cons

• Requires other devices to work best
• Doesn’t work well with all curtain types

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Price, specs, and availability

There are two different versions of the Aqara Smart Curtain Driver, one of which works with rod curtains and another that works with curtains on a track. The track version of the Smart Curtain Driver (dubbed E1 by Aqara) retails for $98 on Amazon. The rod version is available for the same price but isn’t in stock as often, as the link on the Aqara site pulls to an Amazon page that isn’t currently available. But you can search for a different listing on Amazon, the one we provided above, that is available.

I only have rod-hanging curtains in my home, so I tested the rod version. The actual driver measures 5.73″ x 3.78″ x 1.81″, so it will take up some room on your curtains. But it has the capacity to pull or push up to 12kg of weight, so it works for all kinds of bulky and heavy curtains. It is powered by a rechargeable Li-ion battery that lasts for up to 12 months. Giving it a full charge prior to installing it ensures that you can set it up and not have to fiddle with it for months.

What I liked about the Aqara Smart Curtain Driver

Installation wasn’t difficult

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I decided to try these in my bedroom as all of the curtain rods I have in my home are supported with brackets on either end and one in the middle. That meant I needed two curtain drivers because the curtain wouldn’t be able to be pulled from one side to the other side. Unfortunately, I have a rod that isn’t uniform in its thickness in my bedroom, which is something that Aqara warns against. But because of the thickness of the curtains I have in my bedroom, it would be hard to pull them completely closed no matter what, so I decided to still try it in my bedroom.

The first thing that I needed to do was sync up the curtain drivers to the Aqara app. I’m used to using the Aqara app as I have reviewed a number of the company’s products. As you’re installing the curtain driver in the app, it makes you select what Aqara hub you’re going to be using as a gateway for it. I have reviewed the Aqara Hub M3, so I selected that and after a few more prompts, the device was recognized and I could begin set up.

Reading the user manual, it showed me where I needed to install the driver on my curtain rod. Depending on the type of curtains you have, whether they have rings, grommets, or just slide over the rod, there are additional clips and pieces you may need to install. Luckily, I was able to just clip the hanger part onto the rod and then clip the driver onto the hanger. It eliminated a lot of excess steps that were in the user manual. Once I had it installed, I used the app to set how far I wanted to set the curtains as “fully opened” and “fully closed.” Seeing as I have a non-uniform rod, I set it to open right until the rod changes thickness.

Not having to use any tools for installation was a huge perk. I then had to do the same thing on the other side and Aqara accounts for this and allows you to easily reverse the direction of your driver, so you can have it open and close the opposite way of the other curtain. I was then able to group the two curtains together in the app so they can function as one unit. While I was in the app, I also set up automations within the app. I put in for it to open up the blinds 25% when it was 6 A.M. Sure enough, the next morning, the blinds opened up a quarter of the way at that time. There is also a built-in illumination sensor on the driver which allows it to sense light, allowing you to set the curtains to open when the sun is rising. You can also pair it with an Aqara Motion and Light Sensor and add an automation through that to really fine-tune that command.

I then set up the smart curtain drivers with my Amazon Alexa speakers. Just tapping add a device in the Alexa app immediately brought up the Aqara drivers, which was easy for installation. I then grouped them together in Alexa, named them “Curtains” and I could then open them by saying “Alexa, open the curtains.” The Smart Curtain Driver can be integrated into IFTTT, Google Home, and Apple HomeKit smart home ecosystems.

Related

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The Aqara Hub M3 helps you get the most out of all of your Aqara devices.

What I didn’t like about the Aqara Smart Curtain Driver

There are a lot of accessories

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In order to use the Aqara Smart Curtain Driver, you must have an Aqara Zigbee 3.0 hub to act as the gateway between the app and the driver. This requires you to purchase one of Aqara’s hubs, which is the minimum added expense. But in order to set up automations with home ecosystems, you need to have other smart ecosystems, such as smart speakers and smart displays. If you’re setting up smart curtains, you probably already have one of those though.

I tried to use my Aqara Motion and Light Sensor P2 for an automation to have the curtains close when it sensed motion in the bedroom as well as have the curtains open when the sun was coming up. But I needed more than one because I had to try and aim the sensor out the window for the sunrise. There just needs to be a lot of accessories on top of this for it to work to its full potential. You can also set it up to work with the Aqara Mini Switch or Aqara cube controller as well. I am happy that I had an easy installation because if you have a grommet or ring style curtain, there’s a lot more measuring and clips needed to set it up properly.

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Should You buy the Aqara Smart Curtain Driver?

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The Aqara Smart Curtain Driver is a great way to set your rooms up to be automated if you have Aqara smart home devices already. For those that do, it will seamlessly integrate with your hub and from there, you can integrate it into whatever smart home ecosystem you have. For those that don’t, it will require you to purchase other Aqara products in order to use it. That may be too much for some people to want to deal with. But if you do set it up and give it the best possibility to succeed for you, you’re sure to be impressed at how much easier it is to get out of bed.

Recommended

Aqara Smart Curtain Driver

$88 $98 Save $10