Xiaomi Mi Smart Home Wireless Switch

The switch itself is ‘all button’ on the front. By that I mean the whole front surface is the switch, so the button isn’t housed in a surrounding casing as such, unlike the equivalent Aqara Mini Wireless Switch. Whilst the base of the switch is necessarily flat, the button part is convex, raising the surface slightly. The travel of the button is not dissimilar to the feel you get with the individual buttons Philips Hue Dimmer switch, in that there’s a bit of ‘play’. If you press the button towards the edge, then you can feel it not pressing down equally, but more to the side, but only slightly. The comparison to the Hue Dimmer switch is a little unfair, as the Hue does feel quite ‘loose’ even when not pressed, whereas the Mi Wireless Switch feels solid, wherever you press it, almost to the point that you may not always notice at all. The body of the switch is made of the same matt finish plastic that many of the other Xiaomi products are made, and that’s no bad thing at all, which makes it fingerprint resistant, although it may be more inclined to pick up grease/dirt from your fingers over time. 

The rear of the switch comes with an included adhesive sticker already in place. In the centre of the rear of the switch, you have two small holes, only one of which you can use. The larger of the two, which also has a small ‘button’ icon, is for when you wish to pair or reset the switch. The other hole, which has a ‘light’ icon, displays a very small blue LED which only presents itself when in pairing or reset modes, so other than these occasions, you’re not going to see anything here, especially if the switch is stuck to a wall. Removing the rear case will reveal the same two holes again, with ‘LINK’ and ‘LED’ next to the respective holes. There’s a recess for a CR2032 battery. 

When it comes to using this with Apple’s Home app, you will need the Aqara Hub as the gateway to get it exposed to HomeKit. Thankfully this is a painless process. As with all Mi/Aqara Zigbee devices, this needs to go through the hub.

1. Open the Mi Home app and click on the ‘+’ sign in the top corner
2. Select the Household Security tab, then the Mi Wireless Switch
3. Choose your hub – it needs to be the Aqara hub to be exposed to HomeKit
4. Reset the device by pressing a sim pin into the reset hole and follow the voice instructions from the hub and visual instructions in the app
5. once added, choose the room it’ll be located in and name the switch as necessary
6. It will then automatically appear in Apple’s Home app, although you will once again have to assign it to a room, as this data is not carried over from the Mi Home app