Aqara teams up with A-OK for Smart Shades

Aqara is finally taking smart blinds seriously. The Chinese company has announced a collaboration with A-OK, a veteran in the electric shading world, to launch a complete suite of material-compatible window covers designed for both automotive and professional installations.

Beyond the rather basic roller shade driver E1 released a few years ago, this is clearly welcome if you are offering automated curtains and pergola tints that actually work well in your Akara smart home setup.

With this move, A-OK products offer connection upgrades thanks to Aqara’s Smarts burnt in.

That means support for issues with native integrations across Apple Home, Alexa, Google Home, Smartthings, Homey and Home Assistant.

Aqara says it will work with A-OK on a variety of electric covers, including awnings, curtains, external Venetian blinds, interior blinds, pergolas, roller shutters, and jig screen blinds.

Not only is it remote control possible, but the new shade also works with automation triggers. Think of light sensors, temperature readings, or motion detection to do things like closing the EVB when the sun is burning, or closing the EVB when the room gets hot and adjusting the interior blinds.

You can also build scenes, whether it’s a “movie night” or a “morning” routine with slow rising morning sun and blinds.

According to Aqara, the duo is also working on custom apps for A-OK users, so those who need more detailed control or are not tied to one of the larger smart home platforms will continue to get a solid app experience.

There are no details on the launch yet, but the two companies will be showing off their jointly developed lineup at R+T Asia in Shanghai this week (May 26th-28th).