HomeKit Aqara Security System and ugh First Alert OneLink will not pair unless you are on the same network

Wow, it is just crazy how non standard and different and difficult HomeKit pairing is.

Some like Wemo won’t pair with their native apps but with work. Others like satechi pair fine but do jot connect reliably to 2.4Ghz. Same with the Wemo.

The Aqara did pair fine with the M1S hub with the native app and then it worked with HomeKit. And for their peripherals like the door sensor you pull the battery plastic tab and hold down the button and it pairs fine.

The hub itself plugs into a power plug and acts as a night light and it is pretty loud too.

Same cannot be said for the first alert OneLink. I could not get it to pair with the native application. When looking online it says that you should actually start with the HomeKit setup and then go to the OneLink application but it keeps failing to pair really annoying.

I can eat it to pair with HomeKit by clicking on Add Accessory and then pressing the top button five time and it will say follow the instructions in the Onelink application, but this leads to a dead end, with an “unexpected error” as if it does find the device but then it fails after with an unexpected error. When you click done, there is another broken error message saying that the WiFi connection is not found.

If I try it from the Onelink side basically the same thing, in the middle of setup and then it fails with an unexpected error. In looking at what is going on with the UniFi Network, I do see the device, but it was on the first network I used which I then realized was the wrong one (I wanted it on the IoT only network), but it looks like the network setting is stable across the five button press reboot.

So, to really get it to pair, you need to make sure you have your device on the same SSID as the device and that Bluetooth is on. Pretty weird that factory reset does not reset the default SSID

So as of IOS 15.2 here is the process

FYI the exact process that worked for me was but basically, you have to follow the guide.

Remove the alarm from Home app and the Onelink App, make sure your iOS device is on a 2.4GHz network (I think it has to be 2.4 only, but that’s not clear)
Put the thing in its mount, it will not pair without being there.
Then hit the top button five times
Ignore what it says, “Go to your Home application” hit the Add Accessory and add it
The thing should be blinking blue to indicate it is trying to connect with Bluetooth LE to the alarm
Now this is done, switch to the OneLink application
Also choose add again, hopefully you will see it there and it was say setup needed.
Click on this and it will ask (again!) what network you want to add it to
It should blink blue when doing this.
On this second pairing, it will eventually turn off and you are done!