As first reported by our friends over at HomeKits.de, a new company called Lafaer, has announced a forthcoming presence sensor that seemingly ticks all the right boxes for many users.
The LWR01 offers a Matter over Thread presence sensor, which is two of the three boxes already ticked, but also offers the option to be powered by batteries, which is something not offered by any other presence sensors currently on the market. If you prefer the device to be permanently powered, there’s a USB-C port on the side for this. For battery power it appears two AA batteries are used.
In addition to having a presence sensor, the unit comes with a built-in light sensor. Whether that is also exposed to Matter platforms is unclear at this time.
It’s also IPX3 rated, so whilst probably not totally suitable for all-weather outdoor use, it would be offer some protection from areas where moisture and humidity is high, like a bath or shower room.
If you’re not familiar with presence sensors, they work differently to traditional PIR sensors in that whilst the latter will detect motion, a presence sensor will detect presence, regardless of whether there’s any motion. It uses Millimetre Wave technology, that acts in a similar way to sonar. You can watch our videos for two other presence sensors below, the Aqara FP@, and the LifeSmart Presence Sensor;
Due to Matter compatibility, the LWRo1 will work with all Matter compatible ecosystems, which of course includes Apple Home. As it also uses Thread, as opposed to WiFi (like the Aqra FP2), or Zigbee (like the LifeSmart option), you only need to make sure you have a Thread Border Router. For Apple that will include their later Apple TV4K models, HomePod mini, and second gen HomePod.
As this product is not actually released yet, there’s no word on pricing or availability, but be sure to follow us on social media, so you’ll be the first to know, as soon as we do.
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