Aqara FP400 Tracks 10 People With mmWave Radar
Aqara announced an ambitious presence sensor at CES 2026, and in September it finally shipped. The Aqara FP400 Spatial Multi-Sensor is not another binary motion detector — its 60GHz mmWave radar tracks the positions of up to ten people simultaneously across a room, and it connects over either Thread or Zigbee, taking two very different routes into Matter ecosystems.
What the FP400 actually does
Unlike conventional motion sensors that simply report whether movement occurred, the FP400 determines where people are positioned within a room. Its 60GHz mmWave radar provides a 120-degree field of view covering an area up to 10 by 8 metres, and Aqara says it can track as many as ten occupants in real time.
That positional data unlocks automations that respond to activity in different zones of a room rather than the room as a whole — lighting that follows occupants, or climate control aimed at the occupied half of an open-plan space. The sensor also supports people counting, which allows heating, cooling, or ventilation to be adjusted according to the number of people present. An integrated ambient light sensor adds illuminance information, so automations can consider both occupancy and current light level, and detection zones are smaller and customizable compared with earlier Aqara presence sensors.
Two radios, two paths into Matter
The interesting engineering story is the dual connectivity. In Thread mode, the FP400 operates as a Matter-over-Thread device and can connect through any compatible third-party Thread Border Router. That removes the need for an Aqara hub entirely and lets the sensor work with Apple Home, Amazon Alexa, Google Home, Home Assistant, Homey, and SmartThings.
The Zigbee option is primarily intended for existing Aqara users. In this mode an Aqara hub is required, and the hub effectively bridges the Zigbee sensor into Matter for third-party platforms. It is a pragmatic split: Thread for the interoperable future, Zigbee for the installed base.
This dual-radio approach is becoming an Aqara signature — ship the bleeding-edge sensor, let buyers choose their on-ramp — and it is a good illustration of how the 2026 market actually works. Matter is the destination, but the paths there still vary by household.
Availability and pricing
The FP400 is available now on Amazon in the US, UK, Germany, France, Spain, and Italy, with a limited 10% discount using the code AQARAFP400 (ending September 28). Broad regional availability at launch, including both North America and Europe, suggests Aqara is treating spatial presence sensing as a mainstream category rather than an enthusiast experiment.
Why presence sensing is having a moment
The FP400 arrives as presence detection graduates from novelty to infrastructure. Binary motion sensors leave lights on in empty rooms and let climate systems heat unoccupied zones; positional awareness fixes both failure modes at once. Combined with Matter’s cross-platform device model, a single well-placed presence sensor can now drive lighting, HVAC, and ventilation automations across every ecosystem in the home.
The open question, as with all mmWave presence sensors, is real-world tuning: pets, curtains, and HVAC airflow have all been known to confuse radar-based detection. Aqara’s customizable detection zones are the intended answer. Early adopters will determine how much fiddling a ten-person tracking claim requires in a lived-in home — but the direction of travel is unmistakable. The sensor that knows where you are, not just whether you moved, is becoming the default building block of the automated home.