All About Xiaomi's Mi Smart Home App

Note : All features, descriptions and screen captured for this write-ups are accurate at the time of writing, but are subject to changes due to the high pace of App changes and new devices being added, some features may no longer work, or some newly added.

About the App





Mi Smart Home app is your home intelligent hardware management platform. You can interact your Smart Phone with all the Xiaomi smart hardware and achieve inter-operability between them, and experience the convenience of intelligent life.

Mi Smart home Apps currently can manage the following Mi Ecosystem products : Air purifier Gen 1 & 2, Water Purifier, MiWiFi routers, Master Remote controller, MiTV, alll versions of MiBoxes,  Mi Smart Home Kits, Yi IP Cam, Yeelight LED Bulb, Smart Plug, Power Strip Panel, Internet Radio, Midea Air Conditioner, Aux Air conditioner, Junxing Air Conditioner and Philips Eyecare Lamp.

All the devices and settings are currently store on Mi Clouds, where you can easily backup and retrieve. Simply sign-in to the Mi Cloud with your Mi Account on a mobile phones, and all the saved configurations and settings are all retrieved on the new Smart Phones. 

Major Features Overview

a) Smart Links

The App is able to add new Mi Ecosystems intelligent devices in a simple manner for themselves
 


b) Device Control


The APP control all smart home appliances, and can be accessed from anywhere, as long as you have Internet access.
 


c) Share your family

You can share access to some of these device to family and friends and enjoy the convenience of a warm intelligent life together.

 


d) Intelligent Scene


You can go through simple setup to configure various easy and fun intelligent scenarios with other Mi ecosystems products.




New Features

1) Selecting your Hosting regions

In the past, Xiaomi only provide their Cloud hostings in China and users of the Mi Smart Home App outside China regularly facing "time-out" or "connection problems" whenever they are registering for new devices under the App. This is mostly due to the great China Firewall or DNS settings in local ISPs.

Starting from 2016, Xiaomi had added 3 more cloud locations for some of their major markets outside China, these locations are Singapore, Taiwan and India. You can now decide where to host your Smart Home App, where all your settings and configurations will be back up ONLY* to the cloud location that you had selected.

To choose the Mi Cloud location, you must logout first, then select the location, and log in again.

* Please note, your settings will only be saved on the cloud servers that you had selected, i.e if you initially select your location as Chinese Mainland, if you later log in and select Singapore, your settings will not be available as they are never saved on Singapore servers.

Note : At the time of this writing, not all regions support all devices released from Xiaomi, if you are buying products only available in China market, you'll probably still need to select Chinese mainland as the region. But due to the unpredictable China firewall, sometimes you may not be able to register and save your configuration & settings on Mi Cloud during the initial setup.

What is the minimum Android and iOS version supported for this app?

At the time of this write-up the minimum version of the major two mobile OS supported are as follow:
      Android - 4.0 and above
      iOS - 7.0 and above

But with the increasing addition of new Smart devices under Xiaomi's Mi Ecosystem product series, the Apps are continuously being updated by Xiaomi, whether they will withdraw support for certain older OS


Where to get and install the Mi Smart Home App?

You can access the latest version of the App at the official App site - http://home.mi.com/index.html, which is only available in Chinese interface, or download them by scanning the QR code below.


You can also get them from the respective official app stores.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.xiaomi.smarthome

https://itunes.apple.com/EN/app/xiao-mi-zhi-neng-jia-ting/id957323480?mt=8




** Please make sure you are downloading ONLY the official Apps and not from third party sources.


Further info

You can also visit their official Forum site for latest discussion and releases for Mi Smart Home App, but this site is only available in Chinese

http://bbs.xiaomi.cn/f-363

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Mi band - the first wearable gadget from Xiaomi

Mi Band is the first wearable gadget from Xiaomi, the Mi Band can monitor and help with your exercise routine, wake you up when you oversleep, and last for 30 days on a single battery charge. The Mi Band can also track your swimming routine since it's water resistant at a depth of more than three feet.

As far the design of Mi Band itself, it is plain and utilitarian. It is not going to win any points for stylishness, but there is a certain dignity in a plain design that will appeal to many people.  

The Mi Band comprises of a small silver-coloured tablet that is fit into a rubber strap that you wear around your wrist. This alloy body consists of the ample 30-day long battery, a Bluetooth chip, accelerometer and proximity sensor. These combine to track various activities and offer detailed analysis through the companion app. 

The operation is very simple and easy-to-understand and you can leave the Mi Band to its task without the need to keep tinkering with settings or buttons.  There are no buttons present on the device. There are three multi-coloured notification LEDs to give feedback about your progress towards your daily goal, among other purposes. 

The Mi Band is rated to the IP67 standard for water-resistant, which is a necessary feature to have on a wearable device since it will have to contend with sweat and the occasional water contact. According to Xiaomi, the wristband uses is made with Dow Corning TPSiV material which provides it with strong anti-ultraviolet UV resistance, anti-bacterial, and anti-allergic protection.

The Mi Band records your movement data throughout the day.

The Mi Band can also be set to vibrate after a missed call, but no other notifications from apps or SMS are available.You can adjust the missed call alert settings so that it buzzes just three seconds after an incoming call, it effectively lets you know when someone is calling immediately rather than after you have actually missed it.

Xiaomi smartphone owners get an extra perk: the Mi Band will automatically unlock your phone if you hold them near each other. That’s the gimmick that other Android phone owners don’t get.

Like other fitness bands, the Mi Band takes on extra powers when paired with a smartphone such as unlocking your phone when the two devices are nearby, but this only works with Xiaomi smartphones with Android 4.4 and above.

Outfitted with Android 4.4 and Bluetooth, the Mi Band comes in a range of colors, including blue, pink, brown, black, purple, and gray.

The Mi Band boasts an impressive 30-day battery life. That's a far cry from the Fitbit's four-day charge and the Jawbone's 10. When it is running low, a few minutes on the charger is all you need for several more days of power. That means less stress about whether or not it’s about to die, and more time spent actually wearing the device and collecting useful data.

Setting Up

Once the Mi Band app is downloaded and installed, it will automatically switch to your phone’s set language, either Chinese or English. 

Pairing the Mi Band to your phone via Bluetooth is quick and painless, requiring just a few quick taps to set up. 

  

Enter a few personal stats like age, height, and weight, and you’re on your way. 

There's no need to take your phone with you on a walk or run; the app will automatically sync as soon as you’re back in Bluetooth range.

You can set a daily goal for how many steps you aim to take, which by default is set at 8,000. 

Depending on your progress, making a gesture as if you’re looking at a wristwatch will prompt the Mi Band to light up in your preferred color: one light for one-third, two lights for two-thirds, three lights for goal completed. 

The lights can be difficult to see in direct sunlight.

Wakeup alarms in the app unfortunately don’t sync with any other alarm apps you might have installed. 

The alarm gently vibrates three times and then turns off. There’s no snooze or option to make it keep vibrating until you give some sort of input, like a tap or other gesture. 

If it doesn't wake you right away, then you’d better have a backup alarm ready.

The Mi Band app opens to a step counter and feed of your recent sleep cycles and walking activity. You can track previous days' steps, how far you've walked, and how many calories you've burned. For sleep cycles, the Mi Band monitors how long you slept and for how long you were in a "deep sleep:.The app does little to advise on how the users can improve their daily cycles, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing for those who just want a clear cut readout and not a robot coach.

Specification
Model:	Mi Band
Water-Proof:	IP67 professional level
Color:	Black, White
Display	LED light
Multi-Languages
Power Charging	USB Cable
Bluetooth	Bluetooth 4.0
Function	MIUI Unlock Fitness Level Monitor Sleeping Quality Tracking Smart Alarm History Data Seek Mi Band LED Light Color setting Work on both hands Total Distance Display Average Daily Steps Share via Social Media
Battery capacity and life	41mAh lithium-ion battery Standby Time: 30 Days
Material	Surface: Aluminium Shell: Makrolon Wristband Button: Aluminium Wristband: IPSiV
Size	Length: 157-205 mm Net Weight: 13 g Main Part:  5.0g
Package	1 x  Mi Band

Based on price alone, the Mi Band could be a hot seller whether it stays in China or branches out to the rest of the world. Other fitness bands sell for considerably more, notably the Withings Pulse O2 at $120, the Jawbone Up24 at $150, and the Pebble Steel at $250.

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