SmartThings Edge Driver for Matter Cameras – Aqara G350 Camera
Updated: Sep 5
The arrival of Matter camera support in SmartThings is an important step toward making smart home cameras more interoperable between manufacturers and smart home platforms.
The Aqara Camera Hub G350 has been one of the first real-world Matter cameras to put that support to the test. Through extensive testing, SmartThings Community member Andreas Roedl has identified limitations in the official SmartThings Matter camera implementation and developed a "Work In Progress (WIP) Edge Driver" to address many of those issues.
This driver is particularly interesting because it is not simply an Aqara-specific driver. Andreas's modified driver continues to use the standard Matter Camera device type and standard Matter clusters. His work with the G350 has exposed shortcomings in SmartThings' generic Matter camera handling and has helped demonstrate how those issues can be addressed in a more device-aware way.
What Is This Driver?
This is a community-developed experimental SmartThings Edge Driver based on the official SmartThings Matter Switch driver and its Matter camera implementation. The purpose of the modified driver is to improve how SmartThings interprets the capabilities that an individual Matter camera actually supports.
The official driver relies heavily on the Matter FeatureMap. Andreas's version goes further by also examining information such as AttributeList and AcceptedCommandList so that SmartThings can distinguish between features a camera family supports and the specific optional features that a particular camera actually implements.
That difference is important because Matter cameras can implement optional features differently. The Aqara G350 proved to be an excellent test case because its newer firmware exposes considerably more Matter functionality than earlier versions.
What Has This Driver Demonstrated?
Using the Aqara G350 with firmware 4.5.70 / Matter 1.5.1, Andreas has successfully tested a wide range of camera functionality through standard Matter interfaces, including:
WebRTC live video
Full-duplex two-way audio
Speaker and microphone volume
Motion / vision occupancy
Image capture
Push AV video clips
Night Vision
Recording privacy
Livestream privacy
Physical privacy-state feedback
Mechanical pan
Mechanical tilt
Mechanical zoom
PTZ presets
PTZ movement state
A SmartThings camera/privacy switch
Most of these functions were tested against the actual G350 hardware rather than simply inferred from the camera's advertised capabilities. The driver also improves the initialization and handling of camera metadata, allowing SmartThings' camera interface to expose functionality such as PTZ controls more reliably. Andreas found that the SmartThings camera plug-in could already contain the necessary capability, but the controls did not appear until the driver supplied the camera metadata early and consistently.
Why This Work Is Important for Future Matter Cameras
The most important aspect of this project is that the improvements are not Aqara-specific. Andreas states that the modified driver still uses the standard Matter Camera device type and standard Matter clusters.
The Aqara G350 essentially exposed weaknesses and assumptions in the existing SmartThings implementation. That means this work can help establish a more robust architecture for SmartThings Matter camera support as additional manufacturers introduce Matter cameras.
The long-term goal of Matter is not to create a separate integration for every individual camera manufacturer. It is to establish standardized ways for devices to communicate their capabilities to different smart home ecosystems.
As SmartThings' Matter camera support matures, this type of capability-aware architecture should make it easier for SmartThings to recognize and use standardized camera functions from other Matter camera manufacturers as well.
It is important to understand, however, that this does not mean that every native camera feature from every manufacturer will automatically become available through Matter. The Matter specification currently does not cover every advanced camera feature, and manufacturers may choose which Matter capabilities their products implement.
For example, the G350 currently still has native Aqara features that are not represented through Matter, including zone management, advanced AI/event analysis, local storage, HDR, digital PTZ and its complete dual-lens architecture.
This Is a Work in Progress
This driver should be considered experimental and a work in progress. Andreas has already identified remaining issues in the modified driver, including a subscription problem involving an unsupported Night Vision attribute and other edge cases.
There are also limitations within the SmartThings camera plug-in itself. Some camera presentation behavior, including PTZ and preset presentation, is controlled by the SmartThings app rather than the Edge Driver, and Andreas notes that the plug-in still needs additional work.
Most importantly, Andreas has specifically stated: “I won’t maintain it forever.” Therefore, this driver should be considered a testing and development tool, not a permanent replacement for the official SmartThings driver.
How to Install the Matter Camera WIP Driver
Important: You should only install this driver if you understand that it is experimental software. Your experience may differ depending on your SmartThings hub, camera firmware, SmartThings app version and the current state of the driver.
Step 1 – Open the Andreas Driver Channel - ARoedl SmartThings Edge Drivers
Step 2 – Sign In - Log in to your SmartThings account.
Step 3 – Accept the Channel Invitation - After signing in, select **Accept**.
Step 4 – Enroll in the Channel - Select **Enroll**.
Step 5 – View Available Drivers - Select Available Drivers and search for the "Matter Switch Camera" driver.
Step 6 – Install the Driver - Select the "Matter Switch Camera" driver and the driver will be downloaded to your SmartThings app.
Step 7 – Check the Camera's Assigned Driver - After installing the driver, open the SmartThings web interface and select your camera. Check which driver is currently assigned to the Aqara G350. Andreas has noted that SmartThings may automatically change the driver assigned to the camera.
Returning to the Official Driver
When you are finished testing the experimental driver, Andreas recommends returning the camera to the official SmartThings driver and deleting the experimental driver from your account. His specific recommendation is: “Don’t forget to switch back to the official driver and delete mine some day. I won’t maintain it forever.” For that reason, I recommend keeping notes about your original driver and device configuration before experimenting.
A Special Thank You to Andreas Roedl
The SmartThings Community has many members who create useful Edge Drivers, but Andreas Roedl's work on Matter cameras deserves special recognition. His testing goes well beyond simply creating a driver that makes a device appear in SmartThings.
He has inspected Matter attributes and clusters, tested behavior against the actual Aqara G350 hardware, identified problems in the official SmartThings implementation, worked through firmware changes, documented the results and then used what he learned to improve the generic Matter camera architecture.
His work has helped demonstrate that the Aqara G350 Camera can expose capabilities such as privacy, PTZ, Night Vision, occupancy, image capture, WebRTC streaming, two-way audio and Push AV clips through standard Matter mechanisms.
Perhaps most importantly, the resulting work is not simply an Aqara solution. It is helping SmartThings become a more capable and robust platform for Matter cameras in general.
Please Consider Supporting Andreas
Community-developed drivers like this take a tremendous amount of time to research, develop, test and maintain.
If you use Andreas's driver or benefit from his work on Matter camera support, please consider buying him a coffee or making a donation as a way of saying thank you. Even a small contribution is a great way to recognize the time and effort that community developers put into making SmartThings a more capable platform.
Final Thoughts
The Aqara G350 has demonstrated that Matter cameras can now expose a surprisingly broad range of functionality to SmartThings. However, the technology is still evolving. This experimental Edge Driver should therefore be viewed as part of that development process rather than a finished product.
For G350 owners who want to experiment, it provides an opportunity to explore the latest Matter camera capabilities and, at the same time, see firsthand how community development is helping improve SmartThings' handling of Matter cameras.
And for the SmartThings community as a whole, Andreas Roedl's work may prove to be even more valuable in the future as additional Matter camera manufacturers enter the market.
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