SwitchBot
SwitchBot Video Doorbell
- HACS component
- Local control
- Wi-Fi
- Bluetooth
Prices verified September 2026
See more video doorbells picks on our Amazon storefront →Our verdict
Handle with care: unlike SwitchBot's locks and sensors, this doorbell isn't on the Works with Home Assistant certified list, and the official switchbot_cloud integration has no camera platform at all. A community HACS component gives a local WebRTC stream, but with no audio and — critically — no motion or doorbell-press event entities, so you can't automate on someone ringing it. Night vision is colour rather than grainy IR, and the housing is IP65-rated for UK weather. It won't trigger an existing wired chime — it ships with its own indoor LCD display/chime unit, so no rewiring, but no reusing your current bell either. Buy it for local video-on-demand, not doorbell-press automation.
What can Home Assistant control on the SwitchBot Video Doorbell?
| Control | Type | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Camera | Camera | Live view negotiated over WebRTC against an AWS Kinesis signalling channel; video only, no audio. |
| Camera resolution | Config | Set once during integration setup; higher resolution increases bandwidth through the cloud relay and can worsen stream-start failures on weaker connections. |
| Snapshot | Config | Generates dashboard-card thumbnails, but each snapshot opens its own short-lived cloud session — frequent polling can destabilise an active live view. |
| Snapshot cache | Config | Caches the last snapshot response for a set number of seconds so repeated card refreshes don't each trigger a new cloud connection. |
Worth correcting a common assumption: despite the WebRTC framing, the HACS component's own manifest declares cloud-polling, and every viewing session authenticates against Amazon Kinesis Video Streams credentials pulled from SwitchBot's account API — so the stream depends on AWS/SwitchBot cloud reachability, not a pure LAN handshake, even though the video itself plays back locally in HA once negotiated. For this specific device the integration registers only a camera entity — its number, select, and other config platforms are gated to SwitchBot's Pan/Tilt Cam Plus line and never load here. There's no binary sensor or event platform anywhere in the codebase, so the only practical ways to react to a ring today are pairing a separate physical chime/button as a trigger proxy, or piping the exposed stream into an external frame-analysis add-on for synthetic motion detection.
Specs
| chime | Ships with its own indoor colour LCD display/chime unit — does not wire into or trigger an existing mechanical or wired chime |
|---|---|
| power | battery (5000mAh, 6-19 months) or wired 5V/2A; optional solar panel |
| storage | local microSD up to 512GB + 4GB built-in |
| ip rating | IP65 |
| streaming | local WebRTC video via HACS component or ONVIF/RTSP; no motion/ring events exposed to HA by any current method |
| resolution | 2K (2304x1296), 165° FOV |
| night vision | Colour night vision (no IR range published by SwitchBot) |
| subscription | none required for local video/storage |
How does the SwitchBot Video Doorbell compare?
| Product | From | Protocol | Local control | Integration |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SwitchBot Video Doorbell (this product) | £159.99 | Wi-Fi, Bluetooth | Yes | HACS |
| Aqara Doorbell Camera Hub G410 | £109.99 | Wi-Fi, Thread, Matter | Yes | Native |
| Arlo Essential Video Doorbell | £134.08 | Wi-Fi | Cloud | HACS |
| Blink Video Doorbell | £23 | Wi-Fi | Cloud | Cloud |
Frequently asked questions
- Does the SwitchBot Video Doorbell work with Home Assistant locally?
- Yes. The SwitchBot Video Doorbell is controlled locally in Home Assistant through a community integration installed through HACS (ha-switchbot-kvs-camera), so it keeps working if your internet connection or the SwitchBot cloud goes down. Control and state updates stay on your own network.
- Which protocol does the SwitchBot Video Doorbell use, and do I need a hub?
- The SwitchBot Video Doorbell uses Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. To pair it with Home Assistant you need no hub — it joins your Wi-Fi network directly; or a Bluetooth adapter on your Home Assistant host or an ESPHome Bluetooth proxy. SwitchBot's own hub is not required when you integrate through a community integration installed through HACS (ha-switchbot-kvs-camera).
- How much does the SwitchBot Video Doorbell cost in the UK?
- The lowest price we have listed for the SwitchBot Video Doorbell is £159.99 at SwitchBot UK. Prices were last checked in September 2026 and change often, so confirm on the retailer's page before buying.