Akamatis Litos v3 mmWave Human Presence Sensor

Extremely Compact mm Wave Presence Sensor That Integrates Flawlessly with Home Assistant

For smart home enthusiasts utilizing Home Assistant, the Akamatis Litos v3 mmWave Smart Motion Sensor is a capable device packed into a tiny 35mm footprint roughly the size of a half-dollar. Unlike standard PIR motion detectors that only trigger during active movement, this true mm Wave presence sensor detects static individuals—such as someone sitting completely still while reading or watching TV—making it vastly superior for advanced automation routines.

Setup is entirely local with zero cloud registration required, though it does assume you are already running Home Assistant. Scanning the QR-code sticker guides you to online documentation where you connect via the device's temporary Wi-Fi hotspot. While typing a complex password can be tricky due to masked text fields, and support relies entirely on web-hosted instructions rather than paper manuals, customer support is responsive if you hit a snag. Once integrated, the sensor exposes a wealth of granular controls to Home Assistant, including real-time distance tracking, light levels, signal energy, and highly customizable sensitivity bands across multiple distance zones.

Power comes via a USB-C cable drawing around 0.8W, it is designed for stationary, plugged-in placement rather than battery operation. While the 3D-printed enclosure feels a bit fragile and the small included mount can be tricky to position with a dangling USB cable, its actual performance is fast, responsive, and free of dropouts. Providing granular data, true presence detection, and customization value for the price, it is an absolute five-star win for any DIY smart home builder.

Zhunt

September 1, 2026

Great small budget friendly sensor

I was able to add the to my Home Assistant very easily. It's fast and response and I've not had any issues with disconnects.

I have been wanting to find some cheap presence sensors to use for some automations and these are a great option.

They are pretty good value for money and very compact.

The only thing I wasn't too happy wth at first was they are 3d printed and seem little fragile but that should't be an issue for a stationary device.

The available sensors are perfect for the automations I was wanting to make.

Works great with Home Assistant

Super easy to set up and connected seamlessly with Home Assistant. The detection works exceptionally well, and the support team is awesome and extremely helpful. Highly recommend!

Carl Douglas

July 24, 2026

The Best Home Assistant Presence Sensor

This is by far the most impressive presence sensor I’ve used with Home Assistant. The device itself is very well made. The 3D-printed enclosure looks great, feels high quality, and gives the impression that a lot of care went into its design.

Setup was incredibly easy. You simply scan the QR code, enter your Wi-Fi credentials on the setup page, and if you’re running ESPHome, Home Assistant automatically discovers the sensor. The entire process only took a few minutes.

What really impressed me was everything this sensor can do once it’s added. It exposes a huge amount of information in Home Assistant and gives you access to an impressive number of settings for fine-tuning sensitivity, detection zones, thresholds, and other parameters.

The response time is what really sets this sensor apart. Updates in Home Assistant are practically instantaneous. I was a little hesitant about using a Wi-Fi sensor since I normally rely on Zigbee, but this has been more responsive than any of my Zigbee motion sensors while also providing far more information and configuration options.

If you’re looking for a high-quality mmWave presence sensor for Home Assistant, I highly recommend this one. I’m extremely impressed with it and will definitely be adding more around my house. Especially since price is so reasonable.

Excellent mmWave presence sensor for Home Assistant

Pros:

Easy to set up

Integrates well with Home Assistant

True presence detection, not just motion detection

Displays distance to detected person

Adjustable sensitivity

Responsive and reliable

Wi-Fi connectivity (2.4 GHz)

Cons:

Requires a 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi network

Designed specifically for Home Assistant users

I've been very happy with this sensor so far. Setup was straightforward, and it integrated into Home Assistant without any issues. It's USB powered so no batteries! Could be good or bad. It's also very small about the size of maybe a half dollar. Bigger than a quarter.

One thing to keep in mind is that it's a 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi device, but that's very common for ESP-based smart home devices and wasn't an issue in my setup.

The biggest advantage is that this is a presence sensor, not just a motion sensor. Unlike a traditional PIR motion detector that only triggers when you move, this sensor can continue detecting that someone is still in the room even after they've been sitting still for several minutes. That makes it much more useful for automations like keeping lights on while you're reading, working, or watching TV.

Another feature I really like is that it reports the detected distance. I already have ideas for using that in Home Assistant automations. For example, I have an area of my house where I expect people to be, but another nearby area where no one should normally go. Using the distance information should allow me to build much smarter automations and alerts than a simple motion sensor could provide.

Overall, this has been an excellent addition to my Home Assistant setup. It's responsive, accurate, and provides much more useful information than a standard motion detector. If you're already invested in Home Assistant and want true presence detection, this is definitely worth considering.

Steven

July 13, 2026

Love this HA presence sensor!

I'm a Home Assistant user and feel like finding a smart home device that actually works exactly how you hoped is rare enough that it deserves a celebration. Let’s celebrate this one!

I had it up and running in Home Assistant very quickly, and it immediately became useful. No weird workarounds, fighting with it, or spending half a Saturday wondering why the thing exists if it doesn’t actually do what it’s supposed to do.

I really freakin’ love this build quality! It’s 3D printed, which some people might see as a negative, but it’s done really well. It’s thoughtfully designed instead of looking like someone’s weekend project. It’s small, clean, and doesn’t draw attention to itself, which is exactly what I need in sensors around the house.

The performance has been spot on. Presence detection has been reliable, connectivity was quick and painless, and it integrated into my Home Assistant setup without a problem. That’s one of the biggest compliments I can give any smart home device. It's totally accurate and like most of these types of sensors, you can adjust the settings in the HA UI.

The value here is incredible for what you’re getting. I’ve spent more on smart home gear that delivered a fraction of the usefulness.

My biggest takeaway after using it is that I hope this company keeps making products for the Home Assistant community. If their other devices are built with the same level of thought and reliability, I’ll be paying attention.

Very happy I picked this up. It’s already earned its place in my setup.

Low Clearance

July 12, 2026

Great for Home Assistant

If you use Home Assistant, you know that having a presence sensor for a room is great for automation processes. The Litos V3 sensor is a well designed and nicely made sensor. Adding it to my Home Assistant server was pretty simple. There are a bunch of entities that you can draw information from to determine if someone or something has entered the covered area. Motion can actually be detected through walls with this device. Once setup and mounted, the device can easily be used to see anything approaching the designated area. It is has a quick response time and time-out time so that it can accurately determine motion in the specified zone. It works great with a any on-off scenarios where a light or fan, for example, can come on when someone walks into the zone. Overall, this is great sensor for the money and is well worth it for a discrete sensor that has a lot of compatibility with a lot of projects one might need it for. I highly recommend it as it has been steadily monitoring on of the rooms in my home for several weeks non-stop without fail.

3:03

Probably User Error

I wasn't able to get this working with my setup, so I can't fairly judge how well it performs once everything is configured correctly. Based on the instructions and other reviews, I'm pretty sure I missed something during setup rather than the sensor actually being defective. If you're already familiar with Home Assistant, you'll probably have better luck than I did.

Powerful and easy to set up, but mounting is disappointing

Things I like:

-If you have Homeassistant set up already, this is quick and painless to integrate

-It is quite sensitive, and it correctly assesses if I am present or out of the room

-The 3D printing quality is good

-The included instructions are straightforward and detailed

-There are a ton of options available to really tweak the sensor's performance to your needs

Things that could be improved:

-The instructions live online via a QR code. If the company ever stops hosting the webpage, the instructions will be lost. It would have been nice to have paper instructions included for at least the basic pairing since it's not that many steps.

-The included mount has a decent amount of adjustability, but it is so small to be mostly useless, especially with a USB-C cable in the way. It also doesn't come with any sort of adhesive or screw hole, so you are on your own to figure out how to attach it to something.

-Having a USB cable sticking out from the sensor further limits how you can position it. Akamatis makes a version with a male USB port on it, and I think that design is much better.

Cost efficient human presence and light sensor

This human presence and light sensor utilizes millimeter wave radio frequency waves to detect the presence of human and is much more accurate and effective. Unlike the traditional passive infra red sensor where you effectively have to move an entire human body in front of it for it to trigger, the Litos v3 can detect human even when they are stationary in the room, i.e. at rest, asleep, or working at the desk. It is a complete different experience than the old way of doing things. This item is packaged in a silver anti-static ziplock bag with a large white branding and FBA product identification barcode sticker all in one. It also specifies a 0.2A current rating so a very low energy sipper that you can run continuously without too much concern for power consumption. Also surprising that manufacture origin for this device is California. A breath of fresh air. The packaging content is minimalistic otherwise. In exhibiting the ultimate cost reduction only a sensor, a clip on tile and swivel stand is included, no manual or a piece of two sided tape to fasten the tilt and swivel mount. It is so cost efficient it doesn’t include what is usually customary a USBA to USB-C cable that most any other device sellers always do with even the cheapest of cheap USB-C items. Only Akamatis and Apple and get away with that. This Matter compatible sensor works only with 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi network and not the Matter’s other network designed to reduce WiFi traffic. So it is compatible nodes connected with WiFi. As I am slowly building out the new Matter network, there isn’t a purpose for this sensor yet although it will probably end up being a family room light where it sees most of the traffic and could benefit from ambient light sensing. As I fully expect it to just work, it is therefore getting the provisional five star rating unless there is any reason for me to come back and report otherwise.

Customer

June 12, 2026

Fantastic! Period. Open source and manufacturer provides config YAML on their website

I upgraded my home automation setup to fix a persistent problem. old motion sensors often turned the lights off while I was sitting still. Needed something capable of detecting actual presence rather than just large movements.

Setting this up was very straightforward. If you use Home Assistant, you will appreciate the simplicity. The manufacturer provides the necessary YAML configuration directly on their website. I used that code to flash the firmware via ESPHome without any major issues. It worked immediately after the process was finished.

The performance is where this sensor really shines. It picks up much smaller movements than a standard PIR sensor. It can detect the subtle rise and fall of your chest while breathing. This makes it much more reliable for keeping lights on in a quiet room. It also tracks light levels, which helps in creating more intelligent lighting automations.

The sensitivity is adjustable. This is a crucial feature for any smart home setup. You might find that the sensor picks up too much movement if it is pointed toward a busy hallway. You will likely need to spend a little time fine-tuning the settings to get the coverage just right. You should also expect to have a strong Wi-Fi signal near the installation point. Because it relies on a 2.4 GHz connection, distance from your router could be a potential weakness... but I haven't had ANY issues.

This is an excellent choice for anyone already running a local smart home ecosystem. The open-source nature of the software provides a level of privacy and control that many closed-off consumer products lack. It is perfect for hobbyists who enjoy customizing their setup.

= You are paying for the ability to detect actual human presence. The accuracy justifies the cost for a serious automation project. If you want a sensor that truly understands when a room is occupied, this is a solid investment.

Works with Home Assistant, many knobs to touch!

It was fairly straight forward to set up -- I used my phone to connect to the built-in AP, pointed my browser at the address specified in the instructions, and fed it my wifi network credentials. From there it showed up in Home Assistant.

There's a lot of knobs, almost overwhelmingly so, and I'm not entirely certain what they do. G0 -> G8, I assume, represent a grid. I'm still struggling with false alerts, even after auto-calibrating the mmwave radar. I have it attached to an outdoor pavilion, up in the roof, aimed at where people would be sitting, and I'm wondering if there are more ideal locations. I'll keep playing with it until I have eliminated false alarms -- I want it to detect humans but not birds and squirrels, which sometimes do hang out in that area.

You can build your own firmware using ESPHome, which I think is pretty cool. That aspect is not for everyone, but I really do appreciate it. The Lux sensor is a nice addition.

Here's a few things that would make this product even better:

1. A 3M adhesive disc for mounting.

2. A black / dark case. It really sticks out where I've mounted it, and it would be nice if it was more hidden. I don't know how much paint will affect the radar.

3. Document what the knobs are / do.

Once I have the false alarms ironed out, I want to use this sensor to trigger automations in Home Assistant to turn the string lights on if it is dark and somebody is out there, and to also control the fan. I've made the fan remote myself also using the same seeed studio esp32c3. :-)

HLK-LD2401 + VEML7700 + XIAO ESP32-C3 with ESPHome = perfect ready to go presense sensor setup

First off I have to comment on the 3D printed parts - they get an easy 10 out of 10. Hats off to whoever printed and finished this device. We are talking commercial quality 3D printing with sub millimeter clearances that are perfectly matching. Even the little adjustable base comes "packaged" and perfectly fit inside of a small cylindrical tube - you just press on one side to push it out. The "clamp" on the sensor casing pops off to install the optional stand (stand is made for wall mounting will not work as a "desk" mount unless you use a right angle USB cable). No adhesives or stickers, etc are included but any double sided tape/velcro/magnets will work. As the for the overall sensors themselves they work flawlessly and they preloaded ESPHome and have all the optional settings enabled for the radar and light sensors for adjusting and resetting levels (yes you WILL need to play with settings to get accurate results - same with any mwave device) and they even have the self learning function enabled (helps set base levels for "empty" room sensitivity - you still will have to manually fidget with levels to get each distance measure to ignore ceiling fans, etc which is expected. A total of 61 entities are exposed for Home Assistant. Set up is crazy simple - just needs your wifi credentials for your network then HA autodetects it for adding to ESPHome devices. For the price is is hard to beat and saves time instead building your own from scratch (and I doubt your 3D printer would have the same clean results for the case) also without the need to wire up the sensors and get the device management software loaded on there.

Accurate human detection in a small package

I got this mmWave human presence (and light) sensor for my bedroom to track my sleeping, but I found that it works so well that it can detect me from across the room. This might seem like a negative, but since it tracks the approximate distance, I can use it for other functions like automatically turning on/off the bedroom lights. Setup was easy based on their instructions on their website which was accessible through an included QR code. The case and mount are 3D printed but they are high quality prints. The mount comes shipping in a cylinder, and you just have to remove it and unclip part of the case, slide in the mount, and then re-clip the case onto the mount. They recommend having ESPHome Device Builder which is the setup I would recommend. It originally got stuck on “Preparing installation” but I found out that I had to uninstall the ESPHome Device Builder add-on and then reinstall it. Even then, it took a minute or two for “Preparing installation” to pass, but then it installed without any issue, and then I was able to easily add it to Home Assistant. The amount of data that it exposes is great for creating automations, and its small size makes it easy to mount wherever you need it. It also uses USB-C, but no cable or plug are included. It responds very quickly to human presence and also clears fairly quickly. I enjoy using this sensor much more than the PIR sensors that I have used in the past due to how accurate and fast at responding it is. I would absolutely recommend this sensor for any Home Assistant user wanting to dive into mmWave human presence sensing.