The AES encryption might be related to the android intent messages that are sent to the AAservice. I recall they had an encrypted mode and a "signed app" mode that AAservice will respond to
Cheers, I am looking at this for our system but it is still working so I didn't want to mess it up, but was planning for the eventuality... I've been reverse engineering the app, so your post has cleared a few things up for me :)
The plan is to get rid of the tablet and put a Amazon echo hub or HA on a tablet that directly controls the aircon in the future