zlacker

>>pictur+(OP)
This enshittifcation is endemic. Corporations cannot just release a good product and support it. The better the product is and the larger the customer base becomes, the higher the likelihood that some business planner is going to see dollar signs and try to squeeze the product for everything it’s worth. And every time this ruins the product. And we’re here with a proprietary phone OS and proprietary apps. Proprietary firmwares on proprietary hardware. And we are completely at the whim of these companies.

And the option is what, buy a Zigbee dongle and a raspberry pi run some code written by unpaid enthusiasts? 3D print a case for it and mount it on the wall, running updates and fixing it ever few months when some package update breaks it?

I like the concept of lights that run from an app. I don’t have any of the physical Hue switches for my system and it’s fine. But I do not want an app that abuses me, and I do not want to maintain some fragile project made from slapped together code. I want robust open hardware with open source software.

I’m convinced that we can achieve this, but it won’t be with the current model of business and engineering we have today.

>>Taylor+We
I’ve got a number (~12) KASA products that I’m pretty happy with. Yes, they’re cloud-based, but you can turn that off after initial setup and use them directly over Wi-Fi.

That’s the other (mostly) good thing about… they’re Wi-Fi native and don’t use any sort of hub.

Their iOS app is reasonably decent, and there are honesceeen widgets.

Easy to build fairly advanced automations… for instance I have a rule that turns my bedside fan off and turns the bedroom lights on that runs 5 minutes before my alarm goes off, weekdays only.

Most of what I use are their bulbs, which are both relatively cheap ($30 for a 4 pack), with excellent CRI, variable color temp (including a nightshirt style automation that goes whiter during the day, and both warmer and dimmer at night), and full RGB color.

I probably wouldn’t recommend them for a whole home setup (you’d need pretty serious Wi-Fi routers) but for a case like mine where I’m only using it in a few rooms, it’s great.

>>TylerE+9i
What happens when your wifi goes down? I mean the local wifi, as often happens for these not "pretty serious routers".

I realize wifi might be the best of several bad options though.

>>Fatnin+Yq
Flick the wall switch twice. That’ll power cycle it and it defaults to on (although you can configure that, too).

The smart plugs that I use for fans have a physical push button