zlacker

I haven’t fully jumped into home automation although I would like to and have thought about it for a while. I think I would only like to have things connected to an airgapped LAN that never connects to the internet. Maybe put it on my tailscale net. This is exactly why.

>>sixstr+(OP)
You can also skip the LAN completely. Either ZigBee or zwave (or Matter if you're feeling futuristic) can be used entirely offline. There's lots of products that support those protocols for quite a while now.

>>virapt+d
IF you have an app that allows that. All of the apps I've used required a WAN connection first. One app required an immediate firmware update for the bulbs to even work. I imagined it similar to game devs releasing shiny round discs. Just put something on the disc so that it can be sent to replication in time for street date, but have it immediately for a full "update" of the code that gave the devs 6 additional weeks. I'd be amazed if there was even game code on the disc at this point.

>>dylan6+v3
With those devices, you shouldn't need a product-specific app. There will be edge cases and some interesting implementations which actually need the extra features of course, but in general, you should be able to connect them to a dedicated bridge device or a home-assistant server and that's it. Those can update the firmware of many devices if needed and should expose the available devices as switches / dials / colour selectors.

I mean, ideally you buy a thing, connect it to your existing controller and never see anything with the company logo or their app.