zlacker

Scratches Haier off list of household vendors.

I use HomeKit so this probably doesn’t directly affect me at all. But if I stop using HomeKit, I can and will do as I see fit to make the gear I already own work with whatever I’ve switched to. If adversarial companies want to stop people from doing that, then I’ll help them in that mission by not bringing their stuff into my house in the first place.

>>kstrau+(OP)
Scratch off everything that requires internet access (in this case the Home Assistant integration talked to the vendor's API servers).

See also previous discussion on >>39044932

>>mook+B1
curious, is there a vendor that isn't "cloud-first" today? I've never seen an appliance that doesn't call home

>>Dyslex+w3
The one that frustrates me the most is Home Depot's HubSpace. You do not have to link the devices to the router. They can be operated by Bluetooth.

However, the app to control them cannot work without a connection to the server. It has no local device functions at all. It won't even launch if their servers are offline.

That's just next-level stupid to me. Why build in a useless option? If Bluetooth won't work without a server connection anyway, what's the point?

>>Dyslex+w3
The trick is to get a ZigBee device instead of a WiFi one. It's an inherently local-only protocol and you can make your computer a Hub with a $30 stick.

>>smeej+25
The "feature" is end user tracking and isn't for you, it's for the vendor. So if the servers are down they don't care about the rest of it.

>>Dyslex+w3
Shelly devices are great. They have a "cloud" that you can optionally use, but the settings (at least on the switchable plug and the in-wall energy-monitoring switches that I have) default to that cloud connectivity being OFF. They seem to be aligned with those of us who prefer local data, interoperability and despise vendor lock-in and surveillance capitalism.

>>Dyslex+w3
Pretty much any vendor selling commercial appliances. SpeedQueen even gives you the choice of the old school mechanical controls. I don't know if they even have any smart consumer devices. They can be a bit more expensive but rarely break from household use.

For smaller non-appliance stuff there's CloudFree [1] which sells products from other vendors that can be reflashed with ESPHome (no affiliation, just a happy customer).

[1] https://cloudfree.shop/

>>malerm+h6
ZWave is another option here too. I wouldn't recommend devices that don't have at least a "500 series"[0] chipset, but pretty much any device you'd buy today or moving forward will contain this or a newer chipset.

[0] https://www.silabs.com/wireless/z-wave/500-series-modules

>>smeej+25
At some point a team of developers fought for local control. They lost but it's too expensive to rip out again. So management chooses to sweep it under the rug and pretend it doesn't exist. Stalking your users is so much more profitable.

>>Dyslex+w3
Esphome supports several AC units using a simple dongle: https://static.xtremeownage.com/blog/2023/pioneer-mini-split...

>>throwu+Le
I've bought from cloud Free before, worked great.

>>kstrau+(OP)
> Scratches Haier off list of household vendors.

A Chinese appliance maker with a German sounding name already sounds a bit dodgy in my books. But...I don't think most of us are the target, they go purely at the value buyer market.

>>Dyslex+w3
My Venstar T7900 thermostat has a local HTTP API. It has some cloud stuff too, but I've never created an account or let it talk to the Internet.

>>nichol+vf
Yes, ZWave is good too, though I haven't seen many devices in the wild myself - this might depend on your local market.

>>nichol+vf
Z-Wave is also nice because it's in the 860/900 MHz band. Better propagation through walls and so much less contention than 2.4 GHz.