zlacker

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?

>>smeej+(OP)
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.

>>smeej+(OP)
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.