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How AI broke the smart home in 2025 (www.theverge.com)
submitted 10 months ago by to c/technology@lemmy.world
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[–] 54 points 10 months ago (10 children)

If anyone wants privacy while maintaing a smart home, then Home Assistant is the solution. Its not adopted widely because it has a learning curve and it needs a bit (or a lot) poking around to make it work. It also has a voice assistant that is not AI powered ( but it could be supplemented by a local LLM if you really want to). A big rabit hole if anyone is interested to go to.

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  • [–] 29 points 10 months ago (7 children)

    It's not adopted widely because every single smart home device marketed to normies is infected with cloud bullshit. Go to Home Depot or whatever and look on the shelf: literally every single product will have "Works with Alexa," "Works with Google Home," and/or "Works with Apple HomeKit" badges stamped all over the package, but not a single one will mention a damn thing about Home Assistant even when the device actually is compatible. The closest you get is ones that mention "Matter" 'cause it's at least supposed to be a standard, but it feels like it's getting slow-walked harder than CableCard sometimes (and if you don't remember how that worked out, the answer is "not well").

    I would almost call it a conspiracy against openness, but it's really just the banal result of no rent-seeking leading to no excess profit to plow back into marketing... which is even worse.

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  • [–] 4 points 10 months ago*

    Few of them also could be open, but just don't advertise it.
    IKEA stuff was all ZigBee, now upgrading to add matter support, so you could mix and match them with Philips Hue, Agara, Nedis and quite a few others. Main issue is always software support on the hub or app - Ikea has no smart thermostats, so even though it can connect to them, they don't show up properly. That's where Home Assistant shines, as it supports basically everything imaginable.

    But you are right, most are proprietary because they want to lock you to their ecosystems. Exactly like cordless power tools and their batteries.

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  • [–] 2 points 10 months ago (1 child)

    Tasmota can help getting rid of the cloud bullshit on most ESP based devices. Of course it requires some tinkering and is not accessible to all users.

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  • [–] 2 points 10 months ago

    Of course it requires some tinkering and is not accessible to all users.

    Yeah, that's the point. None of that helps normies who just want to buy the first product they see and have it "just work."

    (And I say "first product they see" because, although Tasmota/ESPHome/WLED devices are available from e.g. Amazon, if not brick-and-mortar stores, if you look hard enough, they're definitely not what Amazon pushes at you. Amazon wants you to fall for their marketing and infest your house with Alexa so they can exfiltrate even more personal data, up to and including the floor plan if you buy one of their affiliated smart vacuums.)

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  • [–] 1 point 10 months ago

    Home Depot used to have a bunch of z-wave switches and outlets - was actually the entire reason I started with z-wave.

    But it’s been a few years now that it’s mostly WiFi dreck depending on vendor portals. Home Depot is also the reason I mostly order online and have a lot of Zigbee stuff.

    I wonder what Home Depot’s next step will be, presumably to drive me to Matter/Thread. Perhaps that they seem to be getting a decent selection of smart locks?

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  • [–] 1 point 10 months ago (1 child)

    Once you get it setup, start looking for homeassistant compatible hardware instead. There is a lot. Even some big brands use protocols (zigbee, zwave, matter) that can connect to homeassistant without a need for their hub (granted you do have a HA hub) or cloud connection.

    I try to stay away from WiFi if possible, but if home assistant compatible I’ll use it.

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  • [–] 2 points 10 months ago

    There's a lot of stuff that can work with Home Assistant, but it's essentially never listed as a feature on the package, so normal people will never know it's an option.

    That's the problem -- the lack of marketing -- not any lack of functionality on Home Assistant's part.

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  • [–] 7 points 10 months ago (1 child)

    Most people don't find turning the lights off and on burdensome enough to justify a whole lot of effort to avoid.

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  • [–] 1 point 10 months ago*

    That’s usually because that’s all they know. With a bit of smarts, lights can do more than just toggle on/off when you go over to the switch. They may appreciate that if they knew.

    My most automated light is my dining room/office

    • I may walk over and use the switch - but I adjusted the dimming speed so I can walk out of the room as it’s dimming to off
    • I may use Alexa/siri/nabu, and that’s the most convenient way to get exact dimming, such as when I need to be up at odd hours for a video call
    • on weekdays it also turns on at dusk, dims at 9pm and goes off at 9:30 to help me establish better sleeping habits and make the house look lived in when I’m away
    • I’m considering ways to have it automatically turn on when I come home at night so I’m not entering a dark house

    Do I need those? Of course not, but those are actions my house can take for me, to make things a little nicer

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