this post was submitted on 24 Dec 2025
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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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The only one i can think about is Aqara there have a home assistant stampel.
Most people don't find turning the lights off and on burdensome enough to justify a whole lot of effort to avoid.