That's just bad smart home planning. Any smart home device should work on top of existing physical control. Don't buy smart bulbs that require you to use your phone or voice to control them. Instead, buy smart switches that work just like normal wall switches but also give you smart home/automation possibilities (and work perfectly fine for guests or if the whole smart home system is down).
Don't buy some garage opener that requires internet access to control your garage, hook a smart relay into the existing garage opener.
Make sure there's a physical remote for your TV or sound system in addition to phone control. You can buy third party remotes just for this purpose.
Etc., etc., etc.
Pretty much any smart home project can be done in a way that keeps all physical control in place. Yes, it costs a little more and requires a little more work, but it's the only reasonable solution.
This is exactly right. If you set out with some requirements such as 1) everything must be able to still work without internet access and 2) it must be simple enough that my mom/grandma/whatever can still use it, then you can still benefit from the convenience of these devices without all the downsides.
This is what I do. I insist that any “smart” whatever be strictly additive; that is, it must only add functionality but not remove anything. I will never buy a product that can’t be controlled physically or that requires Internet access. The net result is pretty great!
Yup. With this approach the only thing that goes wrong is you start to rely on some of the automations and it's a bit annoying if one stops working for some reason.
Yup. One of the reasons I still tolerate the obtuse GUI of HomeSeer is it's 100% local to me, yet can also still interface with a few proprietary cloud bits I fell for like Nest's thermostats.
Never again. I only have a couple of cloud controlled devices but never again - I'll either have something that can be controlled without any reliance on the cloud whatsoever or I'll just continue to go without that thing being automated. I really can't think of anything that would not be automatable without the cloud
Agree. My first rule of smart home is that the device must continue to work as if there was no smart home layer. The only place I violate this is for devices like outdoor holiday lights where I’d have to walk outside to flip the switch - though you should also be able to do that, if needed.
Just yesterday, I replaced the smart thermostats on my radiators with old-fashioned manual ones, and removed the window sensors, control hub and everything else associated with it. The whole eQ-3 ecosystem will be shut down soon anyway, and replaced with a full-scale intelligent house-type product line.
I have ordered new thermostats that are electronic and support daily/weekly schedules, but have no networking aside from Bluetooth, which you have to manually turn on via a button on the thermostat, if you want to make changes to their programming.
Aside from that they function more or less like the good old manual thermostats, you turn a dial to select the temperature you want, but they display the selected temperature in degrees instead of a scale from 1 to 5, and they automatically turn down the heating if they sense a temperature drop when you open the windows to air out.
Intelligent but not "smart" thermostats. If the app disappears for some reason or you just don't want to use it, they will still function just fine as an improved version of the old-fashioned manual thermostats. According to the manufacturer, they also calibrate themselves to know when to turn on and off to match your programmed schedule, based on how quickly your house heats up and cools down, and something about finding the exact position at which your radiator valve opens, for more precise control. Nifty stuff and it still doesn't require an internet connection or a nebulous cloud account.
100% agree, this is how I approach all of my home automation toys. Periodically I disconnect my HA server and then the Internet connection just to verify that the fallback position for my house that everything still works manually just like you expect.
Sure, lots of reasons you can’t create the most very optimal experience. But even if you can’t swap out the switches in your rental there are other options if you keep “physical first” in mind. There are even smart switches made to stick over a regular light switch so you can keep people from turning it off (and this deactivating the smart bulb) and still have a physical switch, but it’s actually controlling a smart light.
Starting with a hard requirement of physical control still leaves lots of things on the table.
Don't buy some garage opener that requires internet access to control your garage, hook a smart relay into the existing garage opener.
Make sure there's a physical remote for your TV or sound system in addition to phone control. You can buy third party remotes just for this purpose.
Etc., etc., etc.
Pretty much any smart home project can be done in a way that keeps all physical control in place. Yes, it costs a little more and requires a little more work, but it's the only reasonable solution.