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A place to share alternatives to popular online services that can be self-hosted without giving up privacy or locking you into a service you don't control.

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Why is replacement for home device controls so complicated? (lemmy.world)

submitted 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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I recently learned about Home Assistant here on Lemmy. It looks like a replacement for Google Home, etc. However, it requires an entire hardware installation. Proprietary products just use a simple app to manage and control devices, so can someone explain why a pretty robust dedicated device is necessary as a replacement? The base model has a quad core processor, 4 gigs of ram, and a 32 gig hard drive. Admittedly it's no gaming PC, but it's no arduino either.

What actually happens when I turn on a smart switch in my home? Does that command have to be sent to a server somewhere to be processed? What really has to be processed, and why can't a smartphone app do it?

Edit: I am still getting new replies to this (which are appreciated!), but I wanted to share what I've learned from those who have posted already. I fundamentally misunderstood how smart switches work. I had very wrongly assumed that when my phone is connected to the WiFi, it sends a signal over the local network to toggle the switch, which is connected to the same network, and it turns on/off. While there are technologies that work like this (zigbee, kinda?), most smart home devices rely on a cloud server to communicate the signal. This enables features like using the switches from outside the home network, automation, voice controls, etc. The remote server is what's being replaced.

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[–] [email protected] 15 points 4 months ago (1 children)

in a nutshell

This is how the control and information exchange of smart devices work:

Phone App -> [Server] ... [Server] -> Smart Device and vice versa

There's no way around this concept.

Now, Google gives you the phone app and the (public) server part. but these only work with their servers and apps, keeping you locked in.

HA gives you the same, a server and an app, but allows you to keep the server private (access via vpn for public)

Also who guarantees that Google Home will be there in the next few years? HA will still keep running even if it ever gets abandoned.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago (2 children)

Technically there is. If the device uses BLE or the phone has some built in hardware shenanigans. There is also a local gateway via ble. I'd argue a simple gateway is not a "server". Scheduling can be done by the device via internal non-volatile storage and RTC

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago

Gateway is a more specific name for a server.
Like web host is a more specific name for a server.

A server isn't anything fancy, it just serves a service.
If that is just a relay between your phone and local devices, that's what it's serving

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago

Sure, but I was talking about the basic concept of how things work in general to keep it simple for OP.