Choose Local Control for IOT when you can

HiveHome shuts down server infrastructure

This month, I received an email from HiveHome stating that on November 30th of this year (2021), my IOT devices would stop working. They have decided to shut down the North American servers that support the lights, sensors, thermostats, and other IOT devices they sold and recommended that I recycle my devices responsibly.

That’s it. There is nothing more I can do with these devices.

This is one of the many reasons that most of the Home Assistant community always look for local control options with their Smart Home devices. When a company you bought cloud dependant hardware from can no longer sustain their cloud infrastructure, they will cease to function. Unless a crafty developer reverse engineers the firmware or communication protocols, you are probably out of luck.

This is the main reason that I look for local control on devices when I have the opportunity. If two devices are in my shopping cart and one can be locally controlled (or at least has open APIs to control), I will always choose the one without that cloud dependency. This subtle distinction will most likely significantly lengthen the lifespan and usefulness of the device.

What Can We Do?

First, vote with your dollars and purchase devices that support robust local access via APIs and documented standards.

Secondly, if you are a Home Assistant user (if you are reading this, you probably are), enable the analytics feature on your installation. This allows the Home Assistant organization to collect metrics on device usage to lobby hardware vendors on our behalf for local and open control.

This is a super-easy way to help those that are looking to help you.

Happy Automating!
– Carlo