I got Sonoff relay switch, you can use guest account for it. But yeah all these smaet thing require a server and internet connection, so creating an account is mandatory in most case. One time my internet is down outside my control and i can't switch on my ventilation fan and have to use the manual switch on it, it's quite annoying. Kinda wish there's one made for just local because i don't need to use it remotely.
That's the annoying part. From what i can tell, unless i read it wrong, Home Assistant basically merge every devices from multiple app into one central control unit, but it seems to me that i still need an account and connect my device to all those app in order for it to function.
but it seems to me that i still need an account and connect my device to all those app in order for it to function.
It depends. Some devices are fully local and don't require an account, some require an account temporarily and then never again (can use a throwaway email), some require an ongoing cloud connection.
I'd look into zigbee, since those devices inherently don't connect with the outside world at all. Maybe Matter as well, although I don't know enough about it to confirm.
I second this. I always try to get Zigbee on MQTT compatible devices. However, for all the devices I have that require cloud connection, I found a way to locally control them from home assistant and block them from accessing the internet in my firewall after the setup was complete.
It will do a lot of that, but I find it incomprehensible why people tolerate those devices. It will also link up to Zigbee and Z-Wave devices that don't require accounts.
HA itself has a username and password local account but I don't think that's what the meme means because it isn't a forced online account.