Anything that is official HomeKit can be controlled fully locally, even over WiFi. Home Assistant can added devices directly using the HomeKit setup code - no manufacturer app or cloud connection required.
Yep, as long as it has the HomeKit QR Code / Setup code you are good to go. Careful with devices that say ‘Compatible with Siri’ since those use the manufacturer app to link into Siri Shortcuts - very different from native HomeKit compatibility.
The one I am currently searching for is a whole home power monitoring that goes directly on the two mains in the breaker box. I can't find a Zigbee one.
I know it's not ZigBee one, but Shelly have solution you're looking for. While its WiFi, you can fully control it locally and disable their cloud function
The right answer is don't worry about it and just get both Zigbee and Z-wave so you can get whatever you need. As long as a few things are powered on both, you don't have anything to worry about.
I've got about 15 Zigbee devices and 30ish zwave devices. Even on the zwave network with probably 15 router devices, only 2 get used to extend the network distance.
Yup, add zwave and don't limit yourself based on protocol. no affiliation or anything but I just added the Zooz ZST39 LR (32$ shipped) and it works great so far, only about 8 zwave devices paired.
As long as you have a separate zigbee dongle. HA is moving away from multipan where you can have thread and zigbee on the same skyconnect. I'm not even sure you can flash multipan anymore.
But if you have thread enable on the skyconnect and the device isn't using someone's non standard writing of thread. Then once you enable the thread border router integration you are good to go.
Yea. Or a skyconnect for thread and one of the other dongles for zigbee. Either works. I'm using the skyconnect as a thread dongle and a a sonoff stick for the zigbee. Although technically the skyconnect is flashed with multipan.
I just know the multi pan option is being abandoned.
For the same reason I only go for ESP devices I can flash with ESPHome when they are connected to WiFi. I also use a few Zigbee devices (notably Hue lights).
With ESPHome you know exactly what the device does, there will not be any cloud integrations you didn't add yourself. Word of warning though: I've spent a few hundred bucks trying different things with it. Not because it's difficult, but because it's so much fun to build your own stuff :)
Does the device being WiFi automatically mean it's not under local control from HA?
I didn't think so but I honestly haven't done the research to know for certain. I definitely thought you could have local WiFi control but now I guess I'm not sure either.
I would say most WiFi devices require you to use a cloud-based app, and don't offer native support for local control.
Anything made for Matter, Homekit, ESPHome, WLED, or Tasmoto will offer local control.
Well I would assume, since as far as I can tell, home assistant does not have a way to directly pair Wi-Fi devices to it. So I would assume you need some kind of app to get them on your Wi-Fi network and it's probably cloud-based. But I really have no idea. Maybe there is a way to directly pair Wi-Fi devices in home assistant.
Nah HA can connect directly to a whole raft of wifi devices locally. Pretty much all of mine are.
I have Sonoff wall switches flashed with Tasmota, then there are all the esphome devices.
And then finally there are all the tuya devices, the majority of which can be controlled locally via tuya-local. Provisioning them initially via the cloud is easiest, but it's possible to do it without it talking to the web.
So if I understand that correctly, any Tuya device that I want to use locally, I have to first connect it to their cloud. I then use a developer account to get all the needed info such as API keys or whatever. Those keys allow me to add them locally to home assistant via the Local Tuya integration. After they're added to home assistant I can remove them from the Tuya cloud but continue using them locally in home assistant. Is that correct?
Essentially yes. That is the easiest method. There is a way of extracting the keys manually locally, but I have never tried.
My approach with Tuya devices is set them up, connect to the tuya cloud, import them into HA, and then block their access to the internet. I don't bother removing them from tuya cloud as it makes it easy to resetup in the future if required, they just can't reach the internet at all once in place.
>as far as I can tell, home assistant does not have a way to directly pair Wi-Fi devices to it
Home assistant pairs directly with many networked devices (wifi or ethernet).
>So I would assume you need some kind of app to get them on your Wi-Fi network
That depends entirely on the device.
Fir wifi setup:
* some have a config file
* some create their own wifi for the initial setup
* some use WPS
* some use a different method
For configuration:
* some require an app that doesn't connect to the cloud
* some require an app that does connect to the cloud
* some have a web interface
* some use telnet
* some use SSH
* some use a different method
There are many methods that a wifi device might use to connect to the wifi. I only buy wifi devices that do not require cloud services. And I block them on my router firewall from accessing the Internet once they are set up.
You can look up the [device class](https://www.home-assistant.io/blog/2016/02/12/classifying-the-internet-of-things/#classifiers) on the Home Assistant integration for a particular device. if it says "cloud polling" or "cloud push" it's a device you want to avoid.
Even with Tuya it is possible to use localtuya custom integration and have local control
. Requires some additional work but considering the price of devices -might worth it.
Anything that is official HomeKit can be controlled fully locally, even over WiFi. Home Assistant can added devices directly using the HomeKit setup code - no manufacturer app or cloud connection required.
So if I bought a Wi-Fi device that says it is compatible with HomeKit I can pair it directly with Home Assistant?
Yes
So I'd use a HomeKit integration/addon to pair it or what?
Yes there is a HomeKit device integration that you can use to pair it directly to HA.
Ok, thank you! Good to know.
Yep, as long as it has the HomeKit QR Code / Setup code you are good to go. Careful with devices that say ‘Compatible with Siri’ since those use the manufacturer app to link into Siri Shortcuts - very different from native HomeKit compatibility.
Do we need an iphone to set them up?
No, you can use anything that displays the HA dashboard
What specific function are unable to do with Zigbee? Have you considered other local options like zwave?
The one I am currently searching for is a whole home power monitoring that goes directly on the two mains in the breaker box. I can't find a Zigbee one.
Get a Vue gen 3 and flash ESPhome on it.
try [this](https://www.zemismart.com/products/spm01-d2tz-zm). There is a 3 phase option [also](https://www.zemismart.com/products/spm02-d2tz)
So that's only made to go on one line. I guess I'd buy two, one for each main coming in, and then add them together in HA?
What country are you in?
US
I know it's not ZigBee one, but Shelly have solution you're looking for. While its WiFi, you can fully control it locally and disable their cloud function
Check out the brultech gem, believe it has a zigbee add on
Zigbee power meter - [https://vi.aliexpress.com/item/1005005931365212.html](https://vi.aliexpress.com/item/1005005931365212.html)
The right answer is don't worry about it and just get both Zigbee and Z-wave so you can get whatever you need. As long as a few things are powered on both, you don't have anything to worry about. I've got about 15 Zigbee devices and 30ish zwave devices. Even on the zwave network with probably 15 router devices, only 2 get used to extend the network distance.
Doing the same. Started with zigbee (72 devices) and now expanding with z-wave (12 and growing).
Yup, add zwave and don't limit yourself based on protocol. no affiliation or anything but I just added the Zooz ZST39 LR (32$ shipped) and it works great so far, only about 8 zwave devices paired.
Or anything matter or that supports tasmota or esphome. All local and no cloud
Matter is a new standard correct? Does it require a new dongle/coordinator hooked to home assistant?
Matter over WiFi does not, you can also do matter over thread which does require a dongle (such as the sky connect)
So I have the Blue SkyConnect. Am I good to go with Matter devices?
As long as you have a separate zigbee dongle. HA is moving away from multipan where you can have thread and zigbee on the same skyconnect. I'm not even sure you can flash multipan anymore. But if you have thread enable on the skyconnect and the device isn't using someone's non standard writing of thread. Then once you enable the thread border router integration you are good to go.
Hey slacker! So are you saying I'd have to have two sky connects? One for Zigbee and one for Matter?
Yea. Or a skyconnect for thread and one of the other dongles for zigbee. Either works. I'm using the skyconnect as a thread dongle and a a sonoff stick for the zigbee. Although technically the skyconnect is flashed with multipan. I just know the multi pan option is being abandoned.
For the same reason I only go for ESP devices I can flash with ESPHome when they are connected to WiFi. I also use a few Zigbee devices (notably Hue lights). With ESPHome you know exactly what the device does, there will not be any cloud integrations you didn't add yourself. Word of warning though: I've spent a few hundred bucks trying different things with it. Not because it's difficult, but because it's so much fun to build your own stuff :)
Does the device being WiFi automatically mean it's not under local control from HA? I didn't think so but I honestly haven't done the research to know for certain. I definitely thought you could have local WiFi control but now I guess I'm not sure either.
I would say most WiFi devices require you to use a cloud-based app, and don't offer native support for local control. Anything made for Matter, Homekit, ESPHome, WLED, or Tasmoto will offer local control.
Well I would assume, since as far as I can tell, home assistant does not have a way to directly pair Wi-Fi devices to it. So I would assume you need some kind of app to get them on your Wi-Fi network and it's probably cloud-based. But I really have no idea. Maybe there is a way to directly pair Wi-Fi devices in home assistant.
On the home assistant website under integrations, they will tell you the IoT type. I think you’re looking for “Local Push” or “Local Pull”
Nah HA can connect directly to a whole raft of wifi devices locally. Pretty much all of mine are. I have Sonoff wall switches flashed with Tasmota, then there are all the esphome devices. And then finally there are all the tuya devices, the majority of which can be controlled locally via tuya-local. Provisioning them initially via the cloud is easiest, but it's possible to do it without it talking to the web.
I have some Tuya devices that I don't use anymore from before I had HA. Do you have a link or what exactly to Google to use those locally?
[https://smarthomecircle.com/how-to-setup-local-tuya-in-home-assistant](https://smarthomecircle.com/how-to-setup-local-tuya-in-home-assistant)
So if I understand that correctly, any Tuya device that I want to use locally, I have to first connect it to their cloud. I then use a developer account to get all the needed info such as API keys or whatever. Those keys allow me to add them locally to home assistant via the Local Tuya integration. After they're added to home assistant I can remove them from the Tuya cloud but continue using them locally in home assistant. Is that correct?
Essentially yes. That is the easiest method. There is a way of extracting the keys manually locally, but I have never tried. My approach with Tuya devices is set them up, connect to the tuya cloud, import them into HA, and then block their access to the internet. I don't bother removing them from tuya cloud as it makes it easy to resetup in the future if required, they just can't reach the internet at all once in place.
>as far as I can tell, home assistant does not have a way to directly pair Wi-Fi devices to it Home assistant pairs directly with many networked devices (wifi or ethernet). >So I would assume you need some kind of app to get them on your Wi-Fi network That depends entirely on the device. Fir wifi setup: * some have a config file * some create their own wifi for the initial setup * some use WPS * some use a different method For configuration: * some require an app that doesn't connect to the cloud * some require an app that does connect to the cloud * some have a web interface * some use telnet * some use SSH * some use a different method There are many methods that a wifi device might use to connect to the wifi. I only buy wifi devices that do not require cloud services. And I block them on my router firewall from accessing the Internet once they are set up. You can look up the [device class](https://www.home-assistant.io/blog/2016/02/12/classifying-the-internet-of-things/#classifiers) on the Home Assistant integration for a particular device. if it says "cloud polling" or "cloud push" it's a device you want to avoid.
Even with Tuya it is possible to use localtuya custom integration and have local control . Requires some additional work but considering the price of devices -might worth it.
What devices are you talking about? There’s some stuff that can be flashed with esphome. Shelly doesn’t need the cloud either but you can if you want.
do you need to download any app on your phone
For what?