Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2020 December 5

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December 5

Smartphone-free smart home systems

I am a bit tempted to upgrade my apartment's lighting system from the old and rather primitive 433 MHz-based system that I currently use.

Today, there are many fairly cheep home automation solutions that are based on Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and probably other technologies as well (I don't know much about this but have heard about things like Zigbee). The best known lighting solution is probably Philips Hue, but there are many others as well.

But every solution I look at seems to be controlled by a smartphone app, and I don't own a smartphone, have never done so, and I might never do so. I simply don't like smartphones. I adamantly avoid everything related to smartphones and social media.

Instead, I would like to control the system using a combination of dedicated remote controls and my computer. (In my world, a "computer" is, almost by definition, a Windows NT-based desktop computer.) Although I would love a native Win32 desktop app to control the system, I would be perfectly happy with a web-based interface that I can access using a web browser on the local network.

Are there such systems? So far, I have not found a single product that explicitly mentions a web-based interface (and, of course, much less a native Win32 desktop application).

So, do I have any options, or do I have to stick with my old 433 MHz-based radio system? --Andreas Rejbrand (talk) 17:59, 5 December 2020 (UTC)

I have Nest products. I can control them with a web browser at the Nest website. But, there is a catch. To set them up, I used a smart phone. I don't know if you can set them up without a smart phone. Further, Google is doing all it can to destroy Nest, steadily removing anything useful. For example, my thermostat used to be able to automatically open/close the vents to send heat and AC to specific rooms. It can't do that now because Google decided it was a feature they didn't want people to have. 97.82.165.112 (talk) 15:05, 7 December 2020 (UTC)

Good to know that Google is as inept in smart home design as they are in smartphone design. Imagine Reason (talk) 15:30, 7 December 2020 (UTC)