You should probably start by changing the litterbox...

More seriously though, this is a major pet peeve of mine. Many of these devices will also become completely unusable when the manufacturer decides to terminate the service. This is a big reason why I hesitate to pay for products that don't adhere to open standards, and allow for local/offline use as a primary mode.

Yes, the #1 rule of IoT - if it doesn't have a solid LAN-only protocol, don't buy it. Anything relying on a single cloud service isn't worth your time or money. If you have LAN-only access it means not only that you'll have the ability to use it after the manufacturer goes away but also that you can always secure it by simply dropping it behind the appropriate NAT or firewall.

I was just reading a review of a sous vide stick the other day that mentioned that issue. Fortunately, it supported Bluetooth...

Even Bluetooth is a no-go. What happens if the control is app no longer available or drops support for your model? Something like a sous vide stick should have control buttons.

Ditto for stuff like Roombas. I've noticed all the new ones have their schedules set via an app. WTF? My current one has buttons and that works just fine. I'm seriously thinking of getting a spare now.

Smartphones are great solution for controlling a lot of things, but it seems like we're in a place where people stupidly think it's the solution to control all things.

I think Bluetooth could be doable; assuming their use of the protocol is well documented and open to 3rd party implementation. For a lot of these devices, the API could be described in AT commands (flung over any of several bluetooth profiles) pretty easily.

These devices use Bluetooth Smart/LE (as opposed to traditional). It provides functionality more akin to RPC and Pub/Sub. But yes, it's easily implemented if documented, I've done a device to replicate another vendor's protocol for some basic IO.

Yeah fortunately. I was just thinking the other day how terrible life was before Bluetooth enabled sous vide.

This has got to win HN today for the most HNist of comments. ;)

I actually had this problem with Nest thermostats: One of them was "locked", as in the whole UI was behind a password, by the previous owner, who moved out and took his wifi AP. I then moved in with a new wifi AP with a new SSID and new password, and the thermostat obviously couldn't get network access. Without network access it could not be unlocked remotely, and without being unlocked its network could not be reconfigured. There is no way to factory reset the device nor flash firmware to reset it. Eventually I called the previous owner and got a few candidate PINs (he had forgotten...)

If I remember correctly there’s a micro usb on the back of the nest specifically to factory reset.

I bought a smoker a few months back. The top of the line model had Bluetooth. A smoker does not need Bluetooth.

We have some Bluetooth food thermometers. They're great, you can monitor the temperature profile of your roast while you're lazing on the couch. :)

I left an Ecobee smart thermostat when I sold my house. I deleted my online account and you could still adjust the temperature manually. I assume the new owner would eventually set up an online account but they wouldn't need to if they just wanted a 'dumb' thermostat. The Ecobee also works as a 'dumb' fallback when wifi is down.

My Lyric T5 will revert to being a "dumb" thermostat after reset. I don't see why most wouldn't