I love this line.
“So maybe it’s time we finally changed the way we talk about the Internet of Things (IoT). We keep talking about it as something achievable. Perhaps it’s time we started talking about what it really is: one of the biggest consumer scams ever invented.”
What we really have is an overpriced, overcomplicated mess that makes simple tasks unnecessarily difficult.
Precisely! This is why, after trying two “smart” bulbs in my house and having them periodically disconnect and require resetting, I quickly abandoned “Smart Home” technology. I’ll get up and flip the switch. No friction, no apps, no cost. 
How much money, time, and frustration is one willing to invest to have one’s lights turn on and, in a different color?
When it becomes as reliable and easy as my microwave and toaster, then I’ll reconsider. Right now, it is an unnecessary source of friction, frustration, and cost.
I’m glad I never went down this road of a “smart home”. I was immediately repelled by the Apple Home app, so I didn’t want to use it for anything.
I have quite a few devices around the house, Smart Bulbs, Smart Sockets, Homepod Minis. I’ve not gone beyond that much.
I find them really useful, but they do become unresponsive, or the hub needs a reboot, but I get far more from them than the effort I put in and some of the basic automations are good while saving me money on heating when it’s unnecessary.
I didn’t get off that easy. First try: 8 smart bulbs @ $25 plus 1 HomePod mini received as a Christmas present = $200 not counting tax. Initial setup of bulbs and Apple Home, one evening. Setting front porch light to turn on/off at sunset/sunrise. And interior lights to turn on when arriving home. A few more hours.
Second try: 1 HomePod mini to replace HomePod mini bricked by Apple Update. $100. Setup of new HomePod 1.5 hrs. Debugging of problems over the next week or so, 4 or 5 hours.
Third try after Home App lost all settings. 0 hours
The Home app joins Siri, iCloud, and a few other things that I can’t rely on.
I don’t disagree with any opinions shared here, but as I am lying in bed reading this I am using my iPad to turn off all the lights inside the house before I go to sleep. And I am thankful I don’t have to get up to do it. 
Oh the illusion of a smart home…this article pours lots of salt here
the money spent on everything.
Lutron Switch every single room in the house (36)
Lutron Switch for every fan in the house (3)
iHome Outdoor Plug (1) - failed
replaced with Meross Outdoor Plug (1)
iHome SmartPlugs (4) - failed
replaced with Eve SmartPlug (4)
Eve PowerStrip (1)
Philips Hue LED Strips (used for stairs) - I was using for under kitchen cabinets, but after renovation I didn’t use them again (yet). Bad craftsman ship on the cabinets the light comes in through areas it shouldn’t which means not a proper seal/close - Too Many Boxes to count
Philips Hue Lamp (1)
Philips Hue Light Bars (2)
…how often do they work…ugh…
“Siri, turn off Master Bedroom Lights”
“…there are no devices in this room…”
(checks all apps, everything is on and proper)
“Siri, turn off Master Bedroom Lights”
(beep)…but nothing happens…lights are still on. (but now off in the app)
OR… nothing happens, lights are on, and app is on
OR… there are no devices
OR… which room (and then lists the room so I say Master Bedroom, and the kicker…you don’t have a room called Master Bedroom)
and here I am pondering about the upcoming Matter smart vacuums.
You have 36 rooms? Wow!
LOOOOOL I need to edit that…hahah multiple switches in each room hahaha
Kitchen has 2 switches
Office has 3 switches
I wish I had 36 Rooms!! I would dedicate a room to each of my hobbies, lego, comics, etc.
I have very good experience with many IoT devices. Light-control is of course one big class of devices. We use a mix of two systems, IKEAs ZigBee-based system and a Swedish system based on Bluetooth mesh that I imagine is similar in function to the Lutron Caseta line of products. Both have performed flawlessly for the past 5-6 years.
I think a key success factor has been that every group of lights can be controlled by a physical light-switch in addition to being controlled from the app or via “Automation Scenes”. This dramatically decreases the friction.
Use cases include:
We also have other devices with good utility:
Less successful products
I have an app for the sauna control, but the device itself is designed so badly that its on-screen keyboard LACKS several characters for my wifi password, preventing it from connecting. Luckily, this is a once-a-week type of usage for a control that is located very close, so no big deal.
Probably the worst experience was when the touch-free sensor for flushing the toilet decided to die on us three days before Christmas. Must admit I seriously questioned my decision to install it. There is no fall-back mechanism, except keeping a bucket of water to the side. It was a long five weeks until we got the warranty replacement part installed. 
(All IoT devices that connects over wifi are running on a separate network from our personal devices. Also, we never rely on Siri or other voice assistants to activate anything.)
I do become impatient with the tendency to adopt simplistic positions, instead of giving more carefully evaluated opinions: which are inevitably more complex and nuanced, but much more likely to be true and certainly more helpful.
Smart Home ecosystems are not a scam and many of them work pretty well. You tend to get the reliability and ease of use that you pay for. Bringing multiple ecosystems together in the same home and attempting to integrate them (e.g. via Homekit) is frustratingly complex, unreliable and the costs (direct and indirect) are often much higher than the benefits.
Until Apple or someone else puts serious time and money into sorting out the mess caused by haphazard approaches by many different manufacturers (we really shouldn’t need a hub and app for every manufacturer) it will remain that way. Even so, lots of people reap real benefits from their current smart home setups - I save a lot of money on heating bills by having tado, for example, and I have some smart lighting which “just works” and makes my house more comfortable and better to live in.
This! Apart from a smart electric socket, when I got my new home I decided to put some automation for the awnings. The thing was HomeKit certified, so I was happy. But then Apple relaunched the Home with this matter-based new technology and turns out it is constantly asking me to “upgrade” my Home setup. Now I fear if I change to this new stack the automation will fail as the hub will probably not support it.
And it turns out the awnings have their own remote control, so it’s basically always at hand. I understand some people like to have total control of their gadgets and electrical gizmos, but to be honest I personally don’t find the investment in time & money to be worth it. Also, I live in a pretty small apartment so it’s not like I have one million things to automate.
Indeed, home automation may become worthwhile in the future. However, for now, it’s just another thing to manage, spend money on, and inevitably abandon or constantly replace devices and software.
The return on investment (ROI) seems low. Nevertheless, for some individuals, home automation may be more of a hobby, and from that perspective, enjoyable. In such cases, it offers tangible benefits that may justify the effort and investment.
As I write this, it occurs to me that home automation, regardless of the manufacturer of the devices, is akin to the current state of Apple Intelligence: nice name, nice idea, but underwhelming with poor execution.
I tried smart bulbs in the hall and landing, but people kept switching them off without thinking.
So I bought LED lights which plug into a standard light socket but have a motion sensor in the bottom so they switch on when they detect activity. They’ve been brilliant, no more lights left on all night, but now people forget to switch off the bathroom light because they’ve been conditioned that lights will switch on and off for them.
Good job lighting the fire 
but respectfully disagree with the author. I have every interior room of the house and around the exterior wired up. All controlled through HomeKit with a ton of automations.
Having routines run on a schedule or when prompted through Siri is just amazing to me. For example, evening is a scene that runs before we get home so we don’t walk into a dark house. When ready to leave in the morning I’ll tell Siri “Open Up” triggering the garage door and gate to open. How about the temperature sensor in the attic that kicks on the smart plug the attic exhaust fan is plugged in to.
Is it always perfect, no. Is it awesome and convenient, HELL YEAH!
59 smart bulbs
32 light strips
10 water leak sensors
04 temperature sensors
32 plugs
12 light switches
06 motion sensors
02 garage/gate openers
04 exterior plugs
06 exterior spot lights
Eufy doorbell, spot light, and exterior cams
I think that’s everything. Before you say it, yes, I may have a problem. 
I’ve got a bunch of smart home devices and I’m pretty content with most of them. I agree things can be frustratingly fragile. I’m a big fan of Home Assistant, but it’s not trivial to use.
One important thing to keep in mind is the Law of Diminishing Returns. I’ve seen people go way overboard on trying to make everything in their home smart and automated.
Just keep it simple, at least for awhile. Being able to control lights with my voice and timers covers the majority of my needs.
A friend of mine refers to the Internet of Things as the CompuServe of Things
Whoa, I won’t hear a bad thing said about Compuserve! It was great until AOL bought it.
Smart Homes are the best argument in favour of self hosting there is. Home Bridge is not only both very reliable for people in the Apple Ecosystem, but it allows you to mesh together many different platforms for home automations under one umbrella. I’ve been running lights, security camera, heating and motion sensors for years and it’s been super reliable.
As someone that sells and install high-end smart home/automation/AV systems, and consults with a range of clients from entry-level DIY to mid-range and higher installations, I could write for hours on this topic.
But let me distill it down to a few points, not often covered by the media/pr, et. al.
The biggest users of smart home products and systems are “power users”. Either consumer users (Apple, Google, Amazon) or hobbist/techies (Home Assistant and a few other techie systems).
The biggest issue I see is that the majority of these early adopters have very limited expectations and tolerate low-quality products.
Too many people are complacent saying they “love their smart home” followed by “I only have to reset xyz a few times now and then”.
If all smart home product users voted with their wallets, stopped buying these products, and returned them en masse, the industry would be forced to take notice and respond.
Although there is a race to the bottom on price, that’s really the fault of the industry and the consumer should not be blamed for buying the low/lowest price products when they are available.
IMHO, quality is not always proportional to price. There are only a handful of high-end luxury systems ($25,000 to $200,000 or more systems) and the quality of certain of those brands can be worse than some popular consumer brands.
Although I have some issues with Lutron relating to product line, pricing, and business strategies, I can truly say Lutron products truly meet the “works just like a toaster” in terms of reliability.
I have multiple clients with systems, both entry-level Lutron Caseta and luxury systems in the $10,000+ plus range, that have been running for multiple years without even a reboot.
I say this not to promote Lutron, but to prove, by exception, that is totally possible to build a reliable, robust, and smart home / home automation system if a manufacturer truly wishes to do the work.
Yes, Lutron still relies on a proprietary wireless transmission system and a walled-garden ecosystem with controlled access points to hand-selected third-party systems, but it works.
And Yes, although Lutron is a member of the CSA, they have yet to offer any product, or any statement of intent, for the highly touted Matter standard promoted by Apple, Google, Amazon that has, realistically, been a total market failure so far.
If you were Lutron, and already had bespoke connections to Apple, Google, Amazon and all the major luxury systems without Matter or Home Assistant, then I think you too would understand their reluctance to pollute their track record of reliability just for the PR benefit of supporting the “open Matter standard”, right?