Is it possible to have a smart home, even if you have no internet connection? With these devices, the answer is yes. Here’s the details.
As someone who remembers a time before the internet, I still have a natural mistrust of anything that needs to be online to function. This is slightly ironic, as I love the internet and all things technology. So, smart home devices are something that I quickly adopted and in a professional capacity I helped numerous households and businesses install smart devices. However, my internet reservations never faded. A point that proved to be a valid concern when I moved to an area with patchy internet access and found my smart home was considerably dumber.
This led me to investigate whether it was possible to set up a smart home using devices that would require little or no internet. Not all smart home devices are equally « at home » without an internet connection, so the challenge was to source smart home gadgets that are easy to set up and offer core functions without having to be continually online. Each product on this list, meets this basic criteria, while also being currently available on the market, widely supported, and regularly updated.
On a personal front, I also needed the products to work with my Home Assistant hub. More details on this hub and how these products were selected can be found at the bottom of this list.Let there be light: Philips Hue
For my smart lighting setup, I opted for the Philips Hue range. I’ve used this brand a lot and have always found them to be reliable, reasonably priced, and easy to set up. They’re also Zigbee compatible (Zigbee is a wireless protocol that allows many smart home devices to communicate) and work well with my Home Assistant hub. However, they work perfectly without a Home Assistant setup with the addition of a Philips Hue Bridge. This plugs into a home router and establishes a Zigbee network which will work even without internet. Additionally, many lighting systems in the Philips Hue range are Bluetooth-compatible. This allows them to be controlled individually from a smartphone without the need for any bridge, central hub, or internet connection. This makes them a good choice for any level of smart home.
The other advantage of the Philips Hue lighting range is the diversity of choices available. For instance, the Philips Hue Smart Light Starter Kit has everything you need to set up a couple of rooms in your home with smart lighting that will work offline. The pack includes the Hue Bridge and two smart light bulbs that use a palette including millions of colors to create the perfect light for any circumstance. Overall, the core functions of these lights work perfectly well with no internet, but the ability to control them from a remote location is lost when offline.Cync Indoor Smart Plug: A smart home workhorse
One way to add diversity to your smart home without shelling out on individual smart devices is to install some smart plugs. By installing these around my home, I was able to turn on things like fans, lamps, and phone chargers, either through scheduling or from a smartphone app, without using the internet. I chose the GE Cync range of smart plugs because I have used the brand several times and trust it, plus they also integrate with my Home Assistant setup.
