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Comment by mingus88 | Hacker News Reader

This functionality seems completely unnecessary to me.

I just had a Navien tankless heater installed and the recirculating feature works wonderfully and needs no IoT app or internet connection at all.

It feels like we are in a wilderness period right now where every appliance wants its own app, with online account, which is just a supercharged way to get more personal data from their customers.

I also have a GE dryer with its own app. The functionality isn’t even good. We can see the settings remotely and get a notification when the cycle is complete.

In exchange for this essentially useless feature, GE gets a complete history of our laundry cycles, any info shared by my mobile device, and advertises to us.

Security is only a part of this mess.

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> It feels like we are in a wilderness period right now

Not really. I bought a house with a lot of deferred maintenance and am replacing a lot of systems to get it back in good order. I just tell various vendors/salesfolk/installers "no thanks, I prefer a dumb home" and none of them miss a beat. Usually they'll tell me a story or two about the "smart" version of their product failing to live up to the "smart" moniker. And we all move on with our lives.

The only pushback we ever got was from a solar installer but we had already decided the contract terms were a non-starter, so we just told him to take a hike at that point.

I need to replace my existing tankless water heater and plumber uses Navien. They offer multiple modules to start recirculating including hardwired button, led screen control and of course and IoT capabilities. I considered the button for convenience and IoT module just to integrate with the rest of house, keeping preference for physical when adding Smart Control.

I added door sensors to my LG washer and dryer. Along with access to their platform for knowing when the machines run and complete I have some logic of whether clothes are present or at least the door not opened. Haven’t done too much with it as I need better dashboard and visual indicators somewhere that is visible to everyone.

I have 3 LG dryers which support notification via app when a cycle is complete. I find this feature extremely helpful and am more than willing for LG to have my laundry data in exchange. 1 dryer is in my home where the laundry room is far enough away from the main living spaces that the audible notification can’t be heard. The other 2 dryers are located in the tack rooms of the 2 horse barns on our property. Washing of the saddle pads usually takes several loads and knowing when one load is done so the next can be immediately moved to the dryer is very helpful.

>It feels like we are in a wilderness period right now where every appliance wants its own app, with online account, which is just a supercharged way to get more personal data from their customers.

It's also software-imposed planned obsolescence. If you think an appliance manufacturer is inclined to maintain software and servers for the functional life of the hardware, then I have a bridge to sell you.

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