> “I have to now use an app to operate my washing machine. Why?!”

Frankly, that's asinine. However, I'd very much like my washing machine or tumble dryer to notify me when they're done (with those appliances sitting in the basement of my house).

I even remember a dorm at uni (TU Dortmund, back in the late 90s) having a website for their washers that'd retrieve and display a status via TCP/IP. IIRC, some guys at the local computer science department jerry-rigged some custom board into standard washing machines available at that time.