In that case why not use an open solution like home assistant?

> Back in 2019, I started my journey of self-hosting iCloud and disconnecting from Apple services. Despite a few inconveniences, I am quite content with the level of customization, privacy, and ownership my self-hosted services provide. At the time I was happy that HomeKit, unlike all the alternatives such as Google Home and Amazon Alexa, did not require iCloud or the need to round-trip to their servers. ... Apple now wants to lock down your HomeKit devices to an iCloud account.

Then you never really owned them.

It seems like we’d do better to positively support products like that though, rather than not buy them and then only complain when they rework their products and get rid of the privacy features the market doesn’t seem to care about.

(I realize I’m conflating the OP and the market at large a bit here, but from Apple’s perspective they’re both just “the market.” I think he should have the ability to downgrade his equipment to a version that doesn’t require iCloud, though.)

It's coming, and lots of HN commenters are gonna be confused with Apples hypocrisy.

(I run homebridge and hack my own HomeKit devices, FWIW)

What has happened is that iCloud is now required for syncing settings across devices _and_ being able to tunnel back to your Apple TV/HomePod (whatever is your home hub) and control things remotely - which is not quite how the article puts it.

Personally, I use HomeKit with Home Assistant as the "backend" and it's working fine. HomeKit can see and act on exactly what I need it to.

Not because my surname is stallman but rather if I’m going through the hassle of DIY then it needs to be durable and independent