this post was submitted on 02 Feb 2026

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homeassistant

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Home Assistant will create a device database (www.home-assistant.io)

submitted 2 days ago by tofu@lemmy.nocturnal.garden to c/homeassistant@lemmy.world

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I'm choosing devices based on how good they work with zha and HA and usually have to browse a bit before settling for something. If they manage to implement this properly, I'm all here for it.

Maybe they should talk to the zigbee device compatibility repository people (or maybe they already have).

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[–] chaospatterns@lemmy.world 10 points 1 day ago* (last edited 5 hours ago) (2 children)

Is there a place to view the device database yet or is that coming soon?

EDIT: Found it here

[–] EarMaster@lemmy.world 7 points 1 day ago

You can have a look here: https://zigbee.blakadder.com/ This not the database mentioned here, but a community effort for several systems. HA database has to be better than this to be useful.

[–] tofu@lemmy.nocturnal.garden 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Seems to be the latter, it'll show up in HA labs in the Feb release iirc

[–] chaospatterns@lemmy.world 2 points 21 hours ago

That's the option to publish it. I was curious about the aggregated results.

[–] French75@slrpnk.net 29 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I was all set to be pissed off at this, then I read that it was opt in. Home Assistant is f'n awesome!

[–] hornedfiend@piefed.social 23 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Honestly I don't mind pitching in with my data for such project, if it's opt-in.

I do the same with my Kde Plasma and bump up the telemetry. If it's in good faith and it helps the project grow, I don't mind contributing(plasma also alows you to turn it completely off if you so choose).

Microsoft gets nothing in good faith, so I never give them anything.

[–] French75@slrpnk.net 8 points 2 days ago

Yeah, that was kinda my point... I'm so used to being mistreated that when I saw the headline, I thought I wouldn't be given the choice to participate. But giving me the choice builds trust in the people. It's a move that supports their community in a time where such policies are rare. I love it.

[+] hector@lemmy.today -14 points 1 day ago (1 children)

You are giving the makers of so called smart appliances the benefit of the doubt? That's laughable. Anyone not born yesterday should be well aware all the data collected by these devices is being shared, despite what they say, and it ends up with data brokers that sell it to anyone, including in whole to the federal government that distributes it to agencies, and does the devil knows what else with it.

[–] qjkxbmwvz@startrek.website 9 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I don't think you understand what local control of smart devices means...

[+] hector@lemmy.today -11 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I don't think you understand that these devices are not secure. By design they aren't secure, they collect more than they let on, that information is accessed by data brokers. To trust manufacturers in saying information is not being collected despite the capability for it in the machines, to trust they aren't sharing data, aren't selling it, is laughably naive this 2026. It doesn't matter what they told you, you are surrendering your information to data brokers one way or another, and by extension to the worst people in the world, that can and will use that information against you whether it is readily apparent how or not.

[–] cynar@lemmy.world 8 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Home assistant is used by a lot of security savvy people. It's not to their benefit to leak data like that.

Local control also means you can isolate IoT devices from the internet. You can make it so they CAN'T exfiltrate data. You can wrap your insecure IoT devices in a secure wrapper.

The database is for how well devices work in this environment. Will they work fine, or throw a fit and stop working.

[–] hector@lemmy.today -4 points 1 day ago (1 children)

While that sounds interesting, my broader point is you should buy non connected appliances. That you can't trust you will be able to keep that information from data brokers.

There are base exploits written into the internet as we know it, you can't trust you can keep them out, even in knowing all of that, but yes maybe I came across half cocked there I could've made my point less dickishly sorry. And if _* you do decide to have smart devices, and we already do with our computers and phones so it's almost a moot point without addressing that (with open source phones and operating systems on computers,) it's better to have a system to minimize the possible fuckery ports.

Because the internet is corrupted at a base level, moreso than you know.

[–] cynar@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago (1 children)

If you're trying to fend off the CIA then your worries have merit. My goal is to limit casual data leaks and bypass attacks.

Normal worst case, someone can see when I turn lights on and off. Or mess with my thermostats. There are easier ways to gather that info.

Can you actually back up any of those statements, particularly when we are dealing with things like ZigBee, tasmota, or espHome?

[–] hector@lemmy.today -2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Oh idk about vulnerabilities being limited to sophisticated actors like the nsa in the us or the five eyes countries that give an end run around prohibitions on spying on their own citizens purportedly leading spying in member country then sharing it back with them, even when it's cia doing all the spying and just forwarding it to the uk and back with a letterhead.

Corporate interests themselves have vulnerabilities written into everything. Palantir type companies, a bunch of super shady Israeli companies that repurposed the most malicious codes ever written, written by our intelligence agencies to target Iran and the like, (flame, others,) to spy on computers, phones, and everything connected.

But also just data brokers in general are hooked into data flows those manufacturers said they weren't taking and ineviably are caught taking anyway because who is going to stop them, and what are they going to do about it when they find out? And the answer is if some do gooder catches them and forces the authorities to act, they will just have to pay lawyers to negotiate a payoff to the government without admitting responsibility, and are mostly insulated from consumer lawsuits anyway as ToS agreements force all of their purchasers to waive their rights to sue in using those products. You are also criminally liable for changing the code on any of them, or even breaking any electronic "lock," on any of the electronics.

So if there was a vulnerability and you publicized it and a how to fix the software the feds could charge you with a serious felony. Based on some 1998 law to protect cd companies, and I think a newer law as well.

Back up what statements? That corporations spy on us and can't be trusted? And to suggest that surrendering even the capability for everything you do to be garnered by hackers in addition to just accepting the nsa and cia wil get their hands on it and run it through ai threat detection and then disseminate their half baked conclusions to agencies and business secretly in a way that will affect everything but you will never know or be able to challenge, is a threat whether you realize it or not. Social credit scores run by palantir types but not at all limited to them. Privatized social credit scoring at that, owned by the antichrist himself.

[–] cynar@lemmy.world 6 points 1 day ago (1 children)

We are in a forum talking about Home Assistant, an open source piece of software, aimed at patching over the annoyances and games the various companies you are complaining about play.

It lets you control them all from one piece of software, so you don't need 20 apps on your phone, and the spying they support. It also lets you isolate the devices on their own vlan, cut off from the internet completely. All control then goes through software under our control.

The database it's talking about is basically a scoring of how nicely the various devices play once you have deloused and neutered them.

It's a community attempt to fight back against big data etc. This is why you are being down voted hard. You're interrupting with a rant about the very thing we are fighting.

[–] hector@lemmy.today -1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I don't care about downvotes. That is interesting, my point that it's better to not have internet capable appliances in the first place is valid, as well as the point that you can only minimize the potential to be spied on not eliminate it, I would strongly presume the NSA has a backdoor for instance. Suspect the manufacturers have ones too. Possibly fusible links to brick them all to boot, as is rumoured.

But it's good to minimize the danger if you insist on having them, and with phones and computers we all do now. The post would garner more engagement and less such flak if it just explained that in the post page and not assume everyone s a linux developer

[–] cynar@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago

Or you could realise you are in a group focused on a single bit of software and do a 5 minute investigation into said software.

[–] shortwavesurfer@lemmy.zip 8 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I am very much looking forward to this. I have been buying third reality devices simply because they have the works with Home Assistant branding. And so I know that it's going to work properly. So the fact that this database is being created is going to be very helpful for me in the future.

[–] qjkxbmwvz@startrek.website 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

+1 for ThirdReality. They're a little pricey but I've generally had good luck with them.

I've also had pretty good luck with cheap Matter-over-wifi bulbs. Pairing them can be a little finicky and needs to go through an Android or iOS process, but after pairing you can block Internet access for them and they work great local-only.

There's a bug in some wifi matter bulbs where they crash, especially when going from off to a desired brightness/color state (as in, "light on" works but "light to 50%, 3000K" will crash the bulb).

[–] shortwavesurfer@lemmy.zip 2 points 9 hours ago (1 children)

I think I'd rather do matter over thread, primarily because I really don't want any devices connecting to my Wi-Fi network, because then I know that they have the ability to access the internet.

[–] qjkxbmwvz@startrek.website 1 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

Fair enough; I have a dedicated SSID which is VLAN'd off from the rest of my network with no Internet access. Only my HA server can talk to those devices.

[–] shortwavesurfer@lemmy.zip 2 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

I'm also a little concerned about matter devices, because they all seem to require an app setup, and that app is not open source, and so I don't have the desire to install that app on my device, ever. My home assistant just finds my Zigbee device and I don't have to have any closed source proprietary applications to connect them.

[–] qjkxbmwvz@startrek.website 1 points 7 hours ago

Yeah, good point. The "app setup" is built into android and iOS as far as I can tell (generating matter credentials, etc.). Better than 3rd party IMHO but not ideal, and a nonstarter for a lot of folks. Hopefully HA will come out with their own onboarding process at some point.

[–] performation@feddit.org 9 points 2 days ago (2 children)

I like it. However, as someone who likes to try out stuff from Ali biggest hurdle will be to identify the devices in the first place.

[–] Cyber@feddit.uk 4 points 2 days ago

I hope that maybe this database will also help with that... if you can't identify it, it'll have less representation, so it won't be bought... and the quality vendors will start to shine through.

[–] eightys3v3n@lemmy.ca 1 points 2 days ago

And then to reliably differentiate them if they do some kind of revision upgrade. And for another user to identify whether the device they are thinking about buying is a particular one in the home assistant database; given how many sellers resell the exact same thing under different names.

[+] hector@lemmy.today -33 points 1 day ago (4 children)

What? You are here for integrating all electronics into some internet connected spying machine to record everything we do and send it to data brokers/ peter thiel, bezos' house?

"Integrating" your tv, your thermostat, your refrigerator, toaster, oven, microwave, etc., into a subscription model in time at that. You will be paying money or forced to watch ads for using your own purchased electronics that were owned unreservedly in full in all generations prior, but now you are in effect just renting their operating system of the device, and criminally forbidden from changing/editing it. Hackers, the government, business groups, other organized interests can brick all your appliances at any moment, or spy on everyone in the vicinity.

The people I've spoken with are all against these so called smart devices, the purveyors of which are removed from consequence as long as they share/sell the information to the government as well, not the least removed from consequence for flooding social media with influence operations, mechanized, now with ai chatbots new models coming soon, to drown out real people, give them a false impression of how the public feels, instill a hopelessness, and sell things just like this.

Ignorant of what they are doing acceding to the oligarchy in accepting, paying for the spyware, giving a mass of information to those interests and by extension the government, foreign governments, hackers, organized interests, ect, that previous oligarchies and tyrants couldn't dream of,

[–] shortwavesurfer@lemmy.zip 0 points 9 hours ago

You clearly have no idea that not all of these smart devices require an internet connection and apparently you have no idea how a home assistant lets you control these things all locally with no internet connection whatsoever.

[–] mic_check_one_two@lemmy.dbzer0.com 23 points 1 day ago

That’s a whole lotta words to say “I have no fucking idea what Home Assistant is, but have strong preconceived feelings about it.”

[–] tofu@lemmy.nocturnal.garden 18 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Please get a grip of what the post is instead of rambling such nonsense at the sight of some topic that's only vaguely related to what you wrote.

[+] hector@lemmy.today -18 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Condemning owning "smart devices" is not half baked, it's common sense and you trusting you can keep them from spying on you is naive, and as I told another person, you should get checked for taxoplasmosis, which affects the fear center in the brain and could be widespread. I'm serious about that too.

[–] tofu@lemmy.nocturnal.garden 13 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Condemning bullshit "smart" stuff and cloud independence is why people are using home assistant. But if you just want to rant and don't care about the topic instead of learning what's discussed here, I'll not reply any further.

[+] hector@lemmy.today -9 points 1 day ago (3 children)

My point is not to buy internet connected devices that have no business being internet capable in the first place.

Then that there are vulnerabilities in the security that can be exploited even when you think you are safe. It's great to minimize the vulnerabilities, not as great as not enshitifying those appliances in the first place.

Also on this forum you should anticipate that attitude and address it in the post.

[–] cheesemoo@lemmy.world 10 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Home Assistant users are huge on devices with full local control (no internet connection required). Yes, HA works with cloud-connected devices too, but HA itself is just a platform for connecting all your devices together.

Most users here probably agree with you about avoiding internet connected devices, but your condemnation of HA makes it sound like you have no idea what HA is.

[–] trougnouf@lemmy.world 8 points 1 day ago

ZigBee devices are not internet connected

[–] tofu@lemmy.nocturnal.garden 7 points 1 day ago

My devices aren't Internet connected at all. You could just have asked instead of going off on it.

[–] bluesheep@sh.itjust.works 15 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Do you like, know, what Home Assistent is? What?

[–] claude_flammang@dju.social 12 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

@bluesheep
I must admit that this is by far the most extensive but really, really convincing way to say: „I have no clue what Homeassistant is“ that I have seen so far.

[–] bluesheep@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 day ago

It's genuinely amazing. I'd think they were trolling if their others comments in this thread weren't so schizo-coded

[+] hector@lemmy.today -14 points 1 day ago (2 children)

I know smart devices spy on us, collect our data, and transmit it to data brokers, even when they say they don't. Even if your home assistant didn't share the information, it would be garnered by the government and or data brokers. That anonymized information is not, by combining sets of data they can identify everyone involved, and so forth.

Why do you need a toaster that can be controlled to the internet, a washing machine, a dishwasher? Thermostat you could argue could be helpful, although that gives hackers an ability to change your temperature when you are away. There is no good reason for any of these devices to be collecting this information on us, even if you don't see the danger in it on it's face.

[–] AliasAKA@lemmy.world 12 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Like, one of the primary points of home assistant is making it so more devices aren’t connected to the internet. It doesn’t anonymize the data, it makes it so you can fully locally control a bunch of products (eg, I have tons of products blocked at my firewall from sending or receiving data from WAN; the only way for a hacker to change my thermostat is to be on my LAN, they literally can’t do it remotely).

Not sure if you’re an LLM or just enjoy entirely missing the point.

[–] Smokeless7048@lemmy.world 6 points 1 day ago

That is a very, very extensive "I have no clue what I'm talking about in this subject"

Maybe take 10 minutes to educate yourself before opening your mouth.