Comment by drnick1

And this is why all of my "smart" home devices are managed through Home Assistant without Internet access. I simply won't buy a device that can't be used that way. I shouldn't have to create an "account" or provide a name and email address to use a device that I physically own. A good way to start is to look for Zigbee devices; the protocol is local only by design and the Zigbee coordinator/router can be a simple USB dongle connected to an ordinary PC.