smart devices Request for alternative to cloud based controllers

[Old Surfer Dude]

Amazon had a sale on August locks and I wanted to see if my ISyY904i could control it, which brought me here.

I have an Milocks Insteon controlled lock that is reliable, but clunky. I don't believe the insteon to milocks RF controller is available anymore.

The August lock is Wi-Fi device, probably much like other WiFi smart devices; eg smart plugs (tp-link hs1xx). But these devices require a Cloud Server (Amazon  Google) to make them work. I don't like the idea of Cloud Servers in my home. I would prefer to have this control solely on my possession.

Thus I look to the UDI community to develop procedures to capture the commands that control these devices and provide instructions on how to deploy them, sort of like iFixit tutorials.

I've seen allusions to my suggestion, but my searches have yielded dead links and/or a very high level of expertise.

With the large number of cloud controlled devices coming into the market it would behoove UDI and its community to do this as these devices seem to be the way of the future.

[MWareman]

Most of this type of device use certificate pinning in their TLS connections to their cloud controller.

This makes it impossible to intercept and decode the communication encounter to the cloud service.

The only option with these products is to get access to the cloud API (if the company allows it) and continue to depend on the cloud connection.

The (better) alternative is to not enrich the companies that insist on doing this. Better to buy ZWave locks and keep the communication local.

[paulbates]

If I was going to install smart locks, I'd bite the bullet and install an ISY Z-wave board in my ISY,  work out z-wave distribution in my house and get zwave locks

Paul

[Old Surfer Dude]

MWareman, thanks for noting that the communication uses Transport Layer Security (TLS).  Yes, this would be hard to reverse engineer (a good thing).  Access to the API, then, would defeat the purpose to the TLS, so I doubt that will be given.  I will go with your (better) option ... I did "bite the bullet" to give me more flexibility in choosing my devices.

Buried in the description of the "August Smart Lock Pro + Connect, 3rd gen technology - Silver, works with Alexa" is "Certified Z-Wave Plus home product. Works with Z-Wave".   So let's keep an eye out for that.