I don’t recall if it was mandatory during setup or not. I can control it locally when the internet is down, at least from the wall, I don’t think the app would work. But again, I wanted the remote features so I didn’t even try to set it up without an account.
Home assistant may work as well, but I don’t use it.
If I can’t control something 100% local, I don’t buy it. If it requires an online account in any way, it’s trash.
I don’t recall if it was mandatory during setup or not. I can control it locally when the internet is down, at least from the wall, I don’t think the app would work. But again, I wanted the remote features so I didn’t even try to set it up without an account.
Home assistant may work as well, but I don’t use it.