This boils down the Right to Repair and Maintain. I always advise my friends and relatives to NOT buy smart appliances. The doom scenario is buying a $20k furn

This boils down the Right to Repair and Maintain. I always advise my friends and relatives to NOT buy smart appliances. The doom scenario is buying a $20k furnace that becomes useless. Imagine a scenario where you need an app (that's never updated) to adjust your house temperature. Or requiring people run insecure wireless protocols to control it. Appliances like this need to operate over an open control protocol, where the smart/internet bit is physically replaceable. Dropping $200 every 5-7 years for a new Furnace smart attachment is reasonable price, dropping $20k is not.