I hate the reductive smart devices argument.

Of course it’s fine to have an app that can turn on my lights! It just can’t be the ONLY way and it can’t REQUIRE A CLOUD SERVICE TO FUNCTION.

I’ve had some smart lights last me over 10 years, they dim in any fixture, they change color when my daughter and her little friends want a dance party, and they can automatically turn on when I arrive home at night and need to unlock the back door. Local control without a cloud. Not a fucking thing wrong with that.

Why not both? Selfhosting (and an anticapitalist revolution) is the way!

I have some lights on an app, I use them for atmosphere during ttrpgs.

My PCs encountered a yokai recently and I hit them with red light while describing the red glowing mist the yokai was secreting.