What changed in local control

Signify announced two new Play gradient strips at IFA 2026: a standard model at EUR 99.99 (Hueblog lists USD 149.99) in 65 and 85 inch sizes and a Pro at EUR 159.99 / USD 179.99 that adds 100 inch, both cuttable and on sale from 15 September 2026. The 2020 Play gradient lightstrip cost EUR 209.99. The catalog entry’s price and successor notes need updating once the new strips are listed. Full brief: Hue’s IFA 2026 launch.

The guides have named these two as the parts to buy since Shelly discontinued the Gen2 Plus line, but neither had a page, so the only clickable relay link in those sentences still went to the superseded Plus model. Both now have pages with dated sources: the Shelly 1 Gen4 (potential-free contacts, no metering, $27.99 for the UL-certified US SKU) and the Shelly 2PM Gen4 (two metered channels, 10 A each and 16 A total, $39.99 - less than the Plus 2PM cost). Each ships in a Matter-over-Wi-Fi profile and switches to Zigbee with five presses of the device button, one radio at a time. I have run neither, and both pages say so.

The guides had been recommending these by name without a product page to back them: the Shelly Plug US Gen4, the Hubitat C-8 Pro, the Zooz ZST39 and Aeotec Z-Stick 10 Pro Z-Wave sticks, the Level Bolt, the Shelly Dimmer Gen4, the SONOFF SNZB-02P and the Reolink E1 Pro. Each now has compatibility notes with dated sources. I have run none of them, and each page says so.

Six more Shelly products went through the same source check as the rest of the catalog. The Plus i4’s inputs are mains-level, not dry-contact (the DC model is the low-voltage one). The BLU Motion, BLU Button1 and BLU Door/Window pages no longer say a Shelly gateway is required: a Bluetooth adapter on the Home Assistant host or any Bluetooth proxy hears them directly. The Wall Display XL mounts to a standard switch box, and its dashboard claim now says exactly what Shelly ships: a Home Assistant page that loads a dashboard URL, deprecated and then restored in firmware 2.7.0. Five manufacturer links that had gone dead were replaced, the ZEN04 price was refreshed, the Tedee GO page names the official tedee integration as its non-Thread local path, and the G6 Instant page notes its IPX5 rating.

Shelly’s US store now marks the Plus 1, Plus 1 UL, Plus 2PM, Plus Plug US and the original Wall Display as discontinued, each with a named successor: the 1 Gen3 and 1 Gen4, the 2PM Gen3, the Plug US Gen4 and the Wall Display X1i. The product pages say so and link forward. Plus units you own keep working and keep their local API.

Bosch’s own product page listed the SHP65CM5N as no longer available on 2026-09-06. The product notes now say so; treat it as remaining stock.

Every rating and spec sentence on 82 products was checked against the manufacturer page and the Home Assistant integration docs. Twenty-nine claims were wrong and are now fixed: six products rated a tier too kindly for cloud-only devices, two rated too harshly (the August lock has a local Bluetooth path; the Roomba integration is local push), a phantom Ethernet port, a sealed lithium backup described as two AA cells. Every product page now shows the sources it was checked against, and a link to report an error.

IKEA has retired the Zigbee VINDSTYRKA air quality sensor. The Matter-over-Thread ALPSTUGA is the replacement; it needs a Thread border router where the VINDSTYRKA needed a Zigbee coordinator.

On Reolink app versions 4.59 and later, RTSP and ONVIF are disabled until you enable them under the camera’s Server Settings. Frigate and Home Assistant need them on. If a Reolink camera that used to stream stops after an app update, this is the first thing to check.

Ring’s page for the Battery Doorbell Plus now redirects to the Battery Doorbell Plus 2K. The original is remaining stock. It stays on the site as the cloud-dependent counterexample it always was.

Shelly no longer makes the Dimmer 2, the device I run most of in my own house. The Dimmer Gen4 is the replacement. Shelly’s 230 V documentation allows no-neutral installs with a bypass; the US documentation for the S4DM-0A102US says it works only with a neutral wire while the US store title says “No Neutral”. Check the wiring guide for your region before ordering.

The Home Assistant SmartThings integration docs note that SmartThings API access becomes paid from October 2026. Anything on this site that reaches Home Assistant through SmartThings, the Aeotec hub and the Samsung appliances among them, is affected. Verified against the integration page on 2026-09-06.

Google ended production of the Nest Mini and Nest Audio in June 2026 and now points buyers at the Google Home Speaker; the Nest Mini store URL redirects there. Existing units keep working. Google is also replacing Google Assistant on its speakers with Gemini for Home in a per-home switch that cannot be undone.

Hubitat stopped making the plain C-8 in March 2026. The C-8 Pro is the model to buy new. Its Thread Special Edition swaps the Zigbee radio for Thread and has no built-in Zigbee, so check which one you are ordering.

IKEA replaced the TRADFRI smart bulbs with the KAJPLATS range in January 2026, per its customer service pages; the US smart-lighting catalog lists only KAJPLATS now. TRADFRI bulbs you own keep working on Zigbee. The product page is marked discontinued.

The ZBT-1 (formerly SkyConnect) is no longer sold; the ZBT-2 on a Silicon Labs MG24 replaces it. Both run Zigbee or Thread, one firmware at a time, and neither does Z-Wave. ZBT-1 sticks you already own still work.

Nabu Casa stopped selling the Yellow in October 2025 and points new buyers at the Green plus a Connect ZBT-2 stick. Existing units keep getting updates. The Green has no radio of its own, so budget for the stick.

Google stopped making the Nest Protect in March 2025 (9to5Google, 2025-03-28) and its store later listed the First Alert SC5 as the replacement (9to5Google, 2025-07-25: https://9to5google.com/2025/07/25/google-store-nest-protect-replacement/). Existing units stay supported; new buyers are getting remaining stock. Recorded 2026-09-10 so the catalog entry has a dated, sourced discontinuation instead of a bare claim.