As usual I really looked forward to the new release of HA 2021.10. I make time in my schedule so I can update my HA Core and fix what needs fixing with every new version. Unfortunately, this release was a major disappointment for me. And, judging by the replies I got earlier on Reddit, I’m not alone.
The source of my disappointment is the huge emphasis which was put on the “all new” Tuya integration. I feel there are multiple issues with the integration and how it was launched. Let me explain.
With the update all users who had Tuya devices are forced to upgrade to the new version. I understand that the API is changing, but such a sudden and hard change is difficult to manage for many users (what happened to depreciation cycles?). Not only are we forced to change, but a lot of features are still missing. I for example have a single Tuya fan and can no longer control its speed. Plenty of users report missing functions (covers, humidifiers, …) So instead of an upgrade, it rather is a downgrade; not quite the “latest and greatest” we were promised.
Secondly, the enrolment process for the integration is complex, forcing every user to create a development account. I thought Home Assistant was supposed to get easier to understand? I know HA won’t be for technical novices any time soon, but making me subscribe to (and manage) another developer cloud account just to access my own devices. (I myself am not a technical novice by the way)
And that brings me to my main issue: what happened to “local first”? I thought that was the core of HA? If so, why put so much emphasis on an integration which goes directly against that principle?
As I said, this would have been easier to digest if it would not have been announced with such fanfare, or if no features would have been lost, or if the setup would have been less complex. Unfortunately none of that is true.
Now I’m not just here to complain; I also want to share how I think things could have been (a lot) better.
- Leave the old integration as it was. Yes, it will be obsolete soon, but there are/will emerge possible replacements in the HACS store, even with full local access such as localtuya.
- Replace the integration only when you have feature parity. The new integration should be at least as capable as the old. If you can’t do that, then allow the user to choose. What you have done now is basically remove Tuya for plenty of users, that cannot be the goal, right?
- Make Tuya part of Home Assistant Cloud. Considering you are working with Tuya, why not make it so that people who subscribe to HA Cloud can just link their Tuya account to a central Home Assistant Tuya Development Account? After all, is that not how the Tuya platform is supposed to function? That way you could make it easy for users to onboard: just authorise from the smart life app & you’re good to go. (Alternatively you could still enable the “hard” route similar to how it works for Google Home or Alexa.)
The only reason why I am sharing these thoughts (hope it is not a rant) is that I care about Home Assistant and what it stands for. What I saw in the community since the release is that people are not happy with this change and some are even outright questioning the direction HA is going in. If the development team wants to make sure the community stays healthy and thriving, these doubts and questions need to be addressed.
