Why is the browser a second-class citizen in smart homes?

As we’ve added more connected devices to our homes and more connectivity to cars, we’ve become locked into the app economy. What the heck ever happened to the good ol’ web?

I recently asked myself that question as I was testing a de-Googled smartphone; it runs the open source version of Android, or AOSP. I was also considering moving to a pure Linux handset. But as I quickly came to realize, because we’ve become an app-centric society, I really can’t move to either of them.

My web question had begun to take shape when we bought a Tesla Model 3 last year, consolidating from two cars down to a single vehicle. (No haters please; this was before the Musk takeover of Twitter!) We love the car. Most importantly, my wife loves the car, and she’s only owned one other car that she felt the same way about. (That was a 2004 Acura TL, for the curious among you). But without the Tesla app on a traditional smartphone, the car is only just usable.

Sure, I can — and have — used the plastic key card that comes with the Tesla. That gets you basic functionality to go somewhere.

Don’t have the app? For us, that would have meant saying goodbye to all of the reasons we bought the car, such as pre-conditioning the cabin, remotely unlocking the doors or trunk, or planning a route with Tesla Superchargers along the way. There’s simply no way to use most of the car’s advanced features in a browser. Nor would we have been able to get any notifications from the car, or to view captured camera footage in case of an accident.

And for the most part, the same situation applies to the smart home today. Last time I checked our house, we were up to around 40 connected devices, which work with Amazon Alexa, Apple HomeKit, and Google Home. A few work across all three, thanks to Matter. But how many can be used with a standard browser connection instead of a dedicated phone app? Far fewer than those that can’t.

Indeed, with very few exceptions, I need the specific mobile apps from the different brands of, for example, bulb, outlet, or light switch. Or I have to use the main smart home ecosystem apps, such as Amazon Alexa, Apple Home, or Google Home.

To manage my home network, I have to use my Eero app. Any routines or scenes in my smart home have to be done in an ecosystem app. I can’t view my connected cameras over the web, nor can I open my garage door in a browser when I’m nearly home. The list goes on and on. And while I wouldn’t want to use the web to turn on a smart bulb, it would be nice to see the current state of my devices or a live video feed from a connected camera using a browser.

As I noted, there are a few exceptions. Google recently introduced a feature to view Nest cameras over the web in a browser, for example. That said, I don’t have any Nest cameras, so it’s not helpful to me.

Perhaps the biggest exceptions to the rule of “smart homes require apps” are some of the third-party smart home hubs. Both Home Assistant and Hubitat, for example, provide a high degree of connected device access through the browser.

Yes, there smart home apps for both platforms available on the app stores. And yes, most people likely use those apps as their central smart home interface. But it’s not required, as most of the functionality these provide is available in the once mighty but now lowly web browser.

It might sound like I’m complaining about a first world problem here. And on some level, I’d agree with that criticism. We are, after all, in the age of the smartphone. But that doesn’t mean that the browser should be relegated to a second-class, at best, citizen in this situation.

I’d like to see more smart home device makers embrace relatively newer web technologies to bring the smart home experience from behind the fence of app stores. Progressive Web Apps (PWAs), for example, bring much of the app experience and functionality to the browser. While PWAs may not fully replicate an app’s feature set, there’s plenty they can do, such as provide notifications, be updated centrally, and behave securely, just like a smart phone app.

Until this changes, I’m locked into the app economy on either an Android or iOS phone. So no de-Googled or Linux handset for me. Once the fastest-growing king of the internet, when it comes to smart homes, the universal browser got kicked to the curb.