I have over 20 smart home devices. I unplugged the internet to see which ones still work

Smart home gadgets exist to solve problems, automate processes, and generally make your life easier. If you have a bunch of smart home gadgets keeping your household moving, you’ve probably wondered what will happen to them when the internet connection drops. Unless you’re using a local, self-hosted smart home server, your accessories count on a stable internet connection to link them to the cloud. Without it, the fast, wireless, and remote smart home control experience starts to fall apart.

I have tens of smart home accessories connected to Apple Home and Google Home over Matter and Thread. While internet outages in my area are relatively rare — hopefully I don’t jinx that — they do happen occasionally. So, I proactively unplugged the internet to see how my smart home behaved, and the results surprised me.

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