A smart home sounds impressive, but it’s not necessarily the smartest way to do things. If you have to interact with a dashboard every time you want to control your smart home, you’re just having a manual home with nicer buttons.
The perfect smart home works by itself. As you approach your home in your car, the garage door opens, and the front door unlocks as you enter. The lights turn on automatically, and if you need manual control, you can still do it easily.
Smart home expert Paulus Schoutsen warns that people often think their smart home app is their remote for life, but there are no valid use cases for controlling lights from your phone except showing off. Smart home dashboards are just expensive buttons, only useful when standing right in front of them.
Good automations should react to context, not tapping. No amount of sensors can anticipate your every need, so sometimes manual control is necessary. Voice control can be a better solution, especially for situations like turning down lights without leaving your seat.
Smart home dashboards have their place, but they shouldn’t be the main focus. They can be useful for monitoring security cameras or tracking chores, but the smart home should still work smoothly without you needing to interact with it.
The problem isn’t the dashboard itself; it’s relying too heavily on it. The best smart homes do their thing quietly and automatically, without requiring manual intervention.
Source: https://www.howtogeek.com/if-you-need-a-smart-home-dashboard-youre-doing-it-wrong