Why the Sonoff iHost should dump eWeLink CUBE for Home Assistant

The Sonoff Ihost home automation hub closely resonates Nokia’s journey. If you are into DIY IoT experimentation. Specifically, if you are a home automation expert you may be aware of Sonoff’s reputation in the home automation community.

There is no doubt Sonoff is one of the best home automation hardware manufacturers. The home automation community recognises the affordability and Functionality of Sonoff products. There is no doubt Sonoff hardware provides one of the cost-effective ways to automate homes.

Sonoff hardware is also known for its reliability and build quality, especially the TX switch series that operate trouble free and have in -built features to mitigate power fluctuations.

Sonoff is also known for its ability to accommodate custom firmware such as Tasmota or ESPHome. Home automation enthusiasts have even installed Home Assistant in Sonoff hardware. It however appears that Sonoff’s weaknesses lies in its strengths to integrating custom firmware and other software solutions.

The Sonoff Ihost, a very promising home automation hub released in March 2023 is one of the premium products from Sonoff that demonstrates the need for a change of strategy.

The Ihost was released with much fanfare and still retains its potential to disrupt the home automation market. The Ihost comes bundled with Zigbee and matter support and a high quality and aesthetic hardware that very few home automation hubs can match. The Ihost is still under development and thus disappointing in its limited integrations and add-ons. Sadly, the Ihost is still not compatible even with several Sonoff hardware.

The firmware integration in the Ihost is also still very broken. For instance, the Sonoff DW2 contact sensor’s battery capacity is inaccurately displayed, and the depth and sophistication of automated scenes is also shallow.

A quick solution to Sonoff’s broken strategy lies in adopting Home Assistant, a popular, open-source home automation platform that runs on various platforms, has wide compatibility with many brands, has rich and almost infinite customisations; and above all is community driven.

Sonoff should learn from Nokia and Microsoft’s embracement of Android ecosystem for their successful strategic shift in mobile business.