I’m new here and never had a Homey device or tested it. Since I found out Homey is now also able to run on a self hosted server I am going to install Homey on my Unraid server in a docker container. My main goal is to controll my smart devices locally and not through the cloud so when the Internet drops I still can controll everything.
At the moment I have a lot of smart devices all connected through their individual apps and linked to Google home. But some things got kind of messy over the years.
What is the best way to start with Homey? Do I empty google home and connect all my smart devices fresh in Homey or can I just link Google home and start from there?
If the 2nd option (just link google home) is also possible do I still get local controll over my smart devices?
1st make sure you get used to how homey works before completely disabling your homey and trusting you will quickly rebuild it in homey.
Just go one-by-one and start simple.
Most devices can be controlled both local (directly homey) and via cloud (homey to cloud) so no need to “pull all plugs” right away.
next to that start thinking about a strategy…
There are so many ways to control your home via homey, you need to decide what suits you best. Theres many threads about that, theres no “best” way, there is a way that suit you best
I like to cut up my flows in smaller flow and setup “scenes”, you can read it in my thread "how to structure your flows" (old but still usefull) you will also find links to other ways in the thread.
It depends on which devices you have. Note that many devices use the cloud even on Homey (see the Homey App Store Stats, cloud is the second most used protocol). Have you already checked if all your devices that you have linked in to Google Home are also supported by Homey?
Also, if a device isn’t supported, you can usually create a Virtual Device in Homey and sync the state of the real device via Google Home automations.
