I’m looking into getting on the Homey train, especially since a review I read said that all automation executes locally instead of on someone else’s servers. However, I can’t find any reference in Homey’s documentation that supports this claim. Thanks in advance for the clarification. - Dave
1 Like
Start here
Homey (service with or without Homey Bridge) is all cloud.
Homey Pro is all locally processing but with Cloud dependency for authentication, Notifications, Remote Acces, cloud conneted devices and the WebApp.
2 Likes
Hi. Thanks for the response. Yes, I was looking for an answer, but everything I saw was somewhat ambiguous, other than the one where the user said they were going back to Home Assistant because Homey isn’t completely “cloud-independent.” Performing authentication on your platform seems logical, especially with the security and admin aspect that you provide.
How about the paid “Flow” service? Does that also execute locally, or does it require cloud execution?
The main issue is that Homey’s authentication method is flawed, and has been for a long time. If you’re unlucky and your internet connection goes down at the wrong moment, you’re locked out of your Homey until the connection comes up again. Homey will still run and perform its automations, but you can’t manage it.
There are also bugs in the authentication process that can cause the mobile/web apps to say that Homey is offline when it’s not, which usually requires a reboot of Homey to fix.
3 Likes
Oh! That’s useful information. Thanks for being so forthright about the flaws, which, of course, all software has at some level. Is it possible with Homey, to automate a daily restart to mitigate the issue? I did this with some LinkSys routers I used to have, and it kept them in line until I finally decided to replace them with more modern and capable units.
There isn’t something like that.
Pay ~399 $/€ for a Pro and everything except cloud backups is lifetime free.
If you go for a Homey Cloud you pay 2,99/ month to get Premium to unlock the Insights, Logic, and 5 device limit.
For a Homey Bridge you have to pay 69 once to extend the cloud to your home for Zigbee/Z-wave and IR. And get 3 months Premium extta for free.
2 Likes
Yes, it’s possible to do that (I do hope you see the irony in the comparison that you’re making here 
)
1 Like
Yes, but no guarantee as it happens when you don’t expect. And I think that it happens for a small percentage of users but all are here on the community…
1 Like
Oh, I guess I was confusing it with the cloud service. I’ve been getting up to speed on the system, and I remembered seeing £2.99 for “Advanced Flow,” but I didn’t realize it is included with the hardware. Thanks.
Well, in the scenario I described with the Linksys routers, I used a good old-fashioned timer at the power receptacle to cycle them off for a couple of minutes in the wee hours of the morning. Those timers were the most stable part of my home automation! 
It shouldn’t be needed, I own two Pro 19 models, and they’re only restarted after a firmware update, by the firmware update process.
Last one 14 days ago:
Some restart it nightly “just to clean up stuff”, which is rubbish imho.
Most errors are created by the user in the end (I’m good at it as well!), not a computing device (PEBCAK).
When an app misbehaves, you only have to restart that app. And that can be automated as well. And, you ought to inform the app developer of course, to make swift bug fixing possible.
Just my £0.02 on this subject 
2 Likes
I agree. Restart is not needed generally. I have a HomeyPro19 and a HomeyPro23.
Also, I did have a lockout once or twice, but it is not very frequent. I am on the Homey train since day 1.
It would not keep me from buying a Homey Pro.
4 Likes
Not all true. You can activate port forwarding for Homey 2023.
2 Likes
AFAIK that still uses Athom’s cloud servers for authentication.
1 Like
Yes, but not every time you access Homey. I think it happens sometimes like every two weeks.
Like I said before: “If you’re unlucky and your internet connection goes down at the wrong moment, you’re locked out of your Homey until the connection comes up again”
Port forwarding doesn’t fix that.
1 Like
That “once every 2 weeks” moment can be tonight or tomorrow, that’s the main PITA here.
So port forwarding solves things a bit for MAX 2 weeks, if lucky.
But I absolutely wouldn’t recommend forwarding a Homey port to the world to anyone 
1 Like
Sorry, it was not my intention to dispute facts.
From the point of my user experience, that in 7 Homey years I never have had a problem with this. Maybe swedish infrastructure is better?
2 Likes
I had those problems some time ago on a old build in combination with my Netgear Wifi Mesh solution. I now reboot the mesh wifi twice a week and have not had any remote access lockouts with Homey anymore for almost a half year.
In other words, some neworks, some combinations and some users do expercience such issues, but there are many that dont. Combination matter sometimes.
So to address the questions of the TO:
Those references to paid upgrades are for older devices. The HP2019 did not get the advanced workflow upgrade for free, it is however standard part of the HP2023 (the one you can buy now). So once in a while, they decided to release a fancy new feature as paid feature before making it standard again.
The HomeyPro indeed uses the cloud services only in the scenarios mentioed above. There are apps in the store that do require cloud services of the devices they support. But thats just you making sure you only buy devices/brands that have a app in the Homey store that indeed support local connections.
Also the mobile app connects locally to the Homey of your on the same network etc.
The bridge is a good starter, you can try Homey (cloud) for free, add a bridge to get zigbee and zwave devices running, once your happy and buy a Homey Pro you can reuse the bridge as extender for your zwave/zigbee and IR.
2 Likes
Thanks, everyone, for your replies and all the great info. I’ve pulled the trigger on a Homey Pro and a bridge for our detached garage. Now I’m just trying to figure out when it will arrive. The Homey website shows it as “Shipped,” but the tracking field remains blank.
1 Like
