Tado testing the waters...

As a follower of Louis Rossmann, I came across his video discussing Tado’s attempt to charge users a subscription fee just to control the thermostats they already own. This blatant cash grab immediately caught my attention.

I’ve always enjoyed smart tech, but I also value self-hosting and user control. The idea of being locked out of my own hardware unless I pay a monthly fee? That’s something I can’t accept.

Tado’s Excuse

Tado claimed that rising server and hosting costs justified their plan. But here’s a better solution: give users access to a local API. If users could control their thermostats locally—without relying on Tado’s cloud services—hosting costs would drop significantly. Many of us already run Home Assistant, and a local API would make integration seamless.

My Plan

Since Tado refuses to provide local access, the next step is clear: reverse-engineer their API and host our own solution. Once I get my hands on some Tado hardware, I’ll start digging into how it works and share my findings here.

If you're also frustrated by anti-consumer smart home companies, or just enjoy hacking your tech to work for you, then stick around.