I was really hoping Apple’s involvement in the matter/thread design would have pushed the local control and configurable by default into the mainstream. Sadly it seems like it got tossed along the way. I have a new Honeywell thermostat that supports Matter and supposedly local control. But as far as I can tell in order to get access to the QR code / pairing data for connecting it to a matter network in the first place, you have to set it up online and sign up for an account on their (terrible) app. Zigbee and Z-Wave it is then. And anything that is WiFi connected must run or be earlier flashable to esphome.

At this point, I don't care if they connect all this stuff directly to the NSA if that's what it takes to get it to function properly.