It's not crap just because you don't see a benefit.

In my opinion, additional being a curios software engineer I find it quite interesting.

Necessary? Perhaps not but helpful.

Heating valves for example.

Not that I’m terribly experienced with it, but a lot of home automation can be done without “IoT” — specifically without the crapware Trojan controllers that come with consumer solutions from Best Buy. ISY994 for example. Easy solutions for remote access via apps (vpn to home) and notifications as well. It’s not as easy to set up as a plug and play controller from Google, but it’s far more private.

I include your example.

The definition of iot from Wikipedia also does it.

But honestly why I hate my iot window blinds device it's the perfect excuse to use vlan at home.