Reply to post: re Why do you need the intermediate server, which is just another thing to go wrong?

re Why do you need the intermediate server, which is just another thing to go wrong?

Why indeed? But my housemate wanted to be able to control the central heating from her smartphone, and when I looked into it the options seemed to be either having both the device and the phone talking out through the firewall onto some suppliers server, or else custom building a load of hardware myself.

The first is unacceptable to me on security grounds, and the second is more hassle than I want to get into. Just seems damn silly to me. But the end result: I get a text to go and turn the central heating down...