Your smart home does not care what its remote-access service is called. It cares what still works when you cancel.
On October 2, Nabu Casa announced that Home Assistant Cloud would be renamed Home Assistant Link, with the new name planned for the December 2026.12 release. The rename demotes the word, not the service’s online role. Nabu Casa says Link runs online.
What does “optional” mean?
Nabu Casa says Home Assistant runs locally and that your smart home keeps working if you cancel Link. The company describes Link as a subscription for extras such as remote access, offsite backups, and voice control through Alexa or Google Home. As of the October 27 page check, the U.S. annual price was listed at $65 before tax.
That is a useful promise. It is still a company promise, and Link is still an online service. A renamed service does not become local. What matters is whether the features your household relies on still work without it, with your devices and configuration.
When a service ends
Belkin’s Wemo shutdown is a different case: the company ended its cloud service and app support for select products on January 31, 2026. Belkin said affected products lost the Wemo app and cloud features including remote access and voice-assistant integrations. It also said products already configured with Apple HomeKit, and Thread-based products, continued to function locally through HomeKit.
That is not a story about every Wemo device becoming useless. It is a story about dependencies. Belkin’s notice says outcomes depended on the product and whether a local HomeKit path was already configured. A service cancellation and a provider shutdown are different events, but both are good reasons to ask what depends on what.
Run the dependency check
Before you add a service or device, list which features need an account or internet connection. Then ask what still works on your home network without internet and what local path remains if a provider changes its plans. Test internet loss and subscription cancellation separately; they are not the same scenario. If a feature matters to daily routines, confirm its fallback before you need it.
That is the question behind our five questions every smart home should answer: is a dependency chosen, visible, replaceable, and recoverable? “Cloud” or “Link” is the label. Your setup is the answer.
RyzaLab’s Smart Home Blueprint is a 60-minute home assessment by video. You leave with a written plan. Book Your Blueprint.
Source notes
- Nabu Casa’s announcement describes the planned rename, online service, optionality claim, and December 2026.12 target.
- Nabu Casa’s Link page lists the service benefits and U.S. annual price.
- Belkin’s Wemo support notice identifies the affected service features and the HomeKit/Thread exceptions.