I guess it can notify you via your cell phone when a load is done. I could see that having value.

I’m all for smart appliances

I'm personally not. I'm for appliances with a standard interface, maybe, through which it can be connected to some smart home system.

I do not mean internet access or anything else "smart" in the appliance itself. I mean being able to use the same functions as buttons and indicators offer, remotely. I2C will do.

Forgotten laundry leads to mildew. Plenty of home assistance scripts out there to remind users to empty washer/dryer.

Makes sense for manufacturers to want to build this feature into the appliance itself.

I love mine. It reminds me when to clean it, when the drain is acting up, and when it’s done. It can even order supplies on its own. Sure all those things can be handled with a calendar but I’m lazy.

I'm all for smart appliances, but a smart washing machine is a solution in search of a problem.

I personally love smart washers, they are a solution to the problem that we used to have at home.

We have 5 adults at home. The app lets us know if it's being used or not, and lets us know how much longer left.

Also let's us remind the other person to move their stuff in the washer to the dryer.

I personally do not want to walk over to our laundry room in the garage not connected to our house to check each time to see if it's available, then walk back to my room to grab my laundry, then bring it to the laundry room

I would prefer if everything was able to be used on a local network instead though. Like a Samsung machine that hosts a local server where data never leaves the home and still works.

You can also use it to start a load while you’re at work when you didn’t want your clothes sitting after washing all day. True, there’s old school delay functions but this gives a little more control.

Not saying it’s worth it, but a feature I haven’t seen anyone else mention.

For me it isn't about knowing when it's done, it's about it continuously annoying me if I still haven't flipped it an hour later

While I don’t have a smart washing machine, I use a smart power outlet to let me know when the laundry is done, remind me if the load is still sitting in the washer without moving to the drier, etc.

Definitely some legit use cases to make the process smart.

I set it up to alert my smart speakers when it's done so my family doesn't leave their laundry in the washer to mold and rot all day. That's about all I use the smart features for. And I do it through a 3rd party open source home automation solution.

Electricity is pretty expensive where I live, but solar opportunity is fairly good. Selling power back to grid is nowhere near as cost effective as using solar directly.

So, I could see a compelling use case of, "I want my laundry done by X o'clock. Start the wash when it'll be mostly on my cheap solar."

But yeah. I would never buy one unless it supports local-only/VLAN-restricts-internet-access usage.

There are situations where you might want to monitor water use (someone mentioned delaying cycles based on water softener status), or people like me who might need a phone reminder because I’ll forget I put a load in and get busy with something else and it’s nice if I don’t have the extra step of setting a timer and trying to get it just right.

The problem isn’t the connectivity, the problem is the proprietary cloud ecosystems. HomeAssistant is already a brilliant home automation hub, just make devices repairable and with local control and I’ll be a customer.