It's not so much a desire as a work-around for the fact that smart bulbs need a trickle of power 24-7 so they can respond to external messages from timers/sensors/etc. The wall switch has to stay on, so you need to kludge up some other way to control it.

These kludges are slowly getting better: maybe you can get a menu bar app so you can control your lights from the computer, maybe your phone/tablet light app can stick some buttons in an Android widget or in the iOS notifications pulldown, there are even people trying to make switches that you can stick over the normal switches and hit to trigger light changes without having to hire/be an electrician who can replace the switches.

Tappur does exactly that: http://tappur.co

It's a widget in your notifications bar and your lock screen with buttons for remote control. Also has a smartwatch app. I use it all the time and it's so much faster than the official Hue app.

I use the LIFX bulbs myself (such better greens and blues!); their iOS app has a notification widget. And a watch UI as well.

And I wrote a little app that lives in my Mac's menu bar and lets me pick from the scenes I set up in the official app, too, someday I should actually package it up properly. (https://github.com/egypturnash/weatherlight)

I certainly use remote activation when I'm not home, for instance, I have cameras so I can check on my pets, and I turn on the lights so I can see better when it's dark. (They're infrared cams, but that's questionably useful sometimes.)

But yeah, 90% of the time, if I am turning on a light, I'm hitting the physical switch. So a bulb that is ignorant of my switch's position isn't a lot of use to me. Because if I want to turn that bulb on... my switch is probably already off. And the bulb can't work if the physical switch is off.

I bought some bulbs to create a light alarm -- automatic wake up by slowing increasing the light in the room (and nice soft coloring too). I actually use the wall switch to turn them off an on the rest of the time.

I might get some more bulbs (mi.light) if I start finding more uses but for now it seems pretty niche.

> Or, even better, a timer/motion sensor has already turned on the light for me and I don't even have to think about it. This is what real home automation is all about.

And doesn't involve a wall switch.

Of course, a fully integrated system with switch/dimmer modules in the electrical system is nice, but not really an option in many situations (e.g. renters). Control purely by a phone is certainly not ideal, but is a simplest useable solution you can build on, with additional hardware, apps for special functions, ...

Why? It's pretty easy to swap out a light switch when you move in, and put it back when you move out, without causing any real 'damage' to the unit.

All electrical work in the unit has to be done by someone legally qualified to do so (I'm not) and it is not worth getting a bill for a "proper" electrician to fix it for. Also only work for one lamp per room (that already has a light switch) and doesn't do any fancy new color-control features. Everything else needs additional modules and wireless controls anyways, so why do it differently for this one case?

Exchanging batteries in additional lightswitches seems stupid, but doesn't happen THAT often. You can add them if you want them, others make do with the phone and maybe NFC tags or other tricks.

Sure, if I owned the place or would be staying here for many years it might be worth it, but not yet.

I kinda wanna know how many people actually get asked to show proof the electrical work of shutting off the power, unscrewing wires from a light switch, and screwing them back onto a new light switch, was done by a licensed professional. I get you probably don't want someone running new wiring around a place who doesn't know what they're doing, but changing out light switches isn't substantially more difficult than changing a light bulb.

I really depends on the situation (Here it certainly would be noticed and questioned), but that really wasn't the main point I wanted to make. I was more going after your argument that true home automation isn't flipping switches: a principle I very much agree with, and in my experience various wireless systems make setting that up relatively easy. Because it is linked to a computer for more complex features, and you can move stuff around within seconds. Just because some of these systems come as only a bridge and a smartphone app doesn't mean that's how people actually use it, as far as I can see. But many start with just a fancy colorful lamp as an effect, which works fine with just the app, and then comes integrating it with the TV, and the alarm, and ...

These basic sets require very low effort to get started, and THEN people are interested.

I hope I got my point across better now, it's kinda late here.

In case of renting an apartment, you risk getting in trouble with your landlord. Given how hostile landlord-tenant relationships can be, non-invasive solutions may be desirable to some.

I've installed my Nest in 3 separate apartments, installed a fan in another, rewired an outlet so only one outlet was switched, and replaced multiple outlets with zwave outlets and no maintenance guys or landlords have said anything.