this post was submitted on 04 Oct 2025
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Why do my LG smart fridge and my GE washer and dryer all have DNS servers? And is there a way I can control them without the manufacturer's miserable apps? (lemmy.radio)
submitted 1 day ago by early_riser@lemmy.radio to c/homeassistant@lemmy.world
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First thing I do when I get a smart appliance is scan it with nmap. This has revealed some interesting Easter eggs, like my Davis instruments air quality sensors having a local REST API.

Doing the usual scan against my GE washer and dryer shows that port 53 is listening. What could that be for? Is there a way I can at least query their status locally or something?

When I got the washer and dryer I was excited about the smart home features because getting an alert when my laundry is done or starting the washer remotely so the clothes are done when I get home are genuinely useful features. However, last time I checked the app none of that was available, so I just have these Trojan horses in my home spying on me with no benefit in exchange. Their app wanted my freaking mailing address when I signed up for their mandatory account, so the features mentioned above are the least they could offer in exchange for my digital soul. But I digress.

My fridge is in a similar situation. It commits the additional cardinal sin of ONLY being controllable via the app, with no on-board temp or filter status indicators whatsoever.

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[–] sramder@lemmy.world 3 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

That’s called a CCD ;-)

[–] decended_being@midwest.social 4 points 16 hours ago* (last edited 16 hours ago) (1 children)

Learned something today, thanks! CCD is the type of screen that's likely on these types of devices.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charge-coupled_device

[–] sramder@lemmy.world 3 points 10 hours ago

A CCD is generally one of two types of camera/imaging device. I was kinda being as ass, like point a camera at the countdown on your washing machine.

That said, I’m reasonably certain I’ve seen something on the HA forum where someone did exactly that. Frigate NVR to dump a screenshot every few seconds and OCR app to create an actionable counter in HA.