This isn't a defense, but Nest products worked this way before Google bought them. A lot of smart home stuff works this way, I am guessing because it's easier to setup, manage and troubleshoot.
Unfortunately it makes buying this stuff a pain because you have to research who owns what and what kind of control you have.
I just buyed an air cleaner, and amongst other I looked at the one by Xioami. To operate, requires you to install an app which tracks you locations and sends it to Xiaomi servers. This really troubled me.
I ended up buying one which can be operated without an app, which there seems to be fewer and fewer.
