Smart Home Hub With Local Storage: What Stays Local?
A smart home hub with local storage keeps supported camera footage, event history, photos, and household data on drives inside your home rather than in a provider’s data center. The practical benefits are no required cloud-storage subscription for that data, continued local operation during internet outages, and direct control over storage capacity and retention.
UGREEN HomeAgent builds on that idea by combining local storage, AI processing, security-camera management, and smart-home control in one appliance. To decide whether it fits your home, you need to understand what it stores, which functions remain available offline, how many camera streams it supports, and whether your current devices are compatible.
If you are still deciding whether you need a hub at all, start with What Is a Smart Home Hub? How to Choose One and come back here.
What changes when smart-home data stays local?
Local storage changes who controls your data and how long that data remains available.
With cloud storage, recordings are uploaded to a provider’s infrastructure and retained according to the selected service plan. With local storage, capacity and retention depend on the drives installed in your home.
| Consideration | Local storage | Cloud storage |
|---|---|---|
| Data location | On drives inside your home | In the provider’s data centers |
| Retention | Determined by your capacity and settings | Determined by the service plan |
| Internet outage | Supported local functions can continue | Cloud-dependent functions become unavailable |
| Storage fee | No required cloud-storage subscription | Usually monthly or annual |
| Capacity expansion | Add or replace supported storage | Upgrade to another plan |
| Remote access | Requires a working internet connection | Usually built into the service |
| Physical loss | Requires an independent backup | Stored off-site, subject to the provider’s terms |
It also does not replace backup. Important photos and documents should have an independent copy that can survive failure, theft, fire, or damage to the hub. HomeAgent can automatically bring data from phones, computers, external drives, and supported cloud services onto its local storage, but that local copy should not be the only copy of irreplaceable files.
How does HomeAgent keep data and AI processing local?
HomeAgent is an Agentic AI Local Hub that unifies local storage, computing, and smart-home control. Instead of treating storage as a separate accessory, it uses locally stored data as the foundation for camera recording, event search, household file management, and AI-assisted retrieval.
HomeAgent can store five main categories of data:
- Security-camera footage, event clips, and timelines
- Photos, videos, documents, and other household files
- Automation rules, device state, and sensor history
- Face, object, and event indexes used for local AI search
- Locally downloaded AI models
HomeAgent uses a 2+1 storage arrangement that keeps personal files and security footage on separate drives. This gives each type of data a dedicated storage space rather than placing continuous camera recordings and personal files on the same drive.
What can HomeAgent’s local AI do?
With supported UGREEN SynCare cameras, HomeAgent can process and organize security events locally. Available capabilities include:
- People, vehicle, pet, package, and loitering detection
- New-face detection
- Package delivery and pickup alerts
- Crying-baby alerts
- Detection-area alerts
- Cross-camera event tracking
- AI-generated event summaries
- Keyword-based footage search
HomeAgent can also index household photos and videos, allowing Uliya to retrieve memories through natural-language requests instead of requiring users to browse folders and timelines manually.
Uliya uses a local LLM approach built around Qwen3. Local-model mode is intended for requests that should be processed on HomeAgent. Users can also switch to supported cloud models such as ChatGPT for tasks that require external processing. (Cloud-model mode requires an internet connection and is subject to the selected provider’s data-handling terms. )
Which HomeAgent model should you choose?
| Model | Local AI performance | Hardware | Best fit |
|---|---|---|---|
| HomeAgent HA100 | 26 TOPS | 16GB DDR5, M.2 NVMe (PCIe 3.0 x1) x1 and 2.5Gbe | using local storage, smart-home control, supported cameras, and everyday local AI |
| HomeAgent HA100 Pro | 205 TOPS | 32GB LPDDR5, M.2 NVMe (PCIe 4.0 x4) x1 and 10Gbe | Households expecting heavier local AI and storage workloads |
For most households, the HA100 is the practical starting point. It combines the core HomeAgent storage, camera, automation, and local-AI functions.
Because HomeAgent keeps supported data and AI processing inside the home, the next question is what remains operational when the internet connection fails.
Which HomeAgent functions work without internet?
A local hub can preserve important functions during an internet outage, but only when the complete control path remains local.
| Function | Works without internet? | What it depends on |
|---|---|---|
| Recording from SynCare cameras | Yes | The camera and HomeAgent remain powered and connected to the same LAN |
| Local AI detection | Yes | Detection runs on HomeAgent’s local AI processor |
| Automations between locally connected devices | Yes | Every device and control path involved must support local operation |
| Uliya in local-model mode | Yes | The requested function must be supported by the local model |
| Viewing footage inside the home | Yes | The app and HomeAgent must remain reachable over the local network |
| Remote viewing outside the home | No | Requires a working internet connection |
| Notifications to an off-network phone | No | External notification delivery requires internet access |
| Cloud-model requests | No | Cloud models require an external connection |
| Firmware, software, and model downloads | No | Downloads require internet access |
During an ISP outage, HomeAgent can continue recording supported cameras, analyzing supported events, and running compatible local automations. Remote access and cloud-dependent services return when the internet connection is restored.
Because camera recording can continue without the internet, the next practical limits are the number of video streams HomeAgent can process and the amount of storage those streams consume.
How many cameras and how much footage can HomeAgent handle?
How Many Cameras Can HomeAgent Support?
HomeAgent supports up to 8 simultaneous video channels. The key thing to remember is this: a channel is a video stream, not a physical camera.
- Standard single-lens camera: 1 camera sends 1 video stream and uses 1 channel. That means you can connect up to 8 cameras.
- Multi-lens camera (such as a dual-lens or pan-tilt multi-sensor camera): 1 physical device can send 2 or more video streams at the same time, so it uses 2 or more channels.
So the number of cameras you can connect depends on how many streams each camera uses. For example, if every camera uses 2 channels, you can connect up to 4 cameras. If you mix different camera types, just add up the channels each one uses—the total can’t exceed 8.
Which cameras and smart-home devices work with HomeAgent?
HomeAgent works directly with the UGREEN AIoT ecosystem, including:
- UGREEN SynCare OD800 Pro Battery Camera
- UGREEN SynCare OD600 Pro PoE Camera
- UGREEN SynCare ID500 Pro Indoor Camera
- UGREEN Smart Speaker for Uliya
- UGREEN Gallery smart frames
HomeAgent is also a Matter-enabled hub and supports compatible third-party devices through supported open protocols. Compatibility is confirmed by exact device model and available function—not by brand alone.
The verified compatibility list currently contains specific models from the following brands:
- Cameras: Reolink and Tapo
- Lights: Aqara, Cync, Govee, Ledvance, Nous, Philips, Razer, Third Reality, and WiZ
- Gateways and hubs: Aqara, SwitchBot, Third Reality, Yeelight, and Zemismart
- Door and window sensors: Aqara, Eve, and IKEA
- Motion sensors: Aqara, Eve, IKEA, Lafaer, and Meross
- Temperature and humidity sensors: Aqara and Eve
- Switches: Aqara and Eve
- Smart plugs: Eve, Meross, Tapo, and Third Reality
- Curtains and window coverings: Energy Magic Cube and Zemismart
Brand support is not model support. As the UGREEN smart home ecosystem grows we will keep adding brands and device types, run your devices through the UGREEN Compatibility Checker, select HA100 or HA100 Pro, and check the exact brand, model, device type, and functions listed. Treat anything not on the list as unconfirmed rather than incompatible.
Once capacity and compatibility are confirmed, the remaining question is whether HomeAgent’s integrated design is a better fit than assembling a self-hosted system.
Who should choose HomeAgent?
If instead you want the broadest possible integration coverage and are willing to maintain the stack yourself, a self-hosted platform such as Home Assistant on a NAS gives you more control in exchange for setup and ongoing maintenance; you can browse and filter UGREEN NAS storage models if that is your route.
If the data you care about is camera footage and family media, if the automations you rely on run between devices on the compatibility list, if eight channels cover your cameras, and if you want all of that in one appliance with on-device AI and voice control, HomeAgent is built for your home, the final step is choosing a model and reserving it.
How do you reserve HomeAgent?
- Reservations: September 4 through October 26, 2026 at ai.ugreen.com.
- Deposit: $50 for HA100 or HA100 Pro. Refundable at any time before the Kickstarter campaign ends.
- Super Early Bird pricing: HA100 $899 (MSRP $1,799); HA100 Pro $2,999 (MSRP $5,999); MA100 $9999 (MSRP $19,999)
- Kickstarter: opens October 27. Deposit holders receive a private reward link; use the same email address as the deposit.
- Estimated shipping: HA100 from late January 2027; HA100 Pro, the Gallery E-Paper Smart Frame, and the Smart Speaker from late April 2027.
- Warranty: two years.
What to know before you pledge: a deposit is not a final purchase, and reward selection is completed on Kickstarter. Delivery dates are estimates and final features, specifications, and packaging may change before mass production. Crowdfunding rewards are not eligible for returns without valid cause except where local law requires otherwise. Shipping currently covers the United States (excluding Alaska, Hawaii, and territories), Canada, EU countries except Ireland and Lithuania, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Singapore, with additional charges possible for remote areas. Full terms are on the campaign page.