@ jjhung88,
Nothing like that, Internet is required only for using the Cloud features and Home Automation works irrespective of internet and mode.
Thanks. Good to know. I will probably use it as my main router, but I still wondered about this use case (HA features when it's an extender).
I'm currently using an Asus AC87R, but it's been pretty buggy at times, needing manual reboots. It has issues with the 5Ghz signal. It's range drops off dramatically compared to the 2.5Ghz at a certain threshold and becomes very unreliable. Sometimes it drops the 5 Ghz signal completely and stops broadcasting it!
So may try the Almond+ as my main router to compare performance.