Scanning a sheet of paper from a printer sitting three feet away should not sound like an account-management problem.
With HP Smart, it became one.
HP’s support documentation says an HP account and sign-in are used to provide access to features that depend on cloud connectivity, including Mobile Fax, advanced scanning and remote printing.
https://support.hp.com/au-en/document/ish_9354468-9354517-16
The awkward part is that the account requirement applies to the application, not to the physical act of scanning.
The printer did not suddenly need an identity
HP users had long scanned through traditional desktop drivers and HP Scan without creating an online account. HP’s own support community repeatedly points out that those alternatives can still work without signing in.
What changed around the end of 2020 was HP Smart. Support responses from HP’s community state that sign-in moved from recommended to required for the Windows application in many regions.
https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Scanning-Faxing-Copying/why-must-I-log-into-my-acct-to-scan-a-document/td-p/8256454
This distinction matters because the strongest version of the complaint would be inaccurate: HP did not make every possible scan require an HP account.
It made its promoted all-in-one application require one.
A user can install other HP software or use operating-system scanning tools. That is real choice. It is also more work than opening the vendor’s current app and pressing Scan.
Cloud features become the justification for local friction
HP explains the account requirement in terms of functions that genuinely need identity and cloud connectivity: remote management, sharing, mobile fax and related services.
Those features make sense with an account.
A local scan to a local computer does not obviously need the same machinery.
The result is a bundled dependency. The app combines ordinary hardware control with online services, then applies the account layer across the application experience.
For someone using the cloud features, that may be a reasonable trade.
For someone who wants a PDF of a utility bill, it is registration inserted into a task that previously had no relationship with HP’s account system.
An account is not just one extra click
Registration adds another failure mode.
The email address can be inaccessible. Authentication can fail. Terms can change. The service can be unavailable. The software may insist that the person prove an identity before operating hardware already sitting on the desk.
None of those problems exist in a simple local driver.
That is the useful way to measure forced-account creep: not by asking whether creating an account is difficult, but whether the account is necessary for the underlying task.
When the answer is no, the dependency deserves scrutiny.