How to use when washer & dryer are not connected yet

[thany]

So let's say I've got no app, no connection, just an LG Smartthinq washer and dryer doing their thing in the traditional way. Don't ask me which models I have. A few things immediately mystify me.

Connecting to wifi:
How do I get these devices to connect to my wifi in the first place? They seem to provide a wifi network by themselves when I press the wifi button, but there's a password on it. Anybody knows what this is? I asked LG two weeks ago, but I guess they're not interested in providing support.

Account credentials:
Why exactly does this integration need the username and password? Does it just pull information from LG? Surely not I hope... In my opinion, the point of using Home Assistant is to be independent of external services for internal devices. I expected it would want the IP address the washer & dryer are on.