As far as I understand, Apple insisted that HomeKit devices be manageable locally with cloud connection optional. Your device can still do cloud connection, but Apple devices will only talk to it locally though a HomePod or an AppleTV or some iDevice that you leave on your home network.
So it's not really how they are choosing to continue to support these products, and more of a byproduct of how HomeKit works.
I guess I’m conditioned to expect this stuff to die one way or another when something like this happens. I shall cautiously reframe my expectations…
Generally the only reason you'd need an app to pair a HomeKit device is if the SRP key isn't printed on the box, and as far as I know that was limited to some early devices that were shipping while HomeKit was in beta (I know LIFX lights were in that camp for example. After Apple announced HomeKit, they said that all existing lightbulbs will become HomeKit compatible through an OTA upgrade. But of course you had to use the app to get the HomeKit code)
HomeKit is a local protocol. The Apple device connects directly to the outlet or lightbulb it's trying to pair over bluetooth or through local mDNS.
Weave was designed from the start (circa 2013) with local control in mind. However features based on local control were a tough sell inside Google after the acquisition (as one might imagine). Today, many of the pivotal people in the Matter effort are ex-Nesters, and they, along with their (equally passionate) Apple counterparts have been strong champions of local control.
> After this date, several Wemo products will no longer be controllable through the Wemo app.
That makes it sound like some Wemo products will still be controllable through the Wemo app. But when you read the rest of the article, there are zero details that indicate this, or even imply it. This bit seems to contradict that notion entirely
> The Wemo app will no longer be updated after January 31, 2026, and can manually be removed from your smart device.
It would be great if these devices could still be controlled/configured locally via the app, but I'm guessing that won't be the case. If they froze the functionality in time, I wouldn't be as unhappy. But if they're basically turning their products into bricks, I'm pretty not thrilled.
Yesterday was getting tempted by Zigbee again and then this arrived at my email. This is the last straw and decided to go full steam ahead [0]. btw the dongle is 25% off on amazon atm (prime day).
[0] It's this one, not tried it yet (fingers crossed it will work): https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09KXTCMSC
I do have that particular Sonoff dongle - as well as a ZBT-1 - and I can vouch that the dongle works as well as the Hue hub it replaced, controlling a couple dozen lights.
(Obligatory prime-day-is-not-much-of-an-actual-discount so don't worry if you miss out on this sale - https://camelcamelcamel.com/product/B09KXTCMSC)
It looks like there's third-party work to make Sonoff ZBDongle-E (which is _not_ the linked device) do both at once, but that's not officially supported…
Only tip I have for you is that everyone suggests to use a USB extension cable with these to get it away from your PC or whatever device. My dongle is sticky-tacked to my office wall.
Imho there should be some kind of electrical standard of how these things are controlled (specified in voltages, relays, ... and not changing over the years nor between companies), and then have something that can be interchangeable that can be upgraded "with the times" to control all this.
Matter is a new standard that is incredibly slowly rolling out, the problem with it is that it isn't the 'full picture' because it only specifies a protocol but not the physical medium. So you can have matter devices over TCP/IP that have to be connected to Wi-Fi, or matter devices over Thread radio (more akin to Zigbee). Wi-Fi will come with its own set of headaches since you have to have some dumb app or whatever to use, to get the correct credentials onto each individual IoT device.
TCP/IP and its associated network and transport protocols are not going to be outdated in our lifetimes.
Not that I've yet found any decent devices that don't cost a fortune that do anything with Thread, other than apparently a half dozen things I own are Thread Border Routers (hubs). I have all these hubs and nothing for them to speak to.
Matter and Thread seem to be progressing rather slowly when it comes to hardware support. Zigbee seems to be the reigning champion still, though slowly companies seem to be moving towards Matter now.
The super cheap AliExpress stuff will probably take years to move on. Matter is a western standard backed by western big tech, so unless you're mostly targeting the west you may as well stick to Zigbee for a while.
The biggest advantage to Thread over Zigbee is probably that phones have Thread radios (iPhones and some Androids) so you can directly control light bulbs and such without any gateways or firewalls to care about. Now that esp32s are also gaining Thread support, things should start accelerating in a few product cycles.
Sorry, I've again failed to explain properly.
My main point: I dislike smarthome things where the individual endpoints are wi-fi, especially small things like switches and lights, because it means there has to be some usually cheesy way to pair it to the network (and also because I don't have Ubiquiti or anything so I don't have a separate IoT network, so it would clutter up my LAN and annoy me). I like Zigbee (and I suppose Zwave is cool, but don't personally have it) and will probably like Thread someday because they don't require me to get my network credentials into a lightbulb in the first place, which if I know manufacturers, will in practice mean some horrible iOS app is mandatory and that app's eventual retirement will someday brick the device.
For that reason, I am rooting for Thread to hurry up and actually make an impact on the market, and not really interested in Matter-over-Wi-fi because in that sense, moving from Zigbee (or Caseta, my other major thing) to Matter-over-Wi-fi would be a big step backward in that way.
By "static feature set" I mean to draw a contrast between these plugs and light switches, and say, a device that has to have a web browser or which needs to access an external API that may need to change to reflect changing external factors. Literally nothing needs 'updating' about a simple relay. It turns on and it turns off. Same now as in 2010.
Smart home tech really should be fully cost-free to keep working indefinitely. All these "cloud" and "mobile app" integrations that 100% of them have are what makes these EOLs happen, since the company needs to maintain servers speaking a certain API version, or push firmware updates out for every device ever made, and keep updating a mobile "app" just to keep it running.
The solution to this has been with us for over a decade: the Zigbee and Z-wave model. The devices speak a standard interface and talk to the owner's choice of standard hub forever. (If Sonoff goes out of business tomorrow my Sonoff devices will all still work perfectly fine.)
Belkin could have shipped Zigbee-compatible devices even when their first WeMo device came out, but they thought it was more profitable to make proprietary stuff.
I work in the smart home space. Your sentiment is reasonable and understandable but, respectfully, you’re wrong.
First, all these devices will continue to work locally. They’re just killing the server, which has continual real costs. They’re not being bricked, they’re just regressing to their static features.
Second, ZWave and Zigbee were never the future. It’s very hard to convince consumers they need a hub. My firms market research indicates that most consumers think it’s a cash grab. And the return rate of Zigbee products because they “don’t connect to WiFi” is scary high.
Finally, you need an app and cloud of some sort for controlling the device. Consumers expect that app will control the device and it will work anywhere in the world, because that’s why they bought it. That’s just the basic market research on the majority of consumers of smart home products. Users need a way to control the device (or at least set it up), and that means an app, which means continuous updates as app stores change. Global control means cloud relays and server costs.
Matter (the protocol) was inevitable. Consumers already have an IP network, and the big tech companies can afford to build and distribute apps and relay servers built into their phones and cloud offerings. This minimizes the risks of device manufacturers and maximizes compatibility.
What do you mean by "static feature"? Like that I can still press a button on my wall and it will toggle the status of my lights? Or that I can use my Wemo app when I am at home (but not elsewhere) to control my lights?
I have noticed that even when my wifi goes out, my programmed Wemos will still turn on X minutes before sunset and off X minutes after sunrise. Do you think this sort of operation requires the server (either always, or every once and a while) to be available?
I am trying to figure out if I should get new devices on Black Friday or if it's likely enough these will still work fine for my purposes come next Jan.
This I 100% believe and it's so sad. I'm clearly suffering from the fact that smart home enthusiasts, while being the only ones who can even build an even remotely useful smarthome setup, are a minority, and by the numbers, probably 10x the devices are purchased by very nontechnical users who say things like "I just paid the wi-fi bill" and who would buy and return devices that need hubs. And yeah, we all need those people to make a product 'mainstream successful.'
Among enthusiasts of course, we all know a hub basically gives you (the user) control, rather than being reliant on some cloud server that will be turned off (like this article illustrates). (And they're usually like $30 so I'm astounded at how cheap people are. I've had Hue and Lutron hubs for literally 8 years and I suspect they'll last 10 more.) The problem of NAT which I didn't remember to talk about, created a lot of this, as obviously some kind of cloud thing needs to be involved for out-of-home control, but yeah, I think you and I agree that we're better off letting Apple and Google and Amazon be the cloud relays for things that connect to some device in our home that can serve as a hub.
The thing that's the most irritating is that without standards and hubs, you either have to go all in on one company's ecosystem, and none of them are the best at everything, or you have to use 12 different apps: this one for lights, this one for smoke alarms, this one for audio, this one for cameras, this one for smart speakers, this one for that one switch that you bought because they're the only one who offered a really specific type, etc.
Empty apology, for an act that legislators, regulators, and the market shouldn't tolerate.
> If your Wemo product is still under warranty on or after January 31, 2026, you may be eligible for a partial refund. Refund requests will not be processed before that date.
Someone needs to lead a class-action suit, with a settlement that is many multiples of whatever the company thought they gained/saved. Get it publicized for well-deserved brand damage. Make it hurt enough that shareholders are angry at the CEO and board.
I don't think companies can be sued for discontinuing cloud services that are required for older devices to keep working, otherwise Google would have surely been sued over their Nest security system shutdown, among other things. Maybe a shareholder derivative lawsuit could make sense, but Belkin isn't publicly traded, and presumably whoever owns them is OK with this decision (and wouldn't want a costly lawsuit).
Pre Android, Motorola Mobility's phones had a huge fleet of CentOS boxes that were required to run a large fraction of the social app functionality on their phones.
The only games/apps/hardware I want to use are those that can be run completely offline with no dial-home DRM or server backend.
apparent•7mo ago
The most reliable Wemo devices I have are the older ones. The oldest, which I got off Craigslist, is rock solid. The newer outlet plugs are super flakey.
I was already unlikely to buy new Wemo products, given their trajectory. But now that they're abandoning their stable products, I'm definitely never buying Wemo again.
Anyone have suggestions for good wall plugs and light switches?
bradac56•7mo ago
They will work with any Z-Wave/Zigbee compatible controller.
SirFatty•7mo ago
pkulak•7mo ago
EDIT: From what I can tell, the Belkin integration _is_ local push, so I don't know what the big deal is. Does removing "support" just mean no more updates? If they aren't already, hook those guys up to Home Assistant and you can keep them until you die.
mattmaroon•7mo ago
"Wemo products configured for use with Apple HomeKit prior to January 31, 2026 will continue to function via HomeKit in the absence of Wemo cloud services and the Wemo app."
So I'd assume that if you can use something without WeMo services or apps, you'll continue to be able to.
apparent•7mo ago
bombcar•7mo ago
mattmaroon•7mo ago
jeroenhd•7mo ago
mattmaroon•7mo ago
kbos87•7mo ago
doubleg72•7mo ago
dawatchusay•7mo ago
sebazzz•7mo ago
pkulak•6mo ago
urda•7mo ago
For light switches I tell everyone I know it is either LUTRON or nothing. Your time is not worth messing with anything else, and Lutron has been in the game long enough they have demonstrated commitment to their products. Finally, my Lutron system has been one of the few IoT devices I have ever had that was truly "set and forget". Once the Lutron switches and shades were bound, they have been perfect ever since for me.
somat•7mo ago
jeroenhd•7mo ago
os2warpman•7mo ago
I currently have 20 Lutron devices, including switches, dimmers, lamp dimmers, and pico remotes.
Between August 18th, 2018 and today the number of times my Lutron devices have failed to operate as intended can be counted on zero fingers.
I wish their product line was more expansive but if focus is what it takes to ensure the level of reliability they have, then ok.
urda•7mo ago
turtlebits•7mo ago