Imagine if that fridge to procure simply 5 years in the past immediately up and died—and never due to some technical glitch, however as a result of the producer intentionally reached out and deactivated it, completely. You’d be livid, proper? And you’d most likely need a refund, too.
As wild as that state of affairs sounds for a serious equipment like a fridge or a TV, it occurs extra usually than you’d assume within the sensible house world. From the doomed Dropcam to the deserted Revolv sensible hub, there’s a protracted, unhappy parade of sensible house units which have changed into paperweights.
We’ve compiled an inventory of 10 notorious examples of killer sensible house merchandise that—for one cause or one other—had been deserted by their producers.
These deactivated sensible house devices have both largely or fully ceased to operate. In some instances, the makers of those bricked units supplied refunds, or a reduction on an upgraded or alternative product. But in different cases, clients had been left excessive and dry.
Read ‘em and weep.
10 stone-dead sensible house devices
Amazon Echo Look
Launched: 2017
Original checklist worth: $200
Date deactivated: July 24, 2020
Amazon
It was a heady idea: an Alexa-powered sensible digital camera that would scan your day by day outfits and offer you style recommendation. Indeed, the Echo Look was one of many unique “look what Alexa can do!” units, predating such out-there Alexa devices because the Echo Loop (Alexa on a hoop) and the Amazon Astro (Alexa on a robotic).
But the Echo Look by no means actually took off—partly, maybe, as a result of the Look’s digital camera lacked a privateness shutter, a minus for a tool that’s supposed to take a seat in your bed room dresser. In May 2020, Amazon introduced that the 3-year-old Look would go dark simply two months later.
Amazon did offer Echo Look owners a free Echo Show 5 in compensation, however nonetheless, the $90 sensible show didn’t precisely cowl the $200 asking worth for the dead-as-a-doornail style digital camera.
Amazon Echo Connect
Launched: 2017
Original checklist worth: $35
Date deactivated: February 29, 2024
Amazon
Landing proper across the identical time because the doomed Echo Look, the Echo Connect unlocked a killer Alexa function: the power to make telephone calls in your landline utilizing voice instructions. All you needed to do was plug your landline cable into the again of the Connect field, no further charges required.
But as landlines gave technique to cell telephones and Alexa gained the power to position calls from cell phone numbers, the Echo Connect started to look more and more outdated, and some bad reviews didn’t help.
Still, Echo Connect customers had been caught off guard when, in February 2024, Amazon gave them only a few weeks’ discover that the Connect would soon go dead. On the brilliant aspect, every Echo Connect proprietor acquired a $10 Amazon present card for his or her bother.
Revolve sensible house hub
Launched: 2013
Original checklist worth: $299
Date deactivated: May 15, 2016
YouTube
One sensible hub to rule all of them? That was the thought behind Revolv, a fire engine-red gadget filled with seven wi-fi radios that allowed you to regulate sensible merchandise from completely different producers, all from a single app.
That was, on the time, a killer idea—so killer that Nest, which had itself just been acquired by Google, snapped up Revolv’s parent company in 2014 and promptly yanked the hub from retailer cabinets.
Initially, Nest promised to maintain current Revolv sensible hubs up and working. But by early 2016, Revolv owners learned that their hubs would stop working entirely by May of the identical yr, leaving them caught with $300 paperweights whereas scrambling for options.
Iris by Lowe’s Home Automation platform
Launched: 2012
Original checklist worth: $50 hub, $99 Security Pack (with varied contact and movement sensors, plus a keypad), $129 Automation Pack (contained Security Pack elements plus a sensible plug and button)
Date deactivated: March 31, 2019
Lowe’s
Lowe’s jumped into the sensible house market early, going all-in with a hub (a second-generation hub landed in 2015 as a free improve for unique hub homeowners) and quite a lot of sensors, safety cameras, smoke detectors, and different sensible elements.
But from the beginning, Lowe’s Iris platform was beset with problems, from a prolonged and bug-ridden setup course of to promised options that had been sluggish to materialize (akin to skilled house monitoring), whereas help for third-party sensible manufacturers arrived solely in dribs and drabs. Lowe’s finally rolled out a raft of welcome updates to handle the prolonged checklist of buyer complaints, however the Iris platform by no means actually recovered from its rocky launch.
By 2019, Lowe’s finally threw in the towel, saying that its Iris merchandise would cease working by March 31 of that yr.
While Iris customers had been confronted with the prospect of rebuilding their sensible house setups, Lowe’s no less than supplied to refund clients for any Iris merchandise that wouldn’t work on another platforms, whereas Samsung SmartIssues stepped as much as assist Iris customers migrate to its personal sensible platform.
Hive house safety merchandise
Launched: 2017
Original checklist worth: Various
Date deactivated: September 1, 2023 (Hive Leak sensor), August 1, 2025 (all different Hive safety merchandise)
Amazon
UK-based Hive had massive plans for the sensible house again in 2017. Originally centered on sensible heating and thermostats, the model was poised to branch out into home security with the Hive HomeShield alarm and the Hive View indoor and outdoor cameras (pictured above), whereas the Hive Leak Sensor would preserve its wireless-enabled feelers out for water leaks.
But by 2019, Hive started dialing down its sensible house ambitions, first withdrawing from the U.S. and Canadian markets (Hive gave instructions to users in North America on how to dispose of its useless smart gadgets on a help web page) after which saying it will exit the home security market altogether, with its portfolio of digital camera and safety units slated to go useless by August 1, 2025. (The Hike Leak misplaced help and connectivity in 2023.) And as for refunds, the options aren’t great.
Hive selected to cut the merchandise as a result of “as a smart technology brand in the middle of a climate crisis, we know our focus needs to change,” based on an organization assertion.
Samsung SmartIssues first-generation Hub, ADT SmartIssues Home Security & Safety System, SmartIssues Link
Launched: 2014 (first-gen Hub), 2017 (ADT SmartIssues Home Security & Safety System), 2018 (Samsung Link)
Original checklist worth: $99 (hub), $550 and up (ADT SmartIssues Home Security kits), $40 (SmartIssues Link)
Date deactivated: June 20, 2021
Jared Newman / Foundry
One of the most important and most stalwart of sensible house manufacturers, Samsung SmartIssues has nonetheless seen match to show a few of its older merchandise into paperweights.
Back in 2021, Samsung pulled support for the original SmartThings Hub from 2014—not an enormous shock, provided that the hub was seven years outdated. Still, because of compatibility points, first-generation Hub homeowners had been confronted with the prospect of recreating their sensible house setups from scratch.
More vexing was the choice to axe the much newer Samsung Link (a dongle that allowed the Nvidia Shield to carry out double responsibility as a SmartIssues hub, pictured above) and the pricey ADT SmartThings Home Security system, which had been (respectively) solely three and 4 years outdated.
Samsung and companion ADT supplied homeowners of their useless merchandise a mix of refunds and reductions on newer {hardware}, and the SmartIssues ecosystem itself lives on.
Phillips Hue Bridge (first-generation)
Launched: 2012
Original checklist worth: Included in a $199 Hue starter equipment
Date deactivated: April 2022
Signify
Signify-owned Philips Hue first started promoting its industry-leading sensible lights approach again in 2012, and the primary Hue Bridge (pictured above on the best, with an enormous crimson slash by it) got here bundled with three Hue bulbs.
Hue discontinued the unique Bridge in 2015 in favor of an upgraded (and now sq.) mannequin with extra sturdy processing energy and Apple HomeEquipment help, however continued to maintain the older Bridge working with frequent software program updates.
By 2020, nonetheless, Philips Hue introduced that first-gen Bridge “no longer has the resources to guarantee the evolution of the Hue system.”
While homeowners of the outdated Bridge may nonetheless use it regionally with the Hue app (so strictly talking, it’s not stone useless), the device lost all online services after April 2020, together with out-of-home management and voice instructions.
Leeo Smart Alert Nightlight
Launched: 2014
Original checklist worth: $99
Date deactivated: Late 2019
Best Buy
Released again in 2014, the Leeo Smart Alert Nightlight was a easy linked gadget that would hear for smoke, carbon dioxide, and water leak detectors going off. Doubling as an evening gentle, the Leeo Smart Alert may warn you by way of cell alert if it heard any house alarms blaring—and better of all, the month-to-month service cost was zip, a rarity within the sensible house world.
Sadly, the no-cost service (which means no recurring revenue for Leeo) might have sealed the destiny of the Smart Alert Nightlight. After notifying clients in August 2019 that it was dealing with uneven monetary waters (the corporate stated it explored the potential for imposing month-to-month charges, however by no means adopted by), Leeo announced two months later that it was “unable to keep the network on.”
Its web connection gone, the Smart Alert misplaced all its smarts, though it may nonetheless work as a nightlight. (The color-capable gentle turned white as soon as the community help shut down).
Dropcam HD and Dropcam Pro
Launched: 2012 (Dropcam HD), Dropcam Pro (2013)
Original checklist worth: $149 (Dropcam HD), $199 (Dropcam Pro)
Date deactivated: April 8, 2024
Amazon
Two of the unique sensible safety cameras, the Dropcam HD and Dropcam Pro revolutionized the DIY house safety market with their good-looking designs, top-notch (for the time) video high quality, and inexpensive worth tags.
None of this escaped the discover of Nest, which scooped up Dropcam in 2014, simply previous to Google’s acquisition of Nest.
Unlike what occurred with the Revolv sensible hub, Nest stored each Dropcam items operational for a decade earlier than finally cutting off online support for both models in early April, 2024. Nest even supplied the final remaining Dropcam customers a free Nest Cam, offered they had been Nest Aware subscribers.
Nest Secure
Launched: 2017
Original checklist worth: $499
Date deactivated: April 8, 2024
The Dropcam HD and Dropcam Pro weren’t the one merchandise that Nest reached out and killed on April 8, 2024. On the identical day, the Google-owned model additionally pulled the plug on Nest Secure, its DIY house safety system.
Released in 2017, the Nest Secure bundle consists of the central Nest Guard element, which affords an built-in keypad, siren, and movement sensor, plus two contact sensors and a pair of NFC-equipped Nest “Tags” that may arm or disarm the system with a faucet.
Nest Secure garnered some admiring notices for its engaging industrial design, in addition to the tight integration with Nest’s different sensible house units. But the hefty $500 price ticket for simply two contact sensors and an alarm was a serious turnoff, and Nest discontinued Secure in 2020…proper across the time that Google sunk $450 million in ADT.
As with the Dropcams, Nest Secure stopped working in April 2024, rendering its alarm and window/door sensors ineffective. That stated, Google did offer Nest Secure users a new ADT security system price as much as $485—both that or a $200 Google Store credit score.