After careful consideration, we have made the difficult decision to end technical support for older Wemo products, effective January 31, 2026."
Granted, I had a relationship with those products so it’s not necessarily a bad thing.
I took advantage of Prime day and grabbed Kasa Matter switches and smart plugs, so we’ll see how that goes. TBH I have a love-hate relationship with smart devices since I don’t really do the routines. I find myself consistently yelling at the laggy Google/Wemo, so I will soon transfer that energy to Siri.
And yes, I’m that guy who thought Nest Secure was going to be a great thing too.
All I can say is what I’ve been saying for a long time.
IoT devices that depend on a cloud server for operation are a bad idea, on general principles.
I have been saying this with respect to security and privacy, but the fact that the manufacturer may turn off the cloud service while you’re still using the device is another critical aspect.
Cloud services may be useful, but if the device can’t be fully operational without access to the cloud service, then I don’t want it in my home.
The first Wemo device was introduced in 2012. They had a good run, but never reached their full potential (or achieved high reliability). Good for Belkin for hanging on as long as they did, many other companies gave up a lot quicker.
I have a few Wemo switches, but it looks like they’ll keep working with HomeKit, which is all I care about:
Note: Wemo products configured for use with Apple HomeKit will continue to function via HomeKit in the absence of Wemo cloud services and the Wemo app. For instructions on configuring and using Wemo devices via Apple HomeKit, please consult our online FAQs.
I have fiddled with Home Automation since even before the days of X10 and I can’t agree more. I bought an original Nest thermostat, only to see it acquired and enshittified by Google then turned into landfill fodder. Rinse and repeat multiple times as the IoT landscape matured.
When I moved to a 110-year-old house on a remote island last year, I had a chance to start all over. I chose Home Assistant, a free and open source IoT management platform. While it has a challenging learning curve, it has a vibrant community of contributors who have created integrations for an astonishing array of products, (click on the “Brands: featured” tag to show the whole list) many of which otherwise rely on proprietary apps and cloud services or are just simply not available now. My solar inverter, battery stack, electric car, security cameras, and more were all able to connect. There is an integration for WeMo, and though I have no idea how good it is, they do label it as using direct connection: no cloud required.
I dumped Wemo switches several years ago due to failures and unreliable performance. I mostly use Meross switches and LiFX lights these days. I still have a couple of Ikea Tradfri devices under Homekit but am unlikely to add any more.
None use cloud services.
It’s about time that we find a way to make the IoT manufacturers responsible for the e-waste they create when they dump products like Wemo and Google/Nest just did. There’s nothing keeping them from continuing to support those products except “we don’t want to”. How about sucking up to the responsibility and making it possible to send obsoleted products that will no longer work as advertised when sold back to the manufacturer at no charge to the consumer.
At least Google/Nest gave a nice discount for the latest gen Nest thermostat to those impacted by their actions. Still the right thing to do would for them to have a postage paid mailer so that I could mail their mistake back to them - and make them recycle it. Belkin should be doing the same - on both counts.
I have a bunch of Protects and Nests which will be going back soon. (Of course the Protects would still work, but they can only be used for ten years - not out of Google spite, but because all CO monitors I believe have the same restriction because the sensor wears out over time.)
I lived a very healthy and productive life, as did my parents, my grandparents, and my great grandparents, without home automation.
I see absolutely no serious value whatsoever in having any manner of automation in my home.
As a gimmick, I might play around with it, were it not for the things that others here have mentioned (security, cost, long-term viability) preventing me from either bothering.
I don’t have household staff or live in a hotel, so I find things like smart thermostats, programmable window blinds, video doorbells, and remote light switches to be useful.
Apple and Google are indeed to be commended for taking the initiative to be responsible for the disposal of the devices they sell. I’m aware of Staples’ recycling offerings. And my community has a electronic recycling drop off.
It’s a shame, though that more manufacturers don’t accept direct responsibility for the e-waste they create.
I am primarily of the same opinion, but one thing this senior citizen likes is the internet-connected garage door opener. Now I have a way to check when, ten minutes after I’ve left the house, I ask myself if I remembered to close the garage door. Also I have set an alert to tell me if the door is open for more than 20 minutes. This saves me when I have gotten home but somehow forgotten to close the door.
relationship with those products so it’s not necessarily a bad thing.