Chamberlain blocks smart garage door opener from working with smart homes
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Re: Chamberlain blocks smart garage door opener from working with smart homes
#2> ... Do not buy products or services from companies that treat their customers this way. ...
True. But when you have good-enough alternatives, simply do not buy any "smart home", IoT, or connected devices at all. Unless [complex open-source conditions here], buying from NiceCorp does nothing to stop them from being taken over by NastyCorp, with the obvious malicious intent.
Re: Chamberlain blocks smart garage door opener from working with smart homes
#3The Ars comments recommend Ratgo and Messo. Ratgo for a WiFi board that connects directly to the garage doors electrical and Messo is another cheap HomeKit option from Amazon.
Re: Chamberlain blocks smart garage door opener from working with smart homes
#4The brazenness of Chamberlain here is incredible given how problematic a garage door that opens by itself could prove to be, and they could have chosen to go on about that, but instead they just go for the full crazy angle.
Ultimately this whole using-a-product-means-using-the-user-experience-dictated-by-the-product-seller, be it SaaS, mobile app or hardware is a total dead end. The part Richard Stallman missed when arguing with his printer was you have to allow honest people to make money working in such an ecosystem, or you end up with no UX at all.
Re: Chamberlain blocks smart garage door opener from working with smart homes
#5> Ah, now it makes sense. Your garage door opener app isn't here only to open your garage door; it's here to display ads and upsell you on services.
> "I clicked door open/close event and it popped up the video storage subscription dialog to ask me to subscribe,"
I mean... who, while waiting to get into or out of garage, sitting in the car or soon to be sitting in the car clicks on ads to buy something? Wouldn't conversion rates be ridiculous?
Not that everything else is wrong there with current approaches to IoT: Blocking 3rd party apps, needing 3rd party cloud server somewhere to open garage door, putting ads on top of actual button, needing special app to operate, be dependent on internet. Cannot comment on security for this particular product, but that is a topic on its own.
Re: Chamberlain blocks smart garage door opener from working with smart homes
#6The home assistant blog post goes into this issue as well https://www.home-assistant.io/blog/2023/11/06/removal-of-myq...
If anything it highlights the point that having a cloud service to handle your smart home device is a recipe for shenanigans like this.
Stick with ZigBee/Matter devices, and if the device is WiFi try and at least make sure it works over the local network.
Re: Chamberlain blocks smart garage door opener from working with smart homes
#7I use a very crude DIY setup for garage doors and yard gate: bought a spare keyfob on aliexpress, took it apart and connected it to wall power supply and ESP relay board running esphome. Works great and will work as long as my garage door and yard gate openers work.
The only drawback is that it's less secure, as it uses RF but I can't be bothered to dig a new cable to gate motor through already paved driveway.
Re: Chamberlain blocks smart garage door opener from working with smart homes
#8> Ah, now it makes sense. Your garage door opener app isn't here only to open your garage door; it's here to display ads and upsell you on services. > "I clicked door open/close event and it popped up the video storage subscription dialog to ask me to subscribe," I mean... who, while waiting to get into or out of garage, sitting in the car or soon to be sitting in the car clicks on ads to buy something? Wouldn't conv…
The add-free version will be soon be available for 9.99€ per Month.
Re: Chamberlain blocks smart garage door opener from working with smart homes
#9Re: Chamberlain blocks smart garage door opener from working with smart homes
#10> Ah, now it makes sense. Your garage door opener app isn't here only to open your garage door; it's here to display ads and upsell you on services. > "I clicked door open/close event and it popped up the video storage subscription dialog to ask me to subscribe," I mean... who, while waiting to get into or out of garage, sitting in the car or soon to be sitting in the car clicks on ads to buy something? Wouldn't conv…
Slightly less irritating than garage door, but:
I’ve been going to my baseball team’s website recently to buy stuff because they won, and a 5 second video ad pops up every time you go…
I’m here, I want to spend money, and you want to show me ads?