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Chamberlain blocks smart garage door opener from working with smart homes

arstechnica.com

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Re: Chamberlain blocks smart garage door opener from working with smart homes

#31

Post by plussed_reader »

iSnow wrote: post #11
djhworld wrote: post #6

The 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.

Buying smart home devices with cloud integration also just means that at some point, the manufacturer will declare it obsolete and will rip out support to force you to re-buy every 5-7y.

Or shorter intervals if you're Sonos.

Re: Chamberlain blocks smart garage door opener from working with smart homes

#32

Post by hnbad »

emmet wrote: post #12

Haven't fully wrapped my head around Matter yet, but does that standard solve the problem? It's my understanding that there's no need for specific apps when anything can connect to a Matter device. Or can manufacturers still pull a fast one like this and kill Matter compatibility with an OTA firmware update? Not sure why they'd want to, but I wouldn't put it past them.

It depends. If it's using Matter-over-WiFi, yes, a firmware could change that. If it's using Matter-over-Thread (or ZigBee) it's still tied to that frequency so there's no point in changing or dropping support for the protocol except to intentionally brick the device (assuming it doesn't support another type of communication but for cost reasons most devices only support one comms frequency and that's hardwired).

Note that dropping Matter if the device has WiFi still means it needs to have some pre-existing redundancy or at least add something else instead. This also likely breaks integrations with any voice assistant in a way that would at the very least require reconfiguration, I think. It's certainly a lot less sneaky and a lot more self-destructive than just turning off a proprietary API.

Re: Chamberlain blocks smart garage door opener from working with smart homes

#33

Post by arbuge »

> Chamberlain Group recently made the decision to prevent unauthorized usage of our myQ ecosystem through third-party apps. This decision was made so that we can continue to provide the best possible experience for our 10 million+ users, as well as our authorized partners who put their trust in us. We understand that this impacts a small percentage of users, but ultimately this will improve the performance and reliability of myQ, benefiting all of our users.

This is corporate doublespeak at its worst. If you switch every sentence there to the exact opposite of what he said, you'll get a far more accurate version of reality.

Re: Chamberlain blocks smart garage door opener from working with smart homes

#34

Post by bell-cot »

Someone1234 wrote: post #20
bell-cot wrote: post #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.

This is a strange point to make. - People complaining that their IoT device doesn't integrate with Home Assistant anymore... - Solution (?): Stop buying IoT devices so that nothing integrates with Home Assistant. That's kind of the exact opposite of people's goals in this situation.

IIR - the article describes Chamberlain's goal as "force all users to scroll past a bunch of ads in our Garage Door Opener app, in order to get to the OPEN/CLOSE button".

To me, that sounds like a worse case than "Just use a dedicated 1990's-tech garage door opener, that I keep in my car". If Chamberlain's cloudy infrastructure was off-line (internet outage, went bankrupt, or the just lost interest), would there be any way to remotely open the garage door?

Re: Chamberlain blocks smart garage door opener from working with smart homes

#35

Post by infecto »

I don't know the industry well but I always wondered why it was not ripe for a solid entrant to come in and easily scoop up at least some of the market.

I think there is only 2 companies now that control most of the American market. Chamberlain and Overhead Door Company (owned by a Japanese door company). I think I have mostly had Chamberlain brands and of course the door itself always works but the tech behind is has been lacking. I suspect ODC is similar. Lots of gimmicky systems like adding video cameras to the opener which requires yet another subscription along with controlling the door through the web along with a similar subscription. Last I looked the fee was something like $45/year which felt steep, would be happy to pay but the price felt out of line with what it does.

Along with poor tech decision I always felt that the product itself was not very interesting or innovative. Shoot, look what Ryobi did with the now discontinued opener, it had a battery backup, excellent lighting, extension cord, plugs. I don't remember the story on why it was discontinued but I believe it had something to do with supply chain and covid....I might be misremembering.

So yes, I am always a little stumped why someone does not jump in and just make a solid unit. Give me a non-buggy interface, let me pay for a reasonable subscription so I can maybe connect to my apple ecosystem. I never see any clones from China in America, they surely must exist but I never see them.

Re: Chamberlain blocks smart garage door opener from working with smart homes

#36

Post by sgu999 »

Someone1234 wrote: post #20
bell-cot wrote: post #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.

This is a strange point to make. - People complaining that their IoT device doesn't integrate with Home Assistant anymore... - Solution (?): Stop buying IoT devices so that nothing integrates with Home Assistant. That's kind of the exact opposite of people's goals in this situation.

> That's kind of the exact opposite of people's goals in this situation.

It depends on whether their goal is averaged convenience in the long term. In my opinion, having to deal with this crap always ends up offsetting not having to manually hit a switch.

Re: Chamberlain blocks smart garage door opener from working with smart homes

#37

Post by twisteriffic »

iSnow wrote: post #11
djhworld wrote: post #6

The 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.

Buying smart home devices with cloud integration also just means that at some point, the manufacturer will declare it obsolete and will rip out support to force you to re-buy every 5-7y.

Or delete your entire smarthome config during "routine database maintenance" and provide you no recourse other than to wait 6 months for their overwhelmed support to grant you the access key to set your system back up from scratch. Also known as a typical Thursday for Samsung.

Re: Chamberlain blocks smart garage door opener from working with smart homes

#38

Post by bastard_op »

This is the unfortunate future of all "smart" devices, but this is still truly a scumbag move on their part, particularly since they're only doing the pump and dump on Android phones. It's like selling crack in poor neighborhoods.

Now I know never to buy Chamberlain products in my home, and recommend anyone I know doesn't either.

Re: Chamberlain blocks smart garage door opener from working with smart homes

#39

Post by fest »

Someone1234 wrote: post #22
fest wrote: post #7

I 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.

That solution has multiple drawbacks, not least of all you lose access to the sensors (motion, door open/closed state, etc) but also it is difficult to install.

It would, if I had them in the first place (most of the systems I've seen locally don't- it's typically just a motor and keyfob here).

Re: Chamberlain blocks smart garage door opener from working with smart homes

#40

Post by internet101010 »

sgu999 wrote: post #36
Someone1234 wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a strange point to make. - People complaining that their IoT device doesn't integrate with Home Assistant anymore... - Solution (?): Stop buying IoT devices so that nothing integrates with Home Assistant. That's kind of the exact opposite of people's goals in this situation.

> That's kind of the exact opposite of people's goals in this situation. It depends on whether their goal is averaged convenience in the long term. In my opinion, having to deal with this crap always ends up offsetting not having to manually hit a switch.

The goal for people using HomeKit is complete control over all things in their house (cameras, lights, locks, etc.).

So yeah, they took something that worked fine and intentionally broke it.

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