41–50 of 191 posts
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.
Personally, I moved to an ESPHome based controller and deleted their app years ago. That said... I'm definitely ordering a ratgdo, that seems like a way better option than what I've got now!
> 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…
> ... 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.
If you are trying to say “do not buy smarthome products which depend on a cloud connection” then that’s a position I agree with strongly.
Are there industry groups representing home automation solutions that push back on these decisions?
But I suppose a company that controls 70% of the market is uninterested in what anyone thinks, including their own customers.
> 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?
> 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…
This reddit thread says it uses a UI dark pattern of moving the "open/close button" from a familiar screen position formed by habitual use such that you accidentally click on an ad for a $3000 pet door:
https://old.reddit.com/r/myq/comments/xoxrlv/shady_af_advert...
Homebridge and Home Assistant used a popular Python library that reverse-engineered the MyQ API from the Android app. Many companies couldn't care less until abuse ramps up, but given that Chamberlain (Blackstone-owned) has gone into rent-seeking mode all of a sudden, they decided to turn the Cloudflare Super Bot Fight stuff way the hell up on their OIDC token exchange endpoint (you can still request auth codes).
I decided to abandon trying to get MyQ to work with Home Assistant (it would have required hours of trying to figure out what combination of headers would have passed the CF checkpoint) and ended up getting a Meross Smart Opener. It was shockingly easy to install (plug the relay device into the same pinouts that your wall door opener uses) and works even better than MyQ (in that you won't get a weird "close error" that prevents you from operating your door that not even MyQ customer service will clear)
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.
Thats the problem. There are really only two garage door companies in America and they are both terrible from a tech perspective.