Sort of surprising that the app is cloud based rather than Bluetooth. You would expect a Bluetooth lock to keep working even if the cloud infrastructure was offline. And if the locks are only wifi, doesn’t that mean they would go through batteries like crazy? How long can a battery powered smart lock stay online?
Kevo app shutdown
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Re: Kevo app shutdown
#12Sort of surprising that the app is cloud based rather than Bluetooth. You would expect a Bluetooth lock to keep working even if the cloud infrastructure was offline. And if the locks are only wifi, doesn’t that mean they would go through batteries like crazy? How long can a battery powered smart lock stay online?
And lose the ability to data mine and show you ads while you try to get into your own home, fat chance…
Re: Kevo app shutdown
#13Sort of surprising that the app is cloud based rather than Bluetooth. You would expect a Bluetooth lock to keep working even if the cloud infrastructure was offline. And if the locks are only wifi, doesn’t that mean they would go through batteries like crazy? How long can a battery powered smart lock stay online?
They’re Bluetooth based and worked offline, but like so many “cloud” products, the app required an account which it seems to use to provision the key material for Bluetooth. I’m assuming they’re shutting down the account servers - so depending on how long the app goes between logins (or if the key material expires or not), it may be possible to extend their use.
This would be a fun reverse engineering project, probably!
Re: Kevo app shutdown
#14Internet of Bricks
Re: Kevo app shutdown
#15Don't buy connected stuff is a lesson people still need to learn
Re: Kevo app shutdown
#16"ends support for smartphone enabled"... If anyone thought for one second that any device which requires external "cloud" support would continue work beyond what is convenient/profitable for the provider then I have a wifi-only dishwasher to sell you. No, really - please buy it from me.
It depends. According to the link this lock was supported for over ten years, and the landscape for this type of device was pretty Wild West back then. There are a lot of devices that never even got that much support. Today, give me any HomeKit supported device and I’m satisfied it will work for as long as I need it to without some dodgy 3rd party app siphoning my data. And let’s be honest, if you were buying fridges…
> And let’s be honest, if you were buying fridges or washing machines based on WiFi features that’s on you.
I don't understand what you mean by this? My clothes will smell really bad if I leave them in the washer wet. If the appliance has a leak, I need to be nearby to remediate. Thus its not safe for me to start the appliance before I leave for 8+ hours.
If I can remotely start my washing machine, just prior to me arriving home, I can move the clothes to the dryer.
Re: Kevo app shutdown
#17Don't buy connected stuff is a lesson people still need to learn
Connected stuff is fine, but who owns the connection matters.
Re: Kevo app shutdown
#18Earlier quoted context omitted.
It depends. According to the link this lock was supported for over ten years, and the landscape for this type of device was pretty Wild West back then. There are a lot of devices that never even got that much support. Today, give me any HomeKit supported device and I’m satisfied it will work for as long as I need it to without some dodgy 3rd party app siphoning my data. And let’s be honest, if you were buying fridges…
> And let’s be honest, if you were buying fridges or washing machines based on WiFi features that’s on you. I don't understand what you mean by this? My clothes will smell really bad if I leave them in the washer wet. If the appliance has a leak, I need to be nearby to remediate. Thus its not safe for me to start the appliance before I leave for 8+ hours. If I can remotely start my washing machine, just prior to me a…
Remote start, and finish notifications, are genuinely useful things.
At the same time, I don't know if they're actually worth the downsides of needing to create an account, having hackable IoT things, installing an app per appliance brand (at least), etc vs, say, a timer and/or delay.
Re: Kevo app shutdown
#19This annoys me greatly.
When I built my house I went full home automation. At the time I was telling my friends about how important it was not to have cloud dependancy, and how I was doing everything local.
I use KNX as the main backbone and Home Assistant for control.
And everything was local with the one exception of my Kevo door lock. At the time I built, there just wasn’t a perfect local only solution.
I hadn’t planned properly for a way to integrate a wired in solution into the joinary around the door due to the particular circumstances of where it was, so I needed something wireless, and nothing wireless was local only at the time.
What pisses me off is that it’s the one thing I compromised on, and it’s the one thing that bit me.
Now I have very little notice to find a replacement with the same features.
Re: Kevo app shutdown
#20"ends support for smartphone enabled"... If anyone thought for one second that any device which requires external "cloud" support would continue work beyond what is convenient/profitable for the provider then I have a wifi-only dishwasher to sell you. No, really - please buy it from me.
it's worse than that - those locks are bluetooth-based, so they don't care about the cloud. What happened is that they are disabling the app, so it is no longer usable.
So many of the smart apps won't even launch without an Internet connection (i.e. connection to their cloud services), even if you just want to control local Bluetooth devices.