Belkin Ending Support for Most Wemo Devices

[con2apple]

In German, they say “Cloud ist eben Klaut”
(in sense of “cloud is theft”, as both words are pronounced the same)
What they mean is that users no longer own anything that is in the cloud. One click of power off and all data is gone.

Now, some might say, “But it lasted ten years” (I don't know about that), to which I would respond: But a normal light switch lasts 50 years.

That's what I like about Apple HomeKit, and why I use it: HomeKit doesn't need the cloud. The iPad or HomePod is the server. So the user creates his own cloud.

 

[con2apple]

Exactly why open standards like Matter should be the default, so devices don’t just stop working when the manufacturer decides to end support.

It's really nice to read comments like this in a primarily American forum.
Americans are known for buying everything new every year because they don't care about quality. Only the brand is important.

And I still remember the surveys: “Cars will only be bought with CarPlay,” “90% want to switch to SmartHome.”
What I also remember is the hatred in recent years towards open standards such as Matter. “Apple HomeKit is much better.”

So, seriously, the fact that your comment has received positive reactions gives me hope that Americans are slowly – very slowly – rethinking what is really important in products.

 

[ZMacintosh]

Lol...technology.

 

[macmac30]

Belkin today informed customers that it is ending technical support for older Wemo devices, with service set to end on January 31, 2026. When that date rolls around, some Wemo devices will no longer be accessible through the Wemo app.

Belkin says that any features that use cloud connectivity, such as remote access or voice assistant integrations, will stop working. Wemo products configured with HomeKit before January 31, 2026 will continue to function through HomeKit without needing Wemo cloud services or the Wemo app. Customers who have HomeKit can continue to use their devices as normal, but Amazon Alexa and Google Home users will not be able to continue to operate Wemo products.

Devices that will no longer be supported were released between August 2015 and November 2023, with a list available on Belkin's website.

There are only four Thread-based Wemo devices that won't be affected by Belkin's Wemo cloud service shutdown, including the Wemo Smart Light Switch 3-Way, the Wemo Stage Smart Scene Controller, the Wemo Smart Plug with Thread, and the Wemo Smart Video Doorbell Camera.

Belkin says that it is ending support because it needs to focus its resources on different parts of the Belkin business, and the company has issued an apology to customers for the inconvenience.

Customers who have a Wemo device that is still under warranty may be eligible for a partial refund. For customers who have devices that are no longer under warranty and that will be rendered non-functional on January 31, 2026, Belkin recommends disposing of them at an authorized e-waste recycling center.

Article Link: Belkin Ending Support for Most Wemo Devices

Good F'g riddance to these POS devices! I swear I have lost several years off my life dealing with random Wemo light switches throughout my home losing connection and then you had to do the reconnect shuffle JUST RIGHT to get it to re-connect (happened DOZENS of times over the years). Such a huge PITA these things were. I switched to Leviton switches about 3 years ago with their support for Matter. Never have regretted it once!

 

[iSkippy]

I have four Wemo light switches, with only one of them officially being HomeKit compatible. It’ll still work after this debacle. I even bought the Wemo Bridge to officially connect my older Wemo devices to HomeKit, and the thing was less reliable than when I had my Raspberry Pi handle everything with Homebridge. I have the Bridge plugged into a mechanical timer that powers it off every morning at 4 AM, because at random it’ll just forget itself and operate the wrong devices! “Hey Siri, turn on the front porch light,” and my living room light comes on instead.

Someone mentioned maybe continuing to use affected Wemo devices with Homebrige after the shutdown. Unless something has changed since my days of using Homebridge, the Wemo plugins for it need the devices to be configured with the Wemo app first, so if the app goes away, bye bye Homebridge.

I hate buying through Amazon, but they had 34% off Leviton switches that are HomeKit-compatible, so I asked my Prime-using colleague to order them for me. I’m now out $130 more, and I still have an outlet I’d like to replace. Or maybe I’ll just use a dumb timer to control the Christmas lights.

Belkin gets no more of my money. Man, between Wemo and my Qardio blood pressure monitor, which stopped working when the company went belly-up, I sure can pick ’em!

 

[macduke]

I have seven of their smart light switches wired up in my house that I installed in 2020 and 2021. It sounds like they will still be working, but will they be vulnerable? Will Belkin even tell us or will I have to read it on MacRumors like I did when their smart plugs were hacked and Belkin told us to kick rocks that there would be no software update even though I had just bought them a couple years before? Since then I have vowed not to buy another Belkin product and I’ve kept my word. I replaced them with Eve and I’ll probably replace these switches with Eve. I like that they use Thread so they are inherently more secure because they don’t directly access the internet and use a bridge device like HomePod Mini or Apple TV which is much more secure.

I probably need to do some research but does anyone have a Thread smart light switch that also has a motion sensor built in that you can set to only use during certain times of day or activities? For instance, I only want lights in my house to automatically turn on when they detect motion in the evening about 45 minutes before sundown, and if a TV is on, I want them to not turn on at all if motion is detected in our home theater room. I would update most of the switches, including ones that aren’t yet smart, if I could get such a setup. Bonus points if they use some kind of high tech presence detection system that can see through walls to a certain depth. I saw something like that in a video once.

 

[CarlJ]

It's really nice to read comments like this in a primarily American forum.
Americans are known for buying everything new every year because they don't care about quality. Only the brand is important.

And I still remember the surveys: “Cars will only be bought with CarPlay,” “90% want to switch to SmartHome.”
What I also remember is the hatred in recent years towards open standards such as Matter. “Apple HomeKit is much better.”

Eh, American here, I think you've heard a segment that is loud, but not representative of everyone here - my love of open standards goes back at least as far as the RFCs that formed the foundation of the internet (standards like SMTP, etc.), and ANSI standards like X3.4 (ASCII) and X3.64 (terminal control sequences - I've got an official paper copy of that somewhere). I like the Matter and Thread standards, though most of the gear I have at home is old enough to not use them. I wouldn't say HomeKit is better, but it is a unifying platform for me that gives me control over IoT devices from all my Apple gear.

I detest the "new phone/computer/car every year" school of thought. There are many others here of the same mind. I'd much rather buy good quality that lasts a long time - ultimately less expensive than buying and replacing multiple cheap items in the same timeframe, plus you get all the advantages inherent in the high quality item during that time. My current iPhone is a 16 Pro, but that replaced an iPhone 8.

 

[bottsjw]

This is a great reminder that people should never, ever buy a Belkin product, as a Belkin could announce at any time that customers' purchases are being neutered or killed.

100% agree. “Never Belkin” going forward.

 

[siddavis]

And this is exhibit #500 about why making everything smart is stupid...


Does not matter if its a small mom and pop company or someone like Belkin or Spoitfy... They can cripple your smart "home" and then tell you to kick rocks when you complain..

Well, they did say, “sorry”. That makes it all better

 

[SalisburySam]

…a normal light switch lasts 50 years.

And more. We have many original light switches in our 1905 home, the two-button push type the “On” button have a mother-of-pearl inset. Three-way switches have the mother-of-pearl insets on both buttons. These were originally for knob-and-tube wiring, now standard Romex. All but one of these still works properly 120 years later. And that’s not uncommon in other historic homes surrounding ours.

Fortunately, one can still obtain newly-constructed switches that look and act like the originals for things like renovations and failure replacements. The one difference is the new ones don’t need and don’t have the very strong spring inside them as the push button blade changes position from “On” to “Off” and back.

 

[macwhiztech]

If you want to hardwire a smart switch into your U.S. home, you're nuts if you buy one from a company that primarily makes USB cables, or Wi-Fi routers, or flat-pack furniture. Buy one from a company that makes light switches.

The Lutron Casetá line of switches are the right choice. The company has been around for decades, and they were making smart-home devices decades before it was cool. The Casetá line has been around for many years and Lutron is fully committed to it; they've never killed off any of their installed equipment. They meet all the safety standards your building inspector could ever desire. The latest versions look and operate just like a standard decorator light switch, so the Spouse Approval Factor approaches 100%.

And best of all, they're rock-solid reliable. They literally just work. They never flake out, they never need a reboot, they don't get fried when a thunderstorm rolls through. It's like they were built by a company that understands you're wiring this into your wall and you don't want to have to replace it...

Yes, they're expensive. Yes, they require a proprietary hub—because they use a licensed radio band that Lutron has used for decades, one that penetrates walls easily and isn't prone to interference from other devices, unlike WiFi or Thread. These are small tradeoffs for it just works and keeps working.

 

[turbineseaplane]

I would be more pissed about this if all my WeMo switches hadn't already flat out died and needed to be replaced over the last 2 years.

Absolutely horrible experience and a massive rip off.

This has turned me off from buying Belkin "anything" ever again.

Screw them.

 

[mcled53]

Belkin should be obligated to buy the damned things back. Or a class action law suit should render significant pain on Belkin

 

[gco212]

Belkin has been garbage for years, but this makes it easier to continue not supporting them.

 

[JUMA55]

Good. I see the doorbell is still supported, but I’ve never had such contempt for a purchase in all my life. It often dropped its connection to the WiFi and the only fix was a hard reset (by that I mean unscrew it from its base and take it off and reset it). When the security screw stripped, I quite literally had to rip it off the wall before I could install a new doorbell.

I swore off anything Belkin ever again.

I got rooked on the doorbell too. What did you replace yours with? Thanks.

 

[JUMA55]

Stopped purchasing from Belkin years ago, just not that reliable of a company. This just supports that decision.

I am not going to purchase another Belkin product either, except we all will considering Foxconn owns Belkin.

 

[dustin_]

I am not going to purchase another Belkin product either, except we all will considering Foxconn owns Belkin.

that’s not how corporate structure works. we’d be buying belkin if it owned foxconn, but it doesn’t.

 

[c84216]

I got rooked on the doorbell too. What did you replace yours with? Thanks.

The Logitech. It’s field of vision is more portrait than landscape but it’s been bulletproof and does a better job identifying things than the Wemo ever did.

 

[EightBitLover]

Good. I see the doorbell is still supported, but I’ve never had such contempt for a purchase in all my life. It often dropped its connection to the WiFi and the only fix was a hard reset (by that I mean unscrew it from its base and take it off and reset it). When the security screw stripped, I quite literally had to rip it off the wall before I could install a new doorbell.

I swore off anything Belkin ever again.

Same, it's annoying how it picks random times to just drop from the network. Having to hard reset it is a major pain with that tiny screw on the bottom to remove.
If there were a way to reset it without having to remove it, it would be only half a pain.
Not sure why it just doesn't attempt to do an internal reset if it loses network connection for more than a set period of time.

But I swear, I'm going to drop and lose that little screw at some point.

 

[EightBitLover]

The Logitech. It’s field of vision is more portrait than landscape but it’s been bulletproof and does a better job identifying things than the Wemo ever did.

Would that be the Logitech Circle View?

My Belkin one is working, but has a tendency to drop network connection now and then and needs a hard reset to reconnect. Very annoying.

​

 

[RyanFlynn]

Seriously, how are stories like this normal? We are ok with this as a society? I like to keep up with technology and find myself upgrading often, but if I purchase something I expect it to work until the wheels fall off. This is forced and scheduled obsolescence.

Honestly, this should be illegal.

 

[BP9906]

Someone please tell me what to buy to replace my Wemo. 2 wired switches and multiple smart plugs.

Phillips hue is solid

Would that be the Logitech Circle View?

My Belkin one is working, but has a tendency to drop network connection now and then and needs a hard reset to reconnect. Very annoying.

​

I have the circle view doorbell. It’s pretty basic in my opinion. The field of view is decent though.

My complaints about it are:
1. It’s missing a sensor so it can’t detect motion like 10 feet away at night. Day is fine.
2. It will go about 6 months and require reseating to fix the indoor chime when it stops chiming. Or WiFi won’t reconnect.

It’s a sunk cost to me but I can’t justify another doorbell since there’s like 3 on the market. I’ve been playing with Scrypted and it works well so I may eventually go with a Reolink doorbell.

 

[jflynn82]

Least they'll keep working under HomeKit / Apple, sucks to be android.

So when the article says that "Wemo products configured with HomeKit before January 31, 2026 will continue to function through HomeKit without needing Wemo cloud services or the Wemo app" . . . does that mean that these Wemo products will continue to function indefinitely through HomeKit, even if they need to be removed and re-added to HomeKit at some point after 1/31/26? Or does the discontinuation of Wemo cloud services and the Wemo app mean that if you ever remove a Wemo device from HomeKit after 1/31/26, you will never be able to re-add it to HomeKit and it becomes a paperweight?

 

[jflynn82]

Normally I don’t agree with legislating business decisions but I agree in this case.

This isn’t even a trick to get you to buy new products, it’s just “we
don’t care about the product anymore, tough sh*t”.

This should be grounds for class action under the condition that the payout is retail value of each product irrespective of if the product was on sale.

I agree. I have 10 switches, and 5 plugs installed throughout my house. It's one thing to not offer future updates or enhancements, but it's something entirely different to literally pull the plug on these items and potentially brick them. I'll be happy to join in the lawsuit if anyone wants to initiate.