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{"id":10005,"date":"2022-07-15T14:49:02","date_gmt":"2022-07-15T14:49:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/2022\/07\/15\/wink-says-its-down-but-not-out\/"},"modified":"2022-07-15T14:49:03","modified_gmt":"2022-07-15T14:49:03","slug":"wink-says-its-down-but-not-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/2022\/07\/15\/wink-says-its-down-but-not-out\/","title":{"rendered":"Wink says it\u2019s down but not out"},"content":{"rendered":"

Source: https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/2022\/7\/14\/23217086\/wink-smart-home-hub-outage<\/a>
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Wink, the once-innovative smart home platform, has been down for two weeks with no sign of a fix. The outage has left customers of the Will-i-am-owned company \u2014 who pay $5 a month for the service to run their connected lights, locks, sensors, and other devices through the Wink Hub \u2014 completely in the lurch. It\u2019s so bad that even Wink\u2019s website<\/a> and email are affected, which gives off strong whiffs of \u201csomebody didn\u2019t pay the bill this month.\u201d<\/p>\n

There was initially no formal word from Wink, but an email to users<\/a> posted on Reddit arrived 10 days after the outage began. It states in part, \u201cStarting on July 1st, our systems have regrettably become temporarily unavailable \u2026. We assure you that we\u2019re working hard on a resolution for the ongoing issue …. Unfortunately, we do not have an ETA we can provide at this time.\u201d <\/p>\n

However, the email goes on to say the company anticipates \u201cbeing fully online soon\u201d and will post updates at status.winkapp.com<\/a>. With Wink\u2019s main website Wink.com and its email domains down, it\u2019s been hard for customers to cancel the service they can\u2019t currently use. <\/p>\n

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We’re working hard on a resolution for the ongoing issue. While we do not have an ETA, we’ll post on https:\/\/t.co\/WPpNKlhbQv<\/a> when there’s an update. We anticipate being online soon and sincerely apologize for the disruption. Please wait until we’re online before troubleshooting.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Wink Smart Home (@TheWinkApp) July 12, 2022<\/a>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

A status page<\/a> shows that Wink email support is back up and running as of today, and the company\u2019s Twitter account<\/a> directs users to email support@winkapp.com. The website wink.com<\/a> is also back up but just hosts a static message saying the company is aware of \u201can issue impacting the platform.\u201d I reached out for a comment but have not received any response.<\/p>\n

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A list of Wink\u2019s services that are currently offline.<\/em><\/figcaption>Screenshot by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy<\/cite><\/p>\n

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Wink began in 2014 and was one of the earliest smart home hubs, boasting a wide array of radios, including Z-Wave, Zigbee, Lutron Clear Connect, Thread, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth. It\u2019s the only hub to work with Kidde\u2019s connected smoke alarms, and it also has support for Amazon Alexa voice control. Combined with its user-friendly app and broad device support for door locks, lights, thermostats, sensors, and more, the Wink Hub was once a very good choice for users looking to set up home automation. I used one in my own house for several years. <\/p>\n

It feels like Wink is the victim of too little, too soon. A good product that arrived early in the market but then failed to innovate as the space took off. Its parent company Quirky filed for bankruptcy in 2015<\/a>, selling Wink to Flextronics. Two years later, the wheels really started to come off when it was sold to i.am+<\/a>, Black Eyed Peas founder Will.i.am\u2019s technology company. <\/p>\n

Despite the successful debut of a well-reviewed Gen 2 Wink Hub, by 2019, there were numerous reports that i.am+ was running out of cash<\/a>. These were largely confirmed when Wink started to charge $4.99 a month<\/a> for services that used to be free, including remote control from the app and adding any new devices. A statement at the time said the company \u201chad no other way to continue the Wink service as it is currently known\u201d without starting to charge users.<\/p>\n

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Wink\u2019s current message on its website explaining the outage.<\/em><\/figcaption>Screenshot by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy<\/cite><\/p>\n

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Since then, there have been no notable innovations or significant improvements to the platform and no word on whether it will support Matter when the new smart home standard arrives this fall. And this isn\u2019t the first long-term outage of the service; remote control and cloud automation features also went down for almost a week in early 2021. <\/p>\n

The service did come back up after that outage, and the company reimbursed its customers for the downtime. But this current outage is now running into week three, and while Wink has at least made some attempt to update customers, anyone who is still hanging on to a Wink Hub to run their smart home should seriously consider moving to a new system. <\/p>\n

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