These companies know that they can do this with impunity. Even if there is a lawsuit it will be a slap on the wrist that comes many many years later. Remember the PS3 thing.<p>What needs to happen is new consumer protection laws need to be put in place. Like when these changes occur to stop allowing functionality the manufacturer can either open source everything needed so the purchaser has the ability to self manage and retain the prior functions or the must offer a full refund in the amount of the MSRP regardless of age or proof of purchase, just return the product. Without a downside this will continue to happen.<p>Open sourcing would probably be their best option. Because it's been repeatedly shown that if they offer a good product people will still pay as the hassle for running/managing things like this isn't what most people care to do. The sad fact is they produce a subpar system and they only way they can get customers is to trap them.
In case anyone is interested, the Meross HomeKit garage door controller works <i>great</i>. I’ve had two running for a couple years with essentially no hitches. They don’t require internet access or an app other than HomeKit, which meets my needs perfectly.
For whatever it is worth, my skepticism of devices that require a separate app or remote API integration has steadily then dramatically increased over the last few years. I cannot rely on 1) small, perhaps-VC-funded operations continuing to exist more than a few years and 2) even for large players in the IOT space (Apple, Google), I worry about long term support. At what point will I be faced with the prospect of buying a new car to ensure that I can continue using CarPlay? (At that point I'll just buy a phone mount.)<p>To that end, I recently picked up a Flirc remote to control my byzantine gaming and home theater setup [1]. It doesn't support all the features I need (yet), I'm concerned that the company will not be able to delivery on their roadmap, BUT they release their remote configuration tool as a stand-alone app that I know I can keep running, perhaps in a VM if needed, for the lifetime of the remote. All of the other smart remote alternatives require smartphone apps to program and maintain, and I have zero faith that they won't disappear and turn the remote into ewaste long before the remote hardware fails (or I stop having a need for it).<p>1: <a href="https://flirc.tv/products/skip1s-remote-universal-remote-control" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://flirc.tv/products/skip1s-remote-universal-remote-con...</a>
There is a device on Amazon that hooks up to Smart App (or Alexa) that you can get for about $20. It is just 2.4ghz wifi and a couple wires and hooks up in a few minutes. Comes under a bunch of various chinese knockoff sellers... this thing works great.<p><a href="https://www.amazon.com/AGSHOME-Control-Compatible-Assistant-Smartphone/dp/B07TCW1WJ1/ref=sr_1_8" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.amazon.com/AGSHOME-Control-Compatible-Assistant-...</a>
Are there any openers that are just Z-Wave and that's it? No WiFi no company owned cloud.<p>Or should people just get a dry-contact Z-Wave relay and do it themselves?
F*ck these assholes. Pardon my language but I can’t hold back. Someone somewhere decided that this was a problem worth solving? You can’t stop it and also say it affects a small number of users. Which one is it? Was it a noisy neighbor problem?<p>I used homebridge for years and now this nonsense.<p>Maybe someone can build an SDR version that simulates the garage door remote? Then these jackasses can’t stop it.<p>Does anyone know how they were able to stop third party use? Certificate pinning to the API?
One good thing still about Chamberlain garage door openers is that the screw terminal to wire up the wall switch is still accessible. So when I recently had my garage door replaced, I never bothered to activate the MyQ crap that came with it. I simply wired up my old Z-wave garage door opener module and sensor via two small wires to the two terminal screws. Then paired the module to HASS.<p>Of course, I wouldn't be surprised if one day companies like these block access to the terminal leads for the wall switch and replace it with some proprietary cable connector and switch.
Along with a right to repair, we should have a right to interoperate with anything we own.<p>And if that means not running all traffic through the cloud, all the better.
Tough room. Have deployed three of these- for every HN IFTTT-style user lamenting the API's death, there's approximately 99,345,223 of the rest of us who use the accompanying app to open/close our garage doors and let us know if we forgot to close them; Chamberlain taking a "don't let the garage door drop down on your ass on the way out" stance probably won't even make a noticeable blip in sales.