Credit: Belkin

In a somewhat anticipated move, Belkin is killing most of its smart home products. On January 31, the company will stop supporting the majority of its Wemo devices, leaving users without core functionality and future updates.

In an announcement emailed to customers and posted on Belkin’s website, Belkin said:

After careful consideration, we have made the difficult decision to end technical support for older Wemo products, effective January 31, 2026. After this date, several Wemo products will no longer be controllable through the Wemo app. Any features that rely on cloud connectivity, including remote access and voice assistant integrations, will no longer work.

The company said that people with affected devices that are under warranty on or after January 31 “may be eligible for a partial refund” starting in February.

The 27 affected devices have last sold dates that go back to August 2015 and are as recent as November 2023.

The announcement means that soon, features like the ability to work with Amazon Alexa will suddenly stop working on some already-purchased Wemo devices. The Wemo app will also stop working and being updated, removing the simplest way to control Wemo products, including connecting to Wi-Fi, monitoring usage, using timers, and activating Away Mode, which is supposed to make it look like people are in an empty home by turning the lights on and off randomly. Of course, the end of updates and technical support has security implications for the affected devices, too.

People will still be able to use affected devices if they configure the products with Apple HomeKit before January 31. In these cases, users will be able to control their Wemo devices without relying on the Wemo app or Belkin’s cloud. Belkin says seven of the 27 devices it is discontinuing are HomeKit-compatible.

Four Wemo devices will not be affected and "will continue to function as they do today through HomeKit," Belkin said. Those products are: the Wemo Smart Light Switch 3-Way (WLS0503), Wemo Stage Smart Scene Controller (WSC010), Wemo Smart Plug with Thread (WSP100), and Wemo Smart Video Doorbell Camera (WDC010). All except the Smart Video Doorbell Camera are based on the Thread protocol.

In Belkin’s best interest

Belkin acknowledged that some people who invested in Wemo devices will see their gadgets rendered useless soon: "For any Wemo devices you have that are out of warranty, will not work with HomeKit, or if you are unable to use HomeKit, we recommend disposing of these devices at an authorized e-waste recycling center."

Belkin started selling Wemo products in 2011, but said that "as technology evolves, we must focus our resources on different parts of the Belkin business.

Belkin currently sells a variety of consumer gadgets, including power adapters, charging cables, computer docks, and Nintendo Switch 2 charging cases.

For those who follow smart home news, Belkin's discontinuation of Wemo was somewhat expected. Belkin hasn’t released a new Wemo product since 2023, when it announced that it was taking “a big step back” to “regroup” and “rethink” about whether or not it would support Matter in Wemo products.

Even with that inkling that Belkin's smart home commitment may waver, that's little comfort for people who have to reconfigure their smart home system.

Smart device bricking is too common

Belkin's abandonment of most of its Wemo products is the latest example of an Internet of Things (IoT) company ending product support and turning customer devices into e-waste. The US Public Interest Research Group (PIRG) nonprofit estimates that “a minimum of 130 million pounds of electronic waste has been created by expired software and canceled cloud services since 2014,” Lucas Gutterman, director of the US PIRG Education Fund’s Designed to Last Campaign, said in April.

What Belkin is doing has become a way of life for connected device makers, suggesting that these companies are getting too comfortable with selling people products and then reducing those products' functionality later.

Belkin itself pulled something similar in April 2020, when it said it would end-of-life its Wemo NestCam home security cameras the following month (Belkin eventually extended support until the end of June 2020.) At the time, Forbes writer Charles Radclyffe mused that “Belkin May Never Be Trusted Again After This Story.” But five years later, Belkin is telling customers a similar story—at least this time, its customers have more advance notice.

IoT companies face fierce challenges around selling relatively new types of products, keeping old and new products secure and competitive, and making money. Sometimes companies fail in those endeavors, and sometimes they choose to prioritize the money part.

One reason tech companies may feel so emboldened to pull support and features from consumer devices is the general lack of awareness people have that this is even possible. In a recent Consumer Reports survey of 2,130 American consumers, 43 percent of respondents said that when they last bought a connected device, they were unaware that it could lose support.

With people constantly buying products that stop working as expected a few years later, activists are pushing for legislation [PDF] that would require tech manufacturers to tell shoppers how long they will support the smart products they sell. In November, the FTC warned that companies that don’t disclose how long they will support their connected devices could be violating the Magnuson Moss Warranty Act.

No simple solution

I don’t envy the obstacles facing IoT firms like Belkin. Connected devices are central to many people’s lives, and without companies like Belkin figuring out how to keep their (and customers’) lights on, modern tech would look very different today.

But it’s alarming how easy it is for smart device makers to decide that your property won’t work. There’s no easy solution to this problem. However, the lack of accountability carried by companies that brick customer devices neglects the people who support smart tech companies. If tech firms can't support the products they make, then people—and perhaps the law one day—may be less supportive of their business.

Smart tech businesses have many challenges that, for the sake of innovation, they hopefully overcome. But it’s hard to watch customers shouldering the burden in the meantime.