Sengled’s Downfall Highlights Risks of Cloud-Connected Smart Home Devices

Sengled has been booted from Amazon’s Works With Alexa program after experiencing a series of prolonged outages that prevented customers from controlling their lights with Alexa. The company’s Alexa skill is no longer available, and customers who own Sengled’s Wi-Fi bulbs are out of luck.

However, customers who own Sengled bulbs that use Zigbee, BLE Mesh, or Matter can still control them with Alexa by bypassing Sengled’s servers and connecting to a compatible Echo speaker or Eero Wi-Fi router. Alternatively, they can connect their Zigbee bulbs to third-party platform hubs that support the protocol.

The Risks of Cloud-Connected Smart Home Devices

The incident highlights the risks of relying on cloud connections for smart home control. Companies that rely on cloud servers to control their devices can shut down their servers if their business model no longer pans out, leaving customers with useless devices.

This is not an isolated incident, as several other smart home companies have shut down their cloud-based services in the past, including Belkin, iHome, Revolv, and Staples Connect. The common thread among these shutdowns is that the products relied on cloud servers, which can be costly and resource-intensive to maintain.

The Importance of Local Control

The situation with Sengled underscores the importance of local control in smart home devices. Devices that can be controlled locally, without relying on cloud servers, are less likely to be affected by server shutdowns or outages.

The new Matter standard, which is built on the foundations of HomeKit, Zigbee, and other technologies, offers a solution to this problem. Matter is an entirely local protocol that communicates to a Matter controller in the home, rather than to a company’s cloud. This means that devices that support Matter can still be controlled even if the manufacturer’s server dies.