June Oven joins the growing smart home graveyard — SkimNews
Get the Tech newsletter
Daily tech — startups, AI labs, chips, the launches that shape the next decade. Free.
- June Oven went dark this week after Weber (which acquired the company in January 2021 and stopped production in 2022) shut off its app and cloud services, leaving owners with a $1,495 oven that can't be safely factory-reset; Weber considered open-sourcing the tech but decided against it because June's IP is now part of its Weber Connect platform.
- Nest Secure, early Nest Thermostats, Belkin's WeMo line, Neato robot vacuums, Brava smart oven, Logitech Pop buttons, Bose SoundTouch speakers, and Sengled smart bulbs have all lost cloud support in the past two years, with most now living in a 'zombie state' where core features are gone.
- Consumer Reports is pushing for legislation that would require manufacturers to push a local API to a device before killing its cloud — a safeguard that would let devices keep working through Home Assistant instead of becoming paperweights.
- The Matter smart home standard was designed so devices retain functions within a Matter platform regardless of manufacturer status, alongside local protocols like Zigbee, Z-Wave, Thread, and Bluetooth that help futureproof products.
- Amazon refunded Halo buyers within 12 months of killing the fitness band, Vorwerk initially promised 5 years of Neato support (later cut to 2 with some free replacements), and Google offered Nest Secure customers a free ADT replacement — voluntary remedies the article cites as better than nothing but inferior to devices that don't need the cloud.
- Chamberlain blocked unauthorized API access to its MyQ garage door openers to prevent Home Assistant integration, and Middleby sold Brava's residential kitchen business to 26North just weeks before Brava shut down — illustrating how cloud-dependent devices are bound to corporate survival, not consumer use.
Why it matters: Premium-priced cloud-dependent devices like the $1,495 June Oven become e-waste the moment servers go dark. Existing remedies — Amazon's Halo refunds, Google's ADT swap, Bose's open-sourced SoundTouch API — are voluntary, and Consumer Reports' push for IoT consumer protection laws hasn't yet produced binding rules.
Ask SkimNews
