Sadly, it seems every time Belkin does a change to the Wemo system, they break things that were previously working. I’ve had Wemo devices and a Wemo bridge for years, they have worked ok (not great), except for the bridge which has been very problematic, and has never received a single firmware update since it was released. I was going to double check that, but once again, it has hung and can’t be accessed via the web interface. Btw, it’s not defective hardware as it has been replaced, same hanging/freezing problem.
Now with this update, I made the mistake of setting up an account, their new feature they describe as being about making things more secure. But how can connecting our devices to an internet account make them more secure??? What does this really do, send our info out to the internet? For what they claim, adding a password to our local app or devices would do the same or more, would it not? But they said they would soon be forcing everyone to change over to this new system anyway, so I did it now.
Right away one of my devices showed up as ‘not detected’, that’s never happened before (we’ll not in a couple years since the last major app changes). I tried a couple other devices and they were working. Then I went to me email to verify the account, and when I returned to the Wemo app, all my devices except one now showed as ‘not detected’. I will just barely also mention the other broken thing of forgetting the device list order, and finding that messed-up as well.
Shutting down the app from background and restarting didn’t fix it, rebooting phone didn’t fix it, refreshing the device list didn’t help. Could no longer get into Wemo bridge so was unable to check anything there.
Now access to some critical devices is no longer available. I also tried logging out of the new account system, but it will no longer let you use the app once an account exists unless you continue to use it, so don’t set one up now. But even redoing that didn’t fix things.
In general, I really like the Insight plugs only because they monitor power usage (though there is a serious design flaw that, when the sides of the plug are lightly squeezed or something rubs against them, they can turn on and off, sometimes so fast it causes an on-off flicker), these are not safe devices and in my opinion they should be recalled.
Other than the energy use monitoring feature of the Insight, I’ve found most of the Wemo products flawed in various ways, and in ways they can’t or do not fix. I like the Insight plugs (even though they have a dangerous physical design flaw you have to be very careful of), but regret investing in the other Wemo products I have, and am trying to replace them or shift them to other uses, though that still leaves them as a source of frustration.
My recommendation is that, if you want a couple devices to play with, or for just extra remote ability, then fine, but if you want some, or a lot, of smart home abilities, in a way that is reliable, Wemo, and other similar products, are not the way to go, you’re just inviting years of frustration and problems, and always having to reset and fix things, or suddenly live without them for a while waiting for the buggy update to be updated. There are several other rock solid reliable alternatives out there, for almost the same cost.
And... I hope these folks fix this ASAP, as I still need to use my Wemo devices ASAP, though looks like I’m forced to replace some of the most critical ones right away (with another brand) to get certain things working again now.
3.8
