Report: Consumers In The Dark About Support For Smart Products

A new Consumer Reports survey shows that 7 in 10 Americans want companies to say how long they will support the software that runs their "smart" products.

Consumers with smart home products may be in for a rude awakening in the years ahead, as manufacturers cease updating and patching the software that runs the devices and they lose critical features, falter, and go dark. That’s because many consumers purchased those products with no idea if- and when software support would end, according to a new survey by Consumer Reports.

The survey of 2,130 U.S. consumers, published on Wednesday, found that close to half (43%) of consumers who purchased smart devices were unaware that it might lose software support at some point. Just over a third (35%) said they were aware of the potential to lose software support when they acquired the device, while 22% could not recall whether or not they were informed regarding software support.

The lack of transparency about support for smart products has real consequences as more Internet connected devices hit the market - from home appliances and doorbells to personal health devices. Already, 85% of the consumers surveyed said they used a smartphone, and 74% reported having a smart (e.g. Internet-connected) television. Internet-connected speakers (38%), video doorbells (27%), and video cameras (27%) were also popular with respondents.

Consumers left hanging when software supports stop

Despite this increasing reliance on smart devices, their Achilles heel is the software that powers those “smart” features. On smart kitchen appliances like refrigerators, for example, software controls features like graphical user interfaces, sensors and food tracking. Newer refrigerators previewed at CES sport AI-powered features that can even predict temperature changes and adjust cooling of the refrigerator.

Just as physical parts wear out, software also needs maintenance and upkeep: from periodic updates to address functional issues to patches for security flaws. But software upkeep is a cost for manufacturers, which is why many stop maintaining the embedded software on smart devices well before the useful life of the device has been reached. These zombie devices, also referred to as “abandonware” slowly degrade because of the lack of support. (See: Spotify’s Car Thing, Google’s Nest Speaker, Belkin’s Wemo NetCam, Fisker’s Ocean Electric SUV… the list goes on).

“Imagine buying something that will stop being safe to operate or stop working at the discretion of a manufacturer, but you don't know when that will happen. You may not even know when that support has ended. That's terrible,” said Stacey Higginbotham, a Policy Fellow at Consumer Reports.

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Consumer Reports’ survey found that consumers’ expectations about the ability of their smart devices to keep working varied. For example, just 55% of those surveyed by Consumer Reports expected their smart televisions to continue working after software support ended, compared with 70% of respondents when asked about smart kitchen appliances.

Consumers’ expectations about whether devices will continue to work after software support ends vary by device type, Consumer Reports found. (Source: Consumer Reports)

Abandoned software is breaking smart devices

As Consumer Reports points out: the ability of devices to function with old and unsupported software will vary depending on how central a role the software plays in the functioning of a device.