What you need to know
- Earlier this year, Wink announced an end to its free service in favor of a subscription-only model.
- The smart home company faced strong backlash over the move and delayed the rollout.
- It has now confirmed a new date, July 27.
Smart home technology company Wink has confirmed that its controversial subscription-only service, announced earlier this year, will go live from July 27.
In a blog post the company stated:
We want to share updates about our Wink subscription - a vital change for Wink that will enable us to provide our customers with a strong and growing smart home experience. The change will bring about expanded support for new brand integrations and continue to bring enhancements through firmware and software updates.Please know that we have adjusted our timelines since our initial announcement on May 6th to allow users more opportunity to make considerations. We were able to extend our service so that subscriptions will now begin on Monday, July 27th, 2020.
As noted, earlier this year Wink announced that it was ending its free service and switching to a subscription-only model that will cost users $4.99. Wink Hubs are designed to allow smart home customers to link up all of their smart home devices from different manufacturers in one system.
Not only was the move from free to subscription controversial, but the incredibly small window also drew plenty of ire. Wink made the announcement just one week prior to when the switch was initially due to take place. Wink backpedaled following strong consumer objections, extending the transition period. With the most recent announcement, Wink has confirmed that July 27 is now the key date.
From that time, paid users will be able to use all of their connected devices, cloud services, automation, and third-party integrations. Users who haven't signed up will have access to "limited functionality" which will allow "local control over select devices."
Wink explains which features and functionalities users who don't subscribe will lose in detail here.
