TP-Link shuts down local access for smart plugs
TP-Link is removing the ability to use the Kasa smart plugs offline. From now on, users with such a plug must use TP-Link’s app and servers. According to customer service , the manufacturer has closed the option for local use on the smart HS plugs. It is not exactly the first smart home product where a function or support suddenly disappears and it raises the question of who really owns a smart home product: the user or the manufacturer?
TP-Link plugs are popular. The company has released two smart plugs, the HS100 and the HS110 . Both fall within the manufacturer’s Kasa line of smart home products. Users can control the app through TP-Link’s Kasa app itself, through the company’s servers, and that works well for the majority of users.
But until the recent firmware update, it was also possible to use the apps on a local network. Volunteers had written their own Python scripts to connect the plugs to external smart home platforms, such as Home Assistant and Domoticz. This is done via a 2.4 GHz WiFi connection, but then it is not necessary to connect to an external cloud service and that does attract a significant part of the users.
However, since a few days that local use is no longer possible. TP-Link seems to have performed a firmware update that closed port 9999 on the devices. As a result, the plug can no longer be used over a LAN network, and therefore no longer via the self-built Python scripts and therefore Home Assistant. The update is not optional and cannot be rolled back, and there will be no option to open the port manually.
To state that the plugs have only become a few expensive paperweights is going a bit far, because they can still be used. Also, users do not have to suddenly pay money for the service, as there are examples from the past. But the situation does show what difficult obstacles the already complicated smart home world has.
IoT without support
It is not the first time that a smart home product has lost support. A well-known example is Nest, which is a popular smart home brand with thermostats, smoke detectors, security cameras and doorbells. After the company was acquired by Google in 2014, the existing developer program was slowly but surely phased out. As of last September, the Works With Nest APIs stopped working altogether . That means that Nest equipment no longer worked on Homey devices or on Home Assistant and Domoticz, although that was never possible locally anyway. Earlier this year, the If This Then That service reduced its free version to a maximum of three links.
There are also complete smart home services that stop completely or suddenly make the service paid. Take Wink, a hub whose use suddenly costs money since this summer . Not only is it impossible to operate devices remotely without a subscription, but it is no longer possible to use them at all, not even locally.
“It actually makes sense, because there is no such thing as a free cloud service,” says Franck Nijhof, one of the main developers of the Home Assistant open source project. It has become a cliché, but no less true: the money for a service has to come from somewhere. “Nobody can give away a cloud environment for free without making money from it,” says Nijhof. “They then have to keep selling more and more products in order to grow, but that cannot be done indefinitely. Or there will eventually be a subscription form.”
Smart homes are therefore a constant subject of a philosophical discussion: who owns a product? Manufacturers apparently always have the option to brick a device remotely, as evidenced by the TP-Link story , even if a user is only using it locally. Nijhof acknowledges that this is a problem. “As long as you can get updates, you’re vulnerable to that,” he says. Even a device or hub that is years old can be shut down overnight by a manufacturer, if it chooses to do so.
To get around the problem, there are a number of tinkerers who take matters into their own hands. They simply flash their own firmware on smart home controllers. A well-known example is the Sonoff Mini. Many users flash other firmware on it because it offers more options and freedom. Nijhof recognizes that. “With many ESP controllers it is often possible to change firmware yourself, so that you retain more local control, for example. But that is also becoming increasingly difficult.” He refers to the growth of Tuya products. That is a Chinese manufacturer that makes cheap smart home equipment such as lamps and doorbells. In the Netherlands, these products are sold under the house brand of Action and HEMA. In the past, says Nijhof, you could still flash those devices yourself with firmware. “It all depends on which chip they use. But Tuya no longer wants you to be able to do something like that yourself, so they are now putting other chips in their equipment.” Another way in which manufacturers are increasingly countering the use of alternative firmware is by linking the firmware to the hardware and performing a check during boot.
Awareness
Some smart home concepts, such as Home Assistant and Domoticz, can act as a hub, so you can only use devices locally. This is possible with protocols such as Zigbee and Z-Wave, for example. But the situation with TP-Link shows once again that users still have to be careful to keep their devices working. According to Nijhof, the solution is simplistic. “Creating awareness among buyers, that’s where it starts.”
TP-Link has now come up with a solution . Users can create a ticket containing the mac address of their plug. They will then receive a new firmware update that will allow local access again.