I’d like to share a recent experience with a EufyCam 2 Pro. After a HomeBase 2 memory failure, one of my cameras became unpairable because the server still thinks it is bound to the old base. The camera itself works; I reset it and attempted to pair it, and it responds correctly. Eufy support insists this is a hardware fault and refuses to unbind the device because my warranty has expired. Their only offer is a 30 % discount on a replacement.
This situation effectively bricks a functioning product with a server‑side lock. It raises questions about the right to repair and digital ownership. Have other community members encountered similar issues with smart‑home gear? Are there strategies for advocating for backend unlocks or designing systems that avoid such dependencies? Screenshots and video evidence available if needed.
That’s a very frustrating experience! Yes unfortunately early obsolescence of perfectly functioning hardware due to lack of software support is an all too common problem.
We’ve had a good few podcast episodes related to this over the years:
This year’s International Repair Day campaigning will focus on software obsolescence, brought into the limelight thanks to the end of Windows 10 support.
This isn’t software obsolescence or lack of software support: the camera is still working fine but Eufy’s system has it logically bound to the old (non-working) base station and they refuse to do the trivial update (delete the binding) that would make the camera work with the new base. They could easily do that, but they can’t be bothered because it’s easier to tell the customer to buy a new camera.
There’s no reason why pairing the camera to the base has to involve Eufy at all, other than them wanting to keep the whole thing under their control and have access to your data.
I’m sure there are plenty more examples of this sort of behaviour: Louis Rossmann’s channel probably has some.
This is why I try really hard to avoid systems which rely on somebody else’s computers (aka “the cloud”), e.g. my home cameras are all local storage only: you lose some convenience and functionality but you avoid these kind of problems.
… and if “somebody else’s computer” is in China then you have to assume they may be sucking up your data, and who knows, maybe scanning it with facial recognition software for Hong Kong democracy activists. Paranoid? What do you expect from an ex-cybersecurity pro?
US PIRG’s Electronic Waste Graveyard has a good (bad) collection of devices gone to an early grave due to the premature end of software or server support: