Discussion
I need the power of the #fediverse : For an upcoming presentation I am looking for examples many people will understand where the software caused consumer electronic devices not to work anymore.
E.g. company decided not to update the software which caused the device to stop, company disappeared and e.g. servers not available and therefore the device did not start anymore, etc.
Currently interested in some fresh examples I could use. Any pointers?
Spotify was planning on bricking all of those car thing players a few years ago. They ended up not sending the brick command so that community development could continue - But it took quite a bit of pressure to get them there if I remember correctly.
It's a good example of why vocal advocacy is important.
@kirschner #Y2K: Our VHS recorder's clock was off by some random time (several weeks, hours, minutes) and couldn't be set, as it was automatically retrieved from the TV signal. A mess to program any recording, and it wasn't clear to us that it was a Y2K problem (not that many recordings).
However, in January 2001, the clock was suddenly correct again.
@kirschner my robot vacuum is basically useless because the device can't connect to the wifi and therefore app anymore because of a screwup with the firmware at the company.
If you haven’t heard of Louis Rossmann who has a YouTube channel discussing these very topics, I would recommend looking him up. He also has website dealing with these topics.
He’s a fabulous resource if you need any more than what people here produce
@kirschner I gotchu covered:
@kirschner Perhaps the biggest impact: Dell and Consumer Reports estimate 4-500 million PCs can't be upgraded from Windows 10 to Windows 11. This is completely artificial.
@kirschner well, old Kindles still work but you can't put new books on them and if you deregister them then they stop working. Amazon never gave a technical reason for doing this.
@kirschner well, old Kindles still work but you can't put new books on them and if you deregister them then they stop working. https://i.redd.it/xaapbexz8stg1.jpeg
Inspiring: The #JuiceRescue project for EV chargers about to be bricked.
https://natematias.com/portfolio/2025-08-22-unchaining-from-broken-software-tethers/
@natematias has posted on the Fediverse about it.
@kirschner Wemo devices were shut down not *too* long ago
@kirschner Amazom Paperwhite Kindle readers were “bricked” a few months ago due to unwillingness to support.
@kirschner this post was right above yours! https://social.v.st/@th/117166896813250739
Sonos music players did this on purpose but got so much criticism they restored at least some of it.
Their systems include stuff people normally build into their walls, etc, so they had some very annoyed customers.
@kirschner Not quite the same, but still rather instructive is the case of obike
https://www.dw.com/en/insolvent-bike-sharer-obike-abandons-bicycles-throughout-europe/a-44634636
@kirschner I immediately thought of the first-gen Nest thermostat, which Google ended software support for meaning it became a very expensive and very pretty dumb thermostat.
In this case it technically still worked in some capacity, but stopped working in the way that it was designed to, which defeats the entire point of the product.
https://www.theverge.com/news/656332/google-ending-support-nest-thermostats
@cassidy @kirschner Then there's our old apartment with a mid-century thermostat and gas furnace that didn't care if the power went out. Toasty all winter.
@kirschner HP printers! (Need I say more?) Software upgrade reports non HP cartridges as "need replacing". Printer stops working with perfectly good cartridges installed.
Roll back the update, printer works again.
@kirschner I saw embedded device which stopped working because of flash memory corrupted. the reason for this small flash memory corruption was attempt to reload wifi driver in offline (there is a series of unfortunate events here, which deserves a long story after NDA expiration) and the only cure was to bring it online and update which wasn't possible because of small flash memory corruption.
@kirschner Louis Rossman on YouTube has done a lot on these situations over the years.
Had an older NVidia GPU card, where their driver update on Linux dropped support for card, so after reboot monitor was blank.
Message clear, "Maybe you should go buy a newer card from us?"
Answer clear, "No."
@kirschner not sure if a botched remote firmware update counts, but I spotted this post: https://social.v.st/@th/117166896813250739
@kirschner i stopped using waze because m'y phone sas overheating while using it. Is this the kind of things you're looking for ?
@kirschner Logitech Harmony Remotes. Logitech discontinued support for the software and cloud service required to update the configuration of older universal remotes, rendering them bricks/ewaste if you needed to change their configuration:
@kirschner Shure's SCM810 is an analog audio auto mixer. It is old but popular and Shure still sells them.
It was "replaced" by a digital SCM820 with many of the features available only by the network UI powered by adobe flash.
Let's just say SCM820 has been discontinued a few years now.
@kirschner fairphone 4s failure to secure security updates on their drivers contractually meaning the phone had like 2 years of support or something really bad, depending on when the user purchased it. Fully support Fair phone and they sort of got fucked on that deal, but it's on the builder to make sure drivers are contractually included
@kirschner Windows Phones mostly, but not just them. Your, e.g., Android phone can still function, but if your bank says that it's too old, and there isn't an update, it stops being fit for purpose. This is infinitely more pronounced on phones, on PCs, you can generally update or replace your OS without the manufacturer's blessing.
Federal regulators issued a Class I software correction for certain Dexcom continuous glucose monitoring systems due to a defect that could prevent users from receiving life-saving blood sugar alerts.
According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the correction affects version 1.15.0 of the Dexcom G6 and G6 Pro Android app. The software may shut down unexpectedly, stopping glucose readings, alarms and alerts. The agency warned that continued use without updating the software could result in serious injury or death.
@kirschner
https://consumerrights.wiki/w/Neato_cloud_shutdown
https://consumerrights.wiki/w/Roost_Wi-Fi_Water_Leak_and_Freeze_Detector_shutdown
https://consumerrights.wiki/w/Wemo_discontinuation_of_service
https://consumerrights.wiki/w/Canon_legacy_scanner_driver_abandonment
https://consumerrights.wiki/w/Amazon_Kindle_discontinues_support_for_pre-2013_devices
https://consumerrights.wiki/w/Weber_terminates_June_Oven_app
Their Bionic Eyes Are Now Obsolete and Unsupported
Second Sight left users of its retinal implants in the dark
I seem to remember this happening to some artificial eyes for blind people?
@kirschner Google's Nest Protect home security was completely abandoned. It's a doorstop now.
This was a deliberate abandonment. So I'm not sure if that meets your criteria.
@kirschner lots and lots of old Android tablets.
@kirschner Fisker Automotive went bankrupt.
"Virtually every subsystem in the Ocean — brakes, airbags, shifting, battery management, door locks — needed to periodically connect with Fisker’s cloud servers for diagnostics or regular operations. When those servers went dark, the cars didn’t just lose their infotainment screens. They lost critical functionality."
https://electrek.co/2026/05/16/fisker-ocean-open-source-ev-story-after-bankruptcy/
Aren't there some blood sugar monitors for diabetes which this happened to?
@kirschner my old laptop can't connect over WiFi 6
@kirschner family member bought a netbook type Windows laptop from HP. The disk size of a few GBs wasn't big enough to update Windows. It was obsolete on first use.
@nicorikken *Never Buy Hewlett-Packard!* 😱
@kirschner IKOHS Netbot S15 vacuum robot:
https://www.reddit.com/r/RobotVacuums/comments/1937a2m/ikohs_netbot_s15_loses_connection_to_app_after
@kirschner
Spotify's Car Thing did not live very long I hear
@kirschner
There was an incident with certain Subaru models, as the 3G cellular network started to go offline, certain Subarus started coming up with dead batteries, even after being parked just overnight.
Turned out, what was happening was that the 3G telemetry modem would go into active "searching for network" mode endlessly, and drain the battery.
@kirschner I have a perfectly good phone (a Huawei bought around 2019) that I cannot use because all of the apps I need take up so much space, so much memory, that they don't fit in. It can't even be my emergency phone because I would need the official work app and Whatsapp (for contacting relatives). Even that fills it up. And there are no upgrades for this particular issue.
@kirschner Check the consumer rights wiki, full of great examples.
when a company marketed their AI dolls as good companions for autistic kids and then ran out of money, so parents got to try and explain that to their kids when the dolls stopped talking to the kids
@kirschner Our 2017 Honda's GPS/NAV can't be updated. They stopped doing that years ago. Works perfectly otherwise, but since the maps are old as all hell ...
@kirschner
Try posting to #selfhosted - lots of people there will be selfhosting after a company pulled the plug on them.
Also, @ironicbadger hosted a podcast that regularly played the sad trombone sound to announce a company pulling the rug on people.
@kirschner Ehhhm...
With the absolute probability of 0:
@kirschner Take a look t the YouTube channel, DammitJeff. He has a number of videos about manufacturers or OS makers bricking devices, while he shows you how to reclaim your device. Specifically Spotify CarThing and Amazon Kindle.
The German health insurance provider #TK offers an online consultation service exclusively for users of Apple and Google smartphones running their original operating systems.
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