Wink Smart Home Hubs Bricked By Software Update [Update]

Saturday was not a good day for owners of the Wink Hub, a smart home device that allows users to control a range of home appliances with their smartphone. Of course, Wink owners are probably already aware of this, what with not being able to turn off the lights, open the garage door, adjust the thermostat, etc. See, Wink issued a new software update that, as the company puts it, made their box "so secure that it is unable to connect to the Wink servers." All of the hubs that received the update were then offline for a majority of the day.

The issue began at 12:40pm and lasted until roughly 11:00pm (eastern times). Wink says a "majority" of their hubs managed to recover from the bad software patch and are now reconnected. Unfortunately for customers whose hubs are still offline, the company says they will need to be sent back for replacement.

Affected owners are asked to call 844-WINK-APP for service, with the company also providing them with coupon codes once return forms are submitted. Some Wink users are now wondering if they should even bother sticking with the product after such a major failure. Wink sells for $50, so it wouldn't be too much of a financial loss to jump to a competing smart home platform.

Wink has posted a detailed status update on its website, explaining that the problem was caused by a misconfiguration with an old security feature. The company adds that it will be pulling the hub from all store shelves while they continue to investigate, with inventory to be unavailable at local stores in the foreseeable future.

Update: Check here for the fix options!

SOURCE Wink