WeMo is Dead
In this article I talk about the end of life of older WeMo products and what you can do to ensure your WeMo device still functions
Well kind of... today I got this email from Belkin and I thought I'd share it with all of you. It seems Belkin is killing off their older lineup of WeMo products and discontinuing cloud and app support
Here's the chart of affected products (in case Belkin takes the site down):
SKU's | Description | Last Sold Units Date | Warranty | HomeKit-Compatible |
F7C031 | Wemo Link | August 2015 | 2-Year | No |
F7C046 | Wemo Humidifier | December 2015 | 3-Year | No |
F7C045 | Wemo CrockPot | April 2016 | 1-Year | No |
F7C048 | Wemo Heater B | June 2016 | 3-Year | No |
F7C049 | Wemo Air Purifier | July 2016 | 3-Year | No |
F7C047 | Wemo Heater A | September 2016 | 3-Year | No |
F7C050 | Wemo Coffee Maker (Mr. Coffee) | December 2016 | 1-Year | No |
F8J007 | Wi-Fi Baby Monitor | June 2017 | 1-Year | No |
F5Z0489 | Wemo LED Lighting Bundle | September 2017 | 2-Year | No |
F7C028 | Wemo Motion Sensor | September 2017 | 2-Year | No |
F5Z0340 | Wemo Switch + Motion Sensor | October 2017 | 2-Year | No |
F7C043 | Wemo Maker Module | November 2017 | 2-Year | No |
F7C033 | Wemo Zigbee Bulb, E27 | March 2018 | 2-Year | No |
F7C061 | Wemo Insight v2 | July 2018 | 1-Year | No |
F7C027 | Wemo Switch | January 2019 | 2-Year | No |
F7C062 | Wemo Light Switch v2 | November 2019 | 1-Year | No |
F7C029 | Wemo Insight | June 2020 | 2-Year | No |
WLS0403 | Wemo Smart Light Switch 3-Way | September 2021 | 3-Year | Yes |
WSP070 | Wemo Mini Smart Plug | July 2022 | 3-Year | No |
WDS060 | Wemo Wi-Fi Smart Light Switch w/ Dimmer | September 2022 | 3-Year | Yes |
WLS040 | Wemo Smart Light Switch | September 2022 | 3-Year | Yes |
F7C064 | Wemo HomeKit | September 2022 | 1-Year | Yes |
F7C059 | Wemo Dimmer Light Switch | November 2022 | 1-Year | Yes |
F7C063 | Wemo Mini Plugin Switch | December 2022 | 3-Year | Yes |
F7C030 | Wemo Light Switch | December 2022 | 2-Year | No |
WSP090 | Wemo Outdoor Plug | May 2023 | 3-Year | Yes |
WSP080 | Wemo Mini Smart Plug | November 2023 | 3-Year | Yes |
What happens after End of Life?
Well from everything I have read, the WeMo app will be no longer updated and WeMo cloud services (Alexa, Google, IFTT, etc) will be shutdown on January 31, 2026.
I do not use the WeMo cloud services or the app so in theory I (and many other Home Assistant users) should be fine, as the pywemo python library used in Home Assistant relies totally on the local API and can function without the cloud.
However one thing to node is, the app is also being discontinued meaning you may not be able to download it in the future. This could mean you may have trouble connecting your device to Wi-Fi in the future (say if the device is factory reset), luckily pywemo seems to have this figured out
What should I do next?
WeMo officially recommends you dispose of your older WeMo devices and by new ones 🤣 which I find insane... don't do that
Instead, here's what I recommend you do RIGHT NOW to avoid any disruption:
If you are using the WeMo app my recommendation would be to move off of it as soon as possible and switch to a platform like Home Assistant, in addition you may also want to look into blocking these devices from the internet and/or isolating them on their own IoT network for added security.
Conclusion
Its really sad to see working products like these die without a clear end of life plan leading to people throwing them away when they work just fine.
I would have liked to see Belkin talk more about the local API and fact that the non-HomeKit devices work without the cloud connection instead of telling people to throw them out, but at least we have a local API to fallback on.
Thanks again for reading, let me know your thoughts in the comments down below