Premium subscription of smart home platform Wink will still be mandatory at the end of July

Smarthome manufacturer Wink will make paid subscriptions mandatory at the end of this month. Most features disappear for free customers, but users without a premium subscription can continue to use certain devices offline.

Wink writes in a blog post that the paid subscription will still be mandatory for users from July 27. In May, the company announced quite suddenly that users would have to pay a monthly fee for access to their devices a week after that. Later, Wink decided to postpone the plan indefinitely. That is until the end of this month. After that, users still have to pay five dollars a month, otherwise they will lose most of the functionalities of their hubs.

However, Wink does change what users can still do without a subscription. Initially it was nothing. Now free users can still use ‘a limited number’ of switches, lamps and locks on a local network, although Wink does not say which devices exactly. External devices connected to Wink no longer work, as do integrations such as IFTTT.

Also, free users lose access to voice control, and access via APIs. In addition, automations and groups can no longer be used. The hub and devices will no longer receive updates.