Back in 2020, we bought a pair of Smart Lights (each rated for 10,000 hrs of operational life), despite perfectly working hardware, both suddenly stopped working within 3 years, due to the company behind it stopping server support, leaving several million users like us with bricked devices.
On disassembling the device, we found that this particular Indian Smart home company was using Chinese IoT modules paired with Chinese cloud software and a mobile App.
On further research, we found serious allegations against this Chinese IoT vendor, about sending users' data to a Chinese server and quite possibly to the Chinese government.
Building in-house Full-Stack IoT is tough; in fact, 13 out of 16 mainstream Smart Home companies in India do not have their own Full-Stack IoT.
They outsource their Hardware, Software, Cloud & Mobile App requirements to Chinese IoT Vendors.
Surprisingly, none of the Smart Home companies provides clear details on how long they will provide server support for their Smart Products.
None of the Smart Home companies ensures guaranteed users' data privacy and device security.
None of the Smart Home companies claims to implement the DO NOT SELL users' data policy.
There have been cases where companies had initially launched their smart products with free server support, but due to rising server costs, they asked users to pay a monthly subscription fee or face losing their devices.
Some companies are even found monetising on users' data by sharing it with advertising companies.
We design and develop FULL-STACK internet-connected products in-house, which provides us with better control over the entire technology stack & reduced dependency on third-party vendors. It helps us provide end users with products that have unique features, assured data privacy, device security, and long-term device connectivity support.
— All without charging any subscription fee or selling users' data —