smart homesGraveyard archive2014-2022

Wink

Wink was one of the first mainstream smart-home hubs, spun out of crowdsourced-invention company Quirky in 2014 to unify devices across Z-Wave, Zigbee, Wi-Fi, and other protocols. It survived Quirky's 2015 bankruptcy via a sale to Flextronics and was bought by will.i.am's i.am+ in 2017. In May 2020 it abruptly imposed a mandatory $4.99/month subscription on hardware buyers, alienating its user base, and after a near month-long 2022 outage faded into effective abandonment.

Years active

2014-2022

Peak headcount

11-50

The friendly hub that unified the home

Wink launched in 2014, incubated inside Quirky, the New York crowdsourced-invention startup led by Ben Kaufman. Its hub connected and unified devices speaking many wireless protocols, including Z-Wave, Zigbee, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth LE, and Lutron Clear Connect, all from a single app. Praised as one of the most approachable do-it-yourself hubs, Wink let ordinary users build automations and 'robots' across lights, locks, thermostats, sensors, and cameras from many brands. Crucially, its packaging promised 'no monthly fees or subscriptions.'

Three owners in three years

Wink's corporate life was turbulent. When Quirky filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in September 2015, Flextronics (Flex) acquired Wink for about $15M, operating it as a separate entity backed by Flex's manufacturing. In July 2017 Flex sold Wink to i.am+, the technology company owned by musician will.i.am, in a deal reported at roughly $59M. The Wink Hub 2 had shipped in 2016, but no major new hub followed under any owner, and the parent reportedly struggled financially.

The subscription that broke trust

In May 2020 Wink abruptly told customers they would have to start paying $4.99 a month or lose access to their hubs and connected devices entirely. The move directly contradicted the 'no monthly fees' promise printed on the boxes; customers accused Wink of extortion and reviewers stopped recommending the platform. After initially giving users only days, Wink pushed the deadline to July 27, 2020, but the damage was done as the user base bled away to alternatives.

Decay into abandonment

Service deteriorated further. On July 1, 2022, Wink's hubs went down in a near month-long outage after its DNS records were deleted by its server host, widely read as a sign Wink had failed to pay hosting fees. Web operations and email ceased, yet subscription billing continued during the outage, deepening customer anger. Wink never explained the cause, never relaunched as a viable platform, and faded into effective shutdown, a cautionary tale about cloud-tethered hardware.

What worked, what broke

What worked

Was among the first mainstream smart-home hubs to unify many wireless protocols in a single, approachable app.
Earned a reputation as one of the easiest do-it-yourself hubs for non-technical users to set up and automate.
Supported a broad mix of protocols including Z-Wave, Zigbee, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth LE, and Lutron Clear Connect.
Survived its incubator Quirky's 2015 bankruptcy, finding a buyer in Flextronics that kept the platform alive.
Let users build cross-brand automations and 'robots' across lights, locks, thermostats, sensors, and cameras.

What broke

Abruptly imposed a mandatory $4.99/month subscription in 2020 that contradicted the 'no monthly fees' promise on its boxes.
The surprise fee was widely condemned as extortion and drove away users who had already bought the hardware.
Never shipped a major new hub after the 2016 Hub 2, leaving the product line stagnant under successive owners.
Passed through three owners (Quirky, Flextronics, i.am+) with a parent that reportedly struggled financially.
A near month-long 2022 outage, blamed on deleted DNS records from unpaid hosting, signaled effective abandonment.
Continued billing subscribers during the 2022 outage, destroying what remained of customer goodwill.

Sources

Obituary authored Jun 30, 2026 via Sonnet 4.5 + web_search.