I've lost trust ..."

cross-posted from: https://piefed.ca/c/technology@lemmy.world/p/902391/pet-owners-say-smart-pet-feeder-outage-led-to-furry-ones-going-unfed

This feels like bad design

Smart pet-feeder company Petlibro suffered an outage on Tuesday, giving users a harsh reminder of the risks of relying on smart devices.

Petlibro makes pet feeders that connect to Wi-Fi and, for setup with Petlibro’s mobile companion app, Bluetooth. Users can set the feeders to automatically dispense food at scheduled times, which is handy for pet care when the owner is out of the home.

In a statement to The Verge, Petlibro CEO York Wu said this week’s outage was “related to how the Petlibro app communicates with devices through its online servers.”

Some user reports have also conflicted with Petlibro’s claims about offline functionality. As The Verge pointed out, various users online claimed that during the outage, their devices did not perform any scheduled feedings, performed some feedings but not others, or performed feedings late (examples here, here, here, here, and here).

  • 666dollarfootlong@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    1 day ago

    I think an automatic feeder can be useful when you’re not at home for a while, it just boggles my mind why this thing doesn’t store the programmed timer locally on the device, and instead relies on 24/7 internet connection

    • WhatAmLemmy@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      1 day ago

      Because businesses are not in the business of providing valuable products and services; they are in the business of extracting value and maximizing profits.