r/winkhub • u/[deleted] • Sep 30 '25
Z-Wave Good Bye Wink
Sold my house that had over 60 nodes monitored / managed by Wink over the last 7+ years! Didn’t even offer the buyers my Hub / Wink ID or for them to pick up the subscriptions! I didn’t want them trying to use me for tech support! 6 door locks 12 water sensors, 30+ lights, one main shutoff valve, 6 indoor plugs, 3 outdoor plugs and so on!
I never considered putting Zwave back in my new house. Went full WiFi with Yale locks and Kaasa wall switches! I went simple because I didn’t want outages from soon to be defunct platforms! I also reduced the number of devices to about 10 because I really didn’t need all 60 nodes! Automation with a HUB based environment has too many quirks and yes I do know I could have gone with a site based Hub set up that is less prone to outages and more responsive. I also realize the faults of WIFI with high battery usage for door locks and connection failures but I went down this path, albeit not as deep!
Goodby WINK; you’re not even worth putting the on eBay for $10! I’ll leave you up as a reminder that HATE the Black Eyed Peas, especially Will.I.Am! Hey jerk, yeah, I mean YOU Will, just because you make monies in entertainment does not mean you can run a tech company! YOU SUCKED THEN AND YOU SUCK NOW! I know as I ran a $100M revenue IT business!
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u/blecher67 Oct 01 '25
I started my home automation journey with a wink hub and several z-wave switches. It was a good introduction, but I took an off-ramp within a year or so of will.i.am buying the company. I replaced it with Hubitat.
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u/tastie-values Oct 01 '25
I got one of my social media accounts suspended for showing how to root the wink hub the day they announced they were moving to a paid subscription even though the box said "no monthly fees ever". Totally worth it.
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u/TheBraindeadOne Oct 01 '25 edited 6d ago
The original post content no longer exists here. The author used Redact to remove it, exercising their right to control their data & privacy.
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Oct 01 '25
I am; the key for me is I’m not as deeply invested. 10 nodes is easier to pivot than 60. I thought about “Hubitat Elevation Home Automation Hub” as it’s local control and compatible with everything I would need but never pulled the trigger!!
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u/KoraiKaow Oct 01 '25
I switched from Wink quite a few years ago, when they started the subscription model. Got a Hubitat, and then found it didn't integrate with enough of my smart home devices. I utilized an old laptop and installed Home Assistant OS with Z-Wave and Zigbee dongles, and haven't looked back.
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u/Standard-Outcome9881 Oct 03 '25
Wi-Fi? Ick.
After I migrated away from Wink I eventually ended up with an almost total Zigbee / Hubitat setup and it’s been near flawless.
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u/acousticsking Oct 01 '25
Zwave in my opinion is better. I use Homeassistant and a Zwave stick.
Wifi devices are cloud based and become bricks as soon as companies decide to stop supporting them.
I have made my own Wifi devices using ESP32 modules and coding it myself so they will never brick.