5 Dead Smart Home Gadgets We Still Miss

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Nothing lasts forever, especially in the world of smart home technology. I feel like every year I go to CES to check out all the weird gadgets and get the full talk from dozens of companies on the latest and greatest smart home innovations. Some of them become essential smart home gadgets and revolutionize the industry, while others never really hit the market. Then there are the gadgets that arrive and find a devoted user base, only to disappear into the ever-changing smart home landscape.

Maybe their customer base peaked early on, or maybe they weren’t priced right and consumers passed on the investment. Perhaps they were outpaced by other schemes with massive corporate backing, or simply ahead of their time. We’ve probably all been in this situation at some point. Finding a gadget we vibe with and love using, like Wemo smart plugs and the first-generation Nest thermostat, only to see that dreaded end-of-life email arrive in your inbox. These smart home gadgets may not be supported, but we miss them dearly.

If you’re on the Internet long enough, you’re sure to come across people singing the praises of the Logitech Harmony remote. A near-legendary piece of smart home technology, the Harmony was so popular that it was hard to find an article on the best gifts for dad that didn’t feature it in the top spot for over a decade in the early 2000s. What makes this Logitech device so special is the way it can consolidate all of your devices into a single remote.

No more searching for a controller for each piece of equipment, with the Harmony even functioning as a remote control for smart home devices. You can set program functions for several devices at once and, with Harmony Hub, control other systems via Bluetooth and WiFi. But in 2019, Logitech said the Harmony brand was considered a small business and was becoming irrelevant.

Although Logitech has stopped making universal remotes, they remain popular with online groups dedicated to keeping these old remotes alive. And new companies have come to fill the void left by Harmony, like the SofaBaton X2 universal remote with built-in screen and extended-range hub control.

Discontinued in 2019, the Leeo Smart Alert Night Light is a great example of unsupported smart home technology that once had a devoted user base. It plugs into a wall outlet and functions like a traditional night light, but also serves as a connected detector capable of monitoring triggered alarms – including CO and smoke – then sending you a message via an app. This smart night light would even record the sound of the alarm so that it can be easily identified. And if you didn’t answer, Leeo would call the numbers on your emergency contact list until it reached someone.

The problem lay in the cost of the third-party cloud services used by Leeo, as Nightlight cost $50 and had no ongoing subscription fees. This customer-friendly business model was not enough to sustain Leeo with just one product line. Today, devices like the Kiddie Smart Smoke Detector alert you when smoke or carbon monoxide is detected, but there is a subscription cost and unlike the Leeo device, no night light.

Introduced at Apple’s WWDC show in 2017, the HomePod was the company’s version of the smart speaker. Its initial price was $349, but it was missing key features at launch, such as stereo sound, multi-room playback, and integration with third-party apps. The device also never gained Bluetooth support for playback, relying instead on AirPlay 2. This left one unimpressed with one of Apple’s first entries into the smart home space. But for those who took the plunge and could expect a full feature set, the HomePod found many fans.

A smaller HomePod mini was released in 2020, but it lacked the bass provided by the original. And then, in 2021, the first generation HomePod was completely discontinued. Some argue that the technology inside the original Apple HomePod is superior to that of the second-generation version arriving in 2023, even suggesting that Apple missed the mark by not marketing more directly to audiophiles. The first generation HomePod speakers sell on the second-hand market for around $150 and remain popular for that iconic Apple aesthetic.

Belkin’s Wemo is not a single product, but rather a series of smart home devices. In January 2026, Belkin ended support for a number of these Wemo products, including smart plugs and switches. Although Wemo smart plugs will continue to function like traditional outlets, the cloud-based smart capabilities of several older models like the Wemo Mini Smart Plug and Wemo Outdoor Plug will no longer work. These Belkin devices have been highly rated and positively reviewed over the years for allowing users to easily turn off energy-consuming appliances at night, manage Christmas lights scheduling, and run air purifiers automatically.

With the brand’s Insight smart plug, users could even monitor energy consumption, which was no longer possible since support had been removed. A smart plug is one of the easiest and cheapest ways to enter the smart home ecosystem, so it’s no surprise that many have jumped on the Belkin Wemo line. Luckily, there are plenty of other options on the market, like the TP-Link Tapo, but this just goes to show that relying on the cloud for your device, no matter how popular it is, can lead to future headaches.

You might think that with a company as big as Google, its smart devices wouldn’t be supported. However, Google is actually notorious for abandoning product support, even for those it paid a fortune for. In fact, there is a website dedicated to cataloging the so-called Google Graveyard. The Nest Thermostat is an example of a smart home product that many loved and reviewers raved about when it was released, only to be discontinued. Users liked the simple interface and its learning features.

Thermostats have become so popular that Google bought Nest in 2014 for $3.2 billion, a huge sum considering that Ecobee, a major smart home competitor, was purchased in 2021 for $770 million. But Google abandoned its Nest brand and moved future devices into its Google Home ecosystem. Fans of these early Nest devices can at least continue to use them as traditional thermostats, without the smart features. Fortunately, options like the Amazon Smart Thermostat and Ecobee Essential Smart Thermostat provide alternatives for consumers.

In looking at the smart home devices we’re missing, we went straight to the source, looking at users who shared their experiences online on forums and social media sites like Facebook and Reddit. Product reviews from experts of the era were consulted to get a better idea of ​​each gadget’s significance in the cultural zeitgeist. Finally, we dove into the current communities that not only continue to sing the praises of these dead gadgets, but also try to keep them alive.