Research conducted by the supervisory authority for the Consumer Authority & Market and the State Inspectorate of Digital Infrastructure in the Netherlands revealed that only a minority of popular smart home devices in the country received necessary updates.
Dialogic and Cred's study, in collaboration with ACM and RDI, focused on fifteen smart home devices including lamps, washing machines, baby monitors, TVs, and thermostats. The goal was to assess whether these devices had received updates since 2022.
Out of the fifteen devices, only one had been updated since 2022, indicating a lack of update maintenance for the majority of devices. Some devices that had previously received updates no longer did, highlighting potential gaps in support. One thermostat was found to be non-transferable, leading to a lack of data on its update status, while a washing machine encountered issues with a failed update.
Between June 2022 and October 2023, six out of the fifteen devices received updates. The study also underscored the insufficient update policies of manufacturers, along with a lack of information provided to customers regarding the expected support duration at the time of purchase.
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