Wink Tweaks Surprise Subscription Mandate, But You Still Have To Pay

Home security and automation company Wink has detailed an update to its mandatory subscription plan requirement — and no, it isn't changing its plan to force the subscription on its existing customers. Rather, the company says that it is once again extending the deadline for how long customers have to start paying. Once that date rolls around, Wink users who haven't signed up will not be able to use their products.

In early May, Wink announced that its customers had only a single week to start paying a new $4.99/month subscription or they'd no longer be able to use their hardware. The news was very upsetting to users, to put it mildly, prompting the company to bump its deadline from May 13 to May 20. That was only an extra week, though, and customers said it wasn't enough.

The company has once again changed its plans and its users now have until July 27 to sign up for the subscription; until then, their devices will still work. However, once the deadline arrives — assuming it isn't extended again — the automation, cloud services, connected devices, and integrations will no longer be available (unless the customer starts paying).

However, users will retain local control over certain devices, but many features will no longer be available. If you don't sign up, you'll lose access to things like access to shortcuts, groups, robots, voice, remote app control, the ability to add new devices, share or unshare devices, update the hub, and more.

If you want to keep access to these features and more, you can sign up through the Wink website and pay $4.99/month. The company says this fee is necessary in order to 'provide our customers with a strong and growing smart home experience.' The initial short notice given to users spurred rumors that Wink may be experiencing financial difficulties.