Post-mortem. Wink closed in May 2020. The account below was written after the end, with the outcome known. Separately, a blind test with the evidence cut off at November 2018, before the end, returned: not called safe. How the blind test works.

Wink

Wink made a smart home hub that let one app control lights, locks, and thermostats.

Blind testEvidence cut off November 2018 · Ended May 2020 · Result: not called safe

What happened

Mandatory subscription backlash / near-collapse signaling gutting of the platform became public (May 2020)

Why it did not hold

Wink sits as an unfunded, unstaffed shell while Amazon, Google, Apple, and the Matter standard absorbed the entire category it once led.

Wink made devices that controlled smart home products like lights and locks from one box. Amazon, Google, Apple, and Samsung now offer the same thing built into their speakers and phones, and a new industry standard called Matter lets any brand's devices work together without needing Wink. Since Wink has not released any new software in over a year and a half, lost most of its staff years ago, and has not received money or ownership changes since 2017, there is nothing left to turn the company around.

AI pressure: Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant AI-driven routines. Voice assistants added automation and routines natively, so a separate AI brain for the smart home became pointless.

Bigger players: Amazon, Google, Apple, Samsung via Matter standard. Wink lost retail shelf space and users to Echo, Nest, HomeKit, and SmartThings, then Matter erased the need for its hub entirely.

What protected it. None left: no funding, no staff, no updates, only a dormant brand and old patents.

Timeline

2021-01-25Wink suffers 9-day platform-wide outage with no disclosed root cause
2020-07-27Wink's mandatory $4.99/month subscription plan takes effect
2020-05-07Wink tells users to pay up or devices will be disabled, sparking backlash
2019-10-28Wink near-collapse revealed: $1.79M in delinquent taxes, unpaid staff
2017-10Wink Lookout security system ships, the company's last product launch
2017-07-27i.am+ (will.i.am) buys Wink from Flex for $59 million total
2015-11-16Flex (Flextronics) acquires Wink for $15 million
2015-09-22Quirky files Chapter 11 bankruptcy, puts Wink up for sale
2014-06Wink founded as a spin-off of Quirky

Also gone

Chegg closed 2026 Course Hero closed 2026 One Hour Translation / Blend was absorbed 2026

All 62 post-mortems →

This page is a post-mortem, not a live assessment, and it carries no band. The blind-test result is the only part made without knowledge of the outcome.