IoT maker Chamberlain blocks access by third-party apps

The Chamberlain Group, which operates smart home device brands Liftmaster, Chamberlain, Merlin, and Grifco, has released a statement accusing it of 'unauthorized use' of its

Removal of MyQ integration - Home Assistant

Chamberlain blocks smart garage door opener from working with smart homes | Ars Technica
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/11/chamberlain-blocks-smart-garage-door-opener-from-working-with-smart-homes/

Chamberlain shuts off access to MyQ's APIs, breaking smart home integrations - The Verge
https://www.theverge.com/23949612/chamberlain-myq-smart-garage-door-controller-homebridge-integrations

Chamberlain announced in October 2023 that it had 'made a decision to prevent unauthorized use of the myQ ecosystem through third-party apps.' Specifically, it now blocks third-party apps from accessing myQ.

The official blog of the open source smart home app ' Home Assistant ' states that the Home Assistant app has been equipped with a feature called 'myQ intergration' to connect with myQ since February 2017, and Chamberlain has accused this of 'unauthorized use.' It is explained that it is expressing.

Home Assistant contacted Chamberlain and received a response that said, ``I can only assume that they are trying to force users to use only myQ apps or certified partner apps.''

Although it is possible for Home Assistant to respond in some way to blocks, Chamberlain seems to only block in a different way, so with the December 6, 2023 update, Home Assistant will We have decided to remove the intergration feature.

Ron Amadeo of news site Ars Technica said, 'Why does Chamberlain care so much about people using third-party apps? Isn't it better to just use the product you bought?' Thinking of this, I looked into the surrounding circumstances and discovered that the Android version of the myQ app had been given 1 star reviews one after another.

Below is the app in question. The Japanese version page is not so bad, but the English version page has been receiving extremely poor reviews since October 2023.

myQ Garage & Access Control - Apps on Google Play
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.chamberlain.android.liftmaster.myq&hl=en_US

The reason why there are so many ★1's in the reviews is that advertisements are displayed at the top of the app and there is no way to remove them, and the 'Open Garage' button is not in the first view, so be sure to watch the advertisements first. Because the structure is such that you have to scroll down the screen. Regarding this, users have been complaining one after another, saying, ``Even though I purchased the product, I was still shown advertisements.''

This suggests that Chamberlain has prioritized revenue from certified garage opener partners and ad revenue from the myQ app over user convenience, and Home Assistant has been ``when a company decides to go against its customers.'' The only way we can win is by not participating in the game. Don't buy our products or services.'

In addition, on the social news site Hacker News, Mr. Paulgerhardt pointed out that ``There are only two sources of recurring revenue in the IoT field: storage charges and charges for commercial access.'' It shows how difficult it is to do so.

Partially responsible for this. (Sold Lockitron to Chamberlain in 2017 which bec... | Hacker News
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38191712