Motorola effectively bricked its entire line of WiFi routers without explanation

https://mashable.com/tech/motorola-wifi-routers-stop-working-motosync-plus-app-down

by thisislife2 • 2 months ago

238 149 2 months ago

mashable.com

criticalfault• 2 months ago

there is an explanation: Motorola is extremely bad at software.

opinion based on their support system, correspondence and android updates,

Reason0773• 2 months ago

These WiFi products and the associated app aren’t actually from Motorola.

As mentioned in the article, they are products of Premier LogiTech, LLC, who have licensed the Motorola brand name.

sidewndr46• 1 month ago

Functionally, what does it matter? Motorola allowed them to put their name on it.

ssl-311• 2 months ago

There is no singular Motorola. The company has been spinning off different parts of itself for quite a long time.

In 2011/2012, it was divided into different parts. The biggest were Motorola Solutions (mostly focused 2-way radios and related communications infrastructure; stuff commonly used by public safety entities) and Motorola Mobility (mostly cell phones and related stuff).

Google bought Motorola Mobility. It has been said that this was because Google wanted their patent portfolio. In 2014, Google sold Motorola Mobility to Lenovo: The same Lenovo that makes ThinkPads is also who makes Motorola phones today.

Somewhere along the line, their name also got licensed out for home networking bits. That appears to be the products that the Mashable article writes about. This history is murkier, but it appears that some combination of Premier LogiTech and Boundless Devices (whoever tf these companies are) is responsible for making the Motorola-branded routers in question.

---

tl;dr, the Motorola that makes the radios that cops carry on their hip, the Motorola that makes Android phones that consumers carry in their pocket, and the Motorola that makes home routers are not the same company. Like -- at all.

Conflating them is easy because it is, frankly, a confusing mess.

But still: The shitty software on a Motorola phone is not cut from the same cloth as the shitty software on a Motorola router. They're products of very different companies that share nothing but a common trademark.

kotaKat• 2 months ago

Ah yes, just like that time Kodak licensed their name out to make checks... air purifiers? (Bonus points: their brand licensee on most of that crap is now out of business.)

https://www.kodak.com/en/consumer/page/support/

(Or Memorex electric scooters. That's also an 'okay then...' license...)

Gualdrapo• 2 months ago

I don't know, my first "smart" phone was a Motorola Atrix 4G. You know, that one with (one of) the first fingerprint scanner and that thingy that allowed you to dock it to something like a laptop and thus you'd have a working laptop thingy.

Its wifi/bt card broke exactly one year after I bought it. It worked exactly for 365 days. That was 100% hardware failure and planned obsolescence.

Needless to say never bought not even looked at anything Motorola ever since.

xhkkffbf• 2 months ago

I don't know what happened here, but if someone told me that a manager fired all of the dev team and replaced them with cheaper overseas replacements, I wouldn't be surprised.

obscurette• 2 months ago

Years ago a small telco I worked for bought an equipment from rather reputable manufacturer at some point. A year or so later we discovered a grave bug in the software. There was a month or so silence from manufacturer and they just bought all equipment back. We found out later that entire team working on this equipment was fired during restructuring by accident (!) and there wasn't any knowledge about this equipment left in the company.

HotGarbage• 2 months ago

AI replacements

cr125rider• 2 months ago

The original AI anyway

userbinator5• 2 months ago

It would've been even cheaper if they didn't need a dedicated app at all.

zootboy• 2 months ago

And this is why "mandatory app to configure" is an instant dealbreaker for me for any piece of hardware. Don't buy crap like this. Force companies to be better.

ValentineC• 2 months ago

I fear that this will eventually happen to all Amazon Eero products, which has partnerships with telcos in my country for "free" routers.

binaryturtle3• 2 months ago

If it's a "router" and you can't install a OpenWRT on it, then it's an absolute no-brainer to not to buy it.

jasonjayr• 2 months ago

I got a new lease on life for a bunch of old/slow MyBook WD Live NAS devices -- OpenWRT installs onto these PowerPC devices, rather easily.

rycomb• 2 months ago

I'd suggest buying the OpenWRT One. I've bought a bunch, and I think it's terrific.

dotancohen2• 2 months ago

To whom? How many people who have bought these things ever heard of OpenWRT? How many of those are capable of installing it?

Have you ever considered upgrading your refrigerator? Washing machine? Kettle? A router is a transparent appliance to most people.

microtonal5• 2 months ago

For most non-technical people this is irrelevant. Even if the router supported OpenWRT, they wouldn't know how to install it, let alone how to configure it.

Luckily, many (but certainly not all) continental West-European ISPs allow you to lease a Fritz!Box or you can buy one in a store and hook it up [1]. Perfect router/modem for consumers (not too complicated), can be configured through a web interface, and the hardware and software is developed by a German company.

[1] Many European countries have router/modem freedom, so an ISP cannot block you if you want to hook up your own gear. E.g. quite some tech people here use their own XGS-PON fiber ONT or at least their own router + modem.

pseudohadamard• 2 months ago

Friend of mine had some (non-Motorola) router that her ISP provided her and the only way to set it up was through an app. The first time I ran into this I couldn't believe it, there was simply no way to set this piece of s*t up without using the app, which (a) didn't work until we'd spent ages faffing around with it and (b) was just a glorified set of different wizards that let you set things up in a few fixed preconfigured ways.

dotancohen2• 2 months ago

I recommend telling the ISP that you do not own a smartphone.

m463• 2 months ago

I just wish:

- it was more clear when buying a product that an app is required to activate/use/etc a device

- that people who rebelled against this kind of nonsense were backed up by others and respected "more power to you!"

WarOnPrivacy7• 2 months ago

And this is why "mandatory app to configure" is a dealbreaker

More and more IP cameras can't be set up without a phone app. TP-Link's Tapo line is really bad about it. Even some Reolink cameras can't be setup on their own.

Now that high quality, affordable brands like Dahua got banned (w/o evidence), there's less pressure on the survivors to not be awful.

lucaspiller• 2 months ago

Reolink has always been like that, but at least they aren't a random no-name brand that could disappear at any minute.

userbinator5• 2 months ago

More and more IP cameras can't be set up without a phone app.

More evidence that this isn't about cost at all, but control. Fortunately, the good old-fashioned "dumb" ones that just have a tiny web server to serve their configuration and viewing UI still exist, seemingly at both the ultra-cheap (unbranded/random brand ones from China based on a reference design, built by companies with no desire to host anything) and ultra-expensive (Axis, Bosch, etc.) ends of the market; the middle is entirely filled with the "smart" "cloud" crap.

canpan• 2 months ago

When buying fridge, washing machine, oven etc, when I moved, I told the sales person, I like quality, am not price sensitive, but any device that requires an app or has a camera/mic built in is out of question. Some didn't know how to handle that, being used to sell it as a "good thing".

2Gkashmiri• 2 months ago

I have an HP wifi printer, 5820 I think. I haven't signed in to HP, haven't connected the printer to cloud.

Same for anything else. I don't see the whole "oh you need firmware update to improve the product". 90% of the time it just works.

So what happens if the fridge isn't given internet access ? Or washing machine?

Terr_2• 2 months ago

XFinity (Comcast) recently sent my parents a new router, and AFAICT there was no way to configure it from a LAN computer.

It required a damn proprietary phone app, which I assume was bouncing commands through the internet.

microtonal5• 2 months ago

fridge, washing machine, oven etc, [...] Some didn't know how to handle that

I am surprised, all the European brands like Miele, Siemens, Bosch, etc. household appliances work fine without an app. Most that we have now do have an option to connect to WiFi, we never connected them and they all work fine with good old buttons like it's 1985.

devsda• 2 months ago

I like quality, am not price sensitive but any device that requires an app or has a camera/mic built in is out of question

You probably meant "I want no frills product because of its simplicity, not because its cheap" but when that feedback reaches a PM, they'll only hear "I will pay more to not have a camera or a mic".

exe34• 2 months ago

I paid £50 more for a washing machine without wifi/app.

sublinear• 2 months ago

The home appliance market is a scam fractal. It goes deeper than just ewaste.

Nobody wants to admit it, but they are more home decor and geewhiz BS than practical appliance for several decades now. You'll be perfectly fine buying cheap barebones models if you are repair savvy. Choosing colors and materials like black or white and stainless steel is "boring", but only if the surrounding space is already ugly.

I've had the same no name amazon special washer and dryer for almost 15 years now. Reviews were 3/5 stars at the time. People complained about belts slipping and hinges breaking. I just fixed them with parts on ebay. They still look and run like new.

ErroneousBosh• 2 months ago

I said that about cars on here and got called all kinds of an idiot for not wanting electrically-operated door handles, an always-on phone connection, and screens bigger than the telly in my living room.

microtonal5• 2 months ago

I don't disagree, but it's funny that Apple's AirPort routers, which have been axed almost a decade ago, can still be configured with the AirPort app. Years ago, I temporarily hooked up an old AirPort Extreme to replace a broken router, and it even got an update (probably a security update).

At any rate, I think as much as web vs. app, IMO companies should be forced to support their appliances for a certain time period by law (the EU has rolled out a law to require this for some device types). If it was normal for a router to work for 10 years or a washing machine for 20 years, a vendor should be forced to support it for that amount of time since the last sale.

stego-tech• 2 months ago

This is quite literally one of my two grievances against Ubiquiti at the moment: its intense requirement for mobile apps for initial setup.

Stop mandating apps that will eventually break or cease being supported. Give us an OOBE that can be run independent of some mobile app.

chainingsolid• 2 months ago

I was able to install there controller software on pretty much any PC (windows or linuix) and adopt and configure APs. No phone required. Not sure about other networking gear.

piperswe• 2 months ago

I don’t think I’ve ever _needed_ to use the Unifi mobile app. When I connect something to my network, it shows up in the Unifi controller web app ready to adopt.

Reason0773• 2 months ago

“It suddenly stopped working, and no one knows why.”

Based on the screenshots I’m going to hazard a guess that it’s because someone forgot to update, or just stopped paying for, the server license.

bombcar• 2 months ago

If these apps were entirely local nobody'd care.

The insistence they go through a server is why they suck

saratogacx• 2 months ago

So many things rely on date bound certificates now that local doesn't assure continued operation, see the recent Mac Office 2019 stories. I feel like there are so many of these ticking time bombs that expired cert based software failures are going to become a much more common issue.

GolfPopper4• 2 months ago

Or a key employee who was handling that died, quit, or was fired.

megous• 2 months ago

Ridiculous to have no way to configure a router via some normal method, like local web UI or serial/ssh console, or whatnot. Even more ridiculous this app does not satisfy itself with a local wifi/bt link to the router, and needs some "server" with "expiring license" whatever that is. Triple ridiculous this costs more than $50.

userbinator5• 2 months ago

I haven't been in the market for a WiFi router for a long time so I thought all the consumer stuff still used a web server for config. Enterprise stuff is either the same or has a serial port. In any case, it doesn't make sense to require a separate app that they also have to spend resources maintaining when their users will already have a browser they can use, so I suspect the only reason is the app collects usage information that they can sell...

On the bright side, maybe someone can get Claude or some other LLM to figure out how to crack it; and perhaps even vibe-code an alternative app.

ssl-311• 2 months ago

Regular consumers increasingly use apps to do stuff instead of web browsers. They seem to prefer it this way.

And at least for connected devices at home, a dedicated app can have lower friction for initial setup for the "I'm not a computer person" crowd than other alternatives do.

(I know, I know. It's terrible. It even feels something like betrayal sometimes. But that's how it be, anyway -- and you and I are powerless to do anything about it.)

userbinator5• 2 months ago

They seem to prefer it this way.

Strong doubt. What's lower friction, "visit this address in your browser and login to start configuring" vs. "go download this app, open it, possibly log in and register an account, add 'your' device, and only then start to configure it"?

Let's also not forget the possible chicken-and-egg situation of needing the Internet to download an app to setup your new router to access the Internet...

zrm3• 2 months ago

And at least for connected devices at home, a dedicated app can have lower friction for initial setup for the "I'm not a computer person" crowd than other alternatives do.

For a router? This is the device that you will often not have internet access with which to download an app until after it's configured. Many people have wired internet specifically because they live somewhere with poor cellular reception. Meanwhile the device can give out DHCP and use the standard captive portal mechanisms to automatically direct any client device to its configuration page.

somat2• 2 months ago

If only the app could be stored on the router.

Unfortunately the only tech stack that can do this is the web, (serial/remote shell comes close).

In fact I regard this as the major failure of the app method of program deliverance. Why do you need to install them at all? It should be like the web, hit an address load the app. It is why I am thankful that the web was not developed as a commercial project. No for-profit entity would have let it escape their control like that. It would have been designed exactly like the app system for phones is. enforced central blessed "app-stores" and manual install processes.

post_below• 2 months ago

I'm not sure they prefer it. I think tech companies have been pushing apps as the default solution for a long time and people accept it because they just want to do whatever thing is locked behind the app.

If the default was something else I suspect people would accept that too, especially if it was lower friction.

I'd say typing a few characters into an address bar (or scanning a QR code) is, at the least, not higher friction than downloading an app and creating an account.

Tanoc• 1 month ago

They don't "prefer" anything. They just take what's given to them because they don't know that there are other methods. Companies purposely keep them uninformed to reduce hassle when dealing with customers and to make them more likely to follow the route that the company prefers.

giancarlostoro• 2 months ago

On the bright side, maybe someone can get Claude or some other LLM to figure out how to crack it; and perhaps even vibe-code an alternative app.

LLMs are great for this, though the more people use it for blackhat style things, the more I fear they will lockdown LLMs which are useful for reversing things that are legacy as heck and abandonware.

sanex• 2 months ago

I listened to an interview with the guy who nearly cured his dog's cancer with ai and he expressed concern multiple times that going public with the story would cause the labs to cut off the ability.

veeti• 2 months ago

I've been doing some light reverse engineering with Chinese models on Opencode and have found they are already far less reluctant. Just don't ask about Taiwan..

WarOnPrivacy7• 2 months ago

     the Motorola MotoSync+ app is required to set up all new compatible
     WiFi routers released by Motorola

AFAIK, more Motorola routers are installed by cable ISPs than anywhere else. Many or most have WiFi. I can't imagine cable installers are futzing with a phone app.

yonatan80702• 2 months ago

You'd be surprised, at work we recently had a contractor install a new office network (growing startup upgrading from the home grade units we had before), they recommended HP Aruba Instant On, and the guy did all the setup on his phone with their app.

Now that it's my network to manage, I have to say that while it's a huge upgrade from the TP-Link Deco units we had before, the cloud management just makes it worse. The web UI is slow, probably because every click requires a round trip from my laptop, to a datacenter somewhere, to the router/switch/AP 5m away from me, back to the datacenter, and back to my laptop.

WarOnPrivacy7• 2 months ago

You may be more right (and me more wrong) than you know. Another comment said their parent's ISP-provided router requires a phone to config.

ref:https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48425611#48432024

jeffbee4• 2 months ago

Without minimizing the impact, we should not blow it out of proportion, either. It sounds like every existing installed device continues to work. "Bricked" is used too expansively here.

swiftcoder2• 2 months ago

If you walk into a BestBuy and purchase a new one today, it arrives pre-bricked. That seems to meet the definition just fine

jeffbee4• 2 months ago

That's not what bricked means. Bricked is a one-way trip to permanent non-function. For example, overwriting the firmware with firmware that can't boot and also can't update again.

The events in the article are a simple, transient backend malfunction.

_HMCB_• 2 months ago

Probably AI.

JumpCrisscross3• 2 months ago

Is there really no jurisdiction in which this is illegal?

hulitu• 2 months ago

I wish people would read EULAs and TOS's.

kstrauser• 2 months ago

A EULA or TOS doesn’t give them permission to break the law.

JellyBeanThief• 1 month ago

Relevant Discworld:

The imp gave a nervous cough.

“Good for you!” it said. “You have wisely purchased the Dis-organizer Mk II, the latest in biothaumaturgic design, with a host of useful features and no resemblance whatsoever to the Mk I, which you may have inadvertently destroyed by stamping on it heavily!” it said, adding, “This device is provided without warranty of any kind as to reliability, accuracy, existence or otherwise or fitness for any particular purpose and Bioalchemic Products specifically does not warrant, guarantee, imply or make any representations as to its merchantability for any particular purpose and furthermore shall have no liability for or responsibility to you or any other person, entity or deity with respect of any loss or damage whatsoever caused by this device or object or by any attempts to destroy it by hammering it against a wall or dropping it into a deep well or any other means whatsoever and moreover asserts that you indicate your acceptance of this agreement or any other agreement that may be substituted at any time by coming within five miles of the product or observing it through large telescopes or by any other means because you are such an easily cowed moron who will happily accept arrogant and unilateral conditions on a piece of highly priced garbage that you would not dream of accepting on a bag of dog biscuits and is used solely at your own risk.”

The imp took a deep breath. “May I introduce to you the rest of my wide range of interesting and amusing sounds, Insert Name Here?”

somat2• 2 months ago

Give it a try, take Motorola to small claims court. don't be greedy but see if you can get them to spend a couple thousand in lawyer expenses for a couple hundred of claim.

b212• 2 months ago

Motorola was my last Android phone. Once they pushed an update that took 99% of my phones memory and I couldn’t install even a single app - I moved to iPhone and never looked back. Over 10 years and counting. I still can’t believe they literally bricked my phone back then.

So far Apple “just works”. Is it perfect? No. But I can’t imagine fuckup of this magnitude from them.

kakacik• 2 months ago

Many things in Android sphere 'just work', we have open standards and market forces to thank for that.

apple airpods pro 2nd gen 'just don't work' with say samsung phones (s24 in our case) - constant disconnections, pairing fails maybe 50% of the time. Come with apple phone to very same plugs, and they 'just work'. Over effin' bluetooth that chinese plugs for 10 bucks have figured out better.

Wake me up when I can go on filesystem and copy to my computer any damn file I want from the device running unix kernel that I supposedly own, like photos and videos I took, over open standard usb.

realusername• 2 months ago

To each their own, I moved back to Android from iOS because it "just works", having to factory reset my device to install apps again after an iOS update was the last straw.

effnorwood• 2 months ago

explanation - they made wifi routers?

WarOnPrivacy7• 2 months ago

Sure. Many ISP-provided, Motorola routers have integrated wifi. Here's a few.

    ARRIS SURFboard SBG6580
    MG7700, MG7550-30, MG7315, ML240 (cellular)

WarOnPrivacy7• 2 months ago

According to Google Play reviews for the MotoSync+ app, this issue is

   due to server license expiring, after the host ended operations and
   has been in play since at least May 12

A June 4th review says this:

    The latest issue is "Server Licence Expired". I have been
    unable to manage devices for months. So..I reset my router.
    I no longer have a mesh network. I have only the single
    point router and still unable to manage devices. 
    The licence verification issue continues. I found out this
    is because a 3rd party managed the Server and folded. 
    3 weeks of almost daily Chat promises to connect to a
    specialist which never materializes. 
    I left some chats open for hours.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.motosyncpl...

zamalek• 1 month ago

and no one knows why.

I think we can make an educated guess as to why. Maybe we could get Claude to reverse engineer it to clean up its own mess.

spl757• 1 month ago

This is extremely disappointing corporate behavior coming from Motorola. I've had better luck with $350 unlocked Moto something I can use anywhere and comes with no bloatware. I like that part, do more of that.

Motorola effectively bricked its entire line of WiFi routers without explanation

Related Stories