Bambu Lab Authorization Control System: Difference between revisions

*Start or stop prints remotely using Home Assistant, BTT Panda Touch,<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=@BIGTREETECH |date=17 Jan 2025 |title=<nowiki>Dear Users, Recently Bambu announced some significant changes to how authorization will work with some of their coming firmware updates for the X series (X1, X1C, X1E) of their printers. We want to use this post to explain how it will affect the Panda Touch and how you can still retain full functionality.

The announcement in question can be read here: https://blog.bambulab.com/firmware-update-introducing.../ Below is a bullet point list of the key points and implications from this announcement: - The new authorization control system will be rolled out to the X range of printers on the 23rd of January 2025. - No mention is made of an exact release schedule for the P and A series printers. - The new authorization method will likely limit the control available to third party devices and software on all X series machines. This includes software like Home Assistant, Orca Slicer and the Panda Touch. - A and P series machines will retain full third party software and device control until Bambu release a similar firmware update for those machines. - The firmware updates are optional and any users who wish to retain third party device or software control can choose not to perform the update. - We have reached out to Bambu to try and obtain more information and we will keep users updated as Bambu provides feedback that is approved for public release. Our recommendation is to remain on your current firmware so that you can retain the use of the Panda Touch until we have more clarity about the situation. Sincerely, The BIQU/BIGTREETECH team.</nowiki> |url=https://www.facebook.com/BIGTREETECH/posts/pfbid0SNZGxvf7NRdmyVgHf6y9yNedNbU2RrCfdT8gugTSD4AYfr5BHneNF9H1EbwyYiJEl |url-status=live |access-date=1 May 2025 |website=[[Facebook]]}}</ref> or other third-party accessories or software interfaces

Customer reactions have been overwhelmingly negative.<ref>{{Cite web |last=@hho |date=15 Jan 2025 |title=Improvements Introduce authorization and authentication protection mechanism: Bambu Studio now supports signing and encrypting control commands sent to printers when the printer supports authorization and authentication protection. The printer will determine whether the commands can be executed. Hmmm. This reads suspiciously vague. It could mean that Bambu printers get an onboard permission handling, so that you can “lock down” your printer and set what commands can be run. But it could also mean that Bambu printers in (or of?) the future will only run Gcode encrypted and signed by Bambu Studio… |url=https://forum.bambulab.com/t/bambu-studio-1-10-2-public-beta/134549/4 |url-status=live |access-date=1 May 2025 |website=Bambu Lab Community Forum}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=@iranintoavan |title=Firmware Update Introducing New Authorization Control System |url=https://old.reddit.com/r/BambuLab/comments/1i2psvz/firmware_update_introducing_new_authorization/ |url-status=live |access-date=1 May 2025 |website=Old Reddit}}</ref> Bambu Lab has historically pushed cloud-based printer interaction while offering limited LAN mode functionality<ref name=":4" />. Many customers argue that the security issues this locked-down firmware claims to address are actually consequences of the company's cloud-based design choices rather than inherent risks of local network control,<ref name="bambulab-forum-134549/12" /> which continues to infuriate users who are now told that security is the justification for a loss of freedom. As a result of the announcement of the shift, customer ratings on sites like Trustpilot rapidly dropped,<ref>https://www.trustpilot.com/review/bambulab.com?sort=recency</ref> with many reviews citing the restrictions as the reason for the bad reviews.