Blink

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Blink

Basic information
Founded	2009
Type	Subsidiary
Industry	Home security
Official website	https://blinkforhome.com/

Blink is a manufacturer of home security cameras owned by Amazon. The company was acquired from Immedia Semiconductor as a subsidiary in 2017.

Consumer impact summary

Overview of concerns that arise from the company's conduct regarding (if applicable):

• User Freedom
• User Privacy
• Business Model
• Market Control

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Incidents

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Introduction of subscription model

With the release of the Outdoor 3 and Mini in 2020, Blink began switching from a free cloud model to a subscription system (later finalized in early 2021). The "basic plan" only allows 1 device per account ($3/m or $30/y), while the "plus plan" allows for unlimited devices and includes an extended device warranty ($10/m or $100/y). Previous accounts with Indoor, XT, or XT2 devices were given "legacy" status, which allowed for 7,200 seconds of free cloud storage per sync module. Some users with legacy accounts have had issues where the app would have users on a "30 day trial period" when upgrading cameras.

Users have complained the app forces you into purchasing a subscription even with local storage, with one user alleging they cannot filter clips, cannot have stable doorbell live views, and clip names on local storage are random numbers instead of dates, though others have reported different experiences without a subscription.

Account bans for Homebridge use

On April 16, 2021, it was reported that Blink accounts using a third-party Homebridge integration were banned. The reasons stated by Blink were "due to unsupported scripts or apps running on your system" and "the only automation that is permitted for use with the Blink system is through Alexa and/or IFTTT". According to Colin Bendell, the developer of the plugin, he states that 10,000 users of the plugin "is probably small potatoes for Amazon", as there were over 1 million downloads of the Android app.

Planned obsolescence

For older cameras such as the Indoor, XT, and XT2, the local storage option for the Sync Module 2 cannot be utilized. Although this can be changed with a software update, that has not occurred.

Products

• Modules
  • Sync Module (2016)
  • Sync Module 2 (2020)
  • Sync Module XR (2024)
• Cameras
  • Blink Indoor (2016)
  • Blink XT (2017)
  • Blink XT2 (2018)
  • Blink Outdoor 3 (2020)
  • Blink Indoor 3 (2020)
  • Blink Mini (2020)
  • Mini Pan-Tilt (2022)
  • Blink Outdoor 4 (2023)
  • Blink Mini 2 (2024)
• Doorbell
  • Video doorbell (2021)
• Floodlights
  • Wired Floodlight Camera (2023)
  • Outdoor 3 Floodlight Camera (2020)
  • Outdoor 4 Floodlight Camera (2023)