Why is TUYA blocking reflash?

sciurius · Post by **sciurius** » Tuesday 09 November 2021 17:22

As far as I can see, TUYA is a hardware company that sells IoT devices.

All devices communicate with, and are controlled by, their servers but there is no value associated with their services.

So why is TUYA blocking (or making it hard) to reflash their devices? I would say the easier it is, the more devices they'll sell.

philchillbill · Saturday 13 November 2021 22:46

sciurius wrote:As far as I can see, TUYA is a hardware company that sells IoT devices.

All devices communicate with, and are controlled by, their servers but there is no value associated with their services.

So why is TUYA blocking (or making it hard) to reflash their devices? I would say the easier it is, the more devices they'll sell.

Because they want your data ! It’s a valuable commodity these days…

sciurius · Post by **sciurius** » Monday 15 November 2021 16:52

Yes, that was the first thing I've considered, but then I started to doubt... Knowing when I switch on/off a lamp is that really of any use? When I flip a sswitch (without knowing what is connected to the switch)? Especially compared to the costs of running servers and infrastructure?

philchillbill · Post by **philchillbill** » Monday 15 November 2021 17:18

sciurius wrote: Monday 15 November 2021 16:52 Yes, that was the first thing I've considered, but then I started to doubt... Knowing when I switch on/off a lamp is that really of any use? When I flip a sswitch (without knowing what is connected to the switch)? Especially compared to the costs of running servers and infrastructure?

Well the switch you flip is named in their app. So if you turn on/off the bathroom lamp 20 times a day they know somebody might need diarrhea-pills or to re-order toilet paper soon. You'd be surprised what kind of hidden information there is in our data

user4563 · Post by **user4563** » Monday 15 November 2021 18:32

Not saying this will happen but I've seen it many times before... a SaaS company gets plenty of clients locked-in and then there is a complete bait-and-switch that turns into a paid product for functionality or freemium model.

sciurius · Post by **sciurius** » Monday 15 November 2021 19:17

That is a more realistic scenario...

sciurius · Post by **sciurius** » Monday 15 November 2021 19:26

philchillbill wrote: Monday 15 November 2021 17:18Well the switch you flip is named in their app. So if you turn on/off the bathroom lamp 20 times a day ...

Hmm. Let's see. For TUYA, the lamps are called A60 RGB-CCT 1, 2 and so on. The plugs are called Smart Plus 1, 2, and so on. No diarrhea-pills for me, I'm afraid

.

sciurius · Post by **sciurius** » Friday 26 November 2021 17:41

I could withdraw one of my TUYA devices from the cluster, it is running Tasmota now.
The other three were either 'too new firmware' (PSK 02), or the newer TUYA chip, WB2S.
It seems you can replace a WB2S board by a plugin compatible ESP82xx board, I must investigate.
And find out how to open a light bulb.