Big brands leave consumers in the dark over smart product updates
If you’ve bought a smart product recently, chances are you were sold short on support.
Our survey of more than 220 brands found the majority either update devices for a dismally short time or have no published policy. We found market-leading Nest thermostats on sale despite official support seemingly ending years ago, and nearly £3,000 Sony smart TVs with no indication of how long they’ll get vital updates.
In April 2024, a new law will force smart brands to say how long they will support their products. So why are brands still leaving you in the dark?
Smart home security: shop savvy for smart products – we reveal how long the biggest brands support you with vital updates, from smartphones to dishwashers.
An update policy is like a digital warranty
We asked 224 brands in 37 categories if they had a clear updates policy. Just 31% stated how many years their products would be supported, while 11% offered a vague policy such as ‘for as long as possible’ or ‘lifetime’. If there isn’t a defined end date, it isn’t a policy.
Some 58% didn’t answer, refused to comment or didn’t have a policy. That’s more than double the number in 2022, despite a published policy becoming a legal requirement from April 2024.
An update policy is like a digital warranty. Unsupported devices can become a security risk as unfixed flaws emerge that hackers can exploit. However, support is much more than that. It’s a commitment from the manufacturer that the smart element of a product will continue to work.
That’s important because unsupported products could lose functionality or even become useless before their time, such as Hive security cameras in 2025. Appliances otherwise in fine condition could be thrown out, which is bad for the owner and the environment.
The 'good' – brands with strong policies
Few companies support a smart product beyond its estimated life (based on our data). Miele and Bosch are among the best with 10 years of support across all appliances. This is from the product being discontinued (no longer on sale) rather than from launch.
That’s an important difference. ‘Four years of support’ might sound good, but if the product came out in 2020 and you’re buying it in 2024, it could already be unsupported.
Smart doorbells had the highest number of clear policies (50%), but that was down from 75% in 2022. For some brands, policies are mixed. Samsung’s up to five years of support post-launch is good for a smartphone, but poor for a washing machine.
The 'bad' - brands that fall short
A brand should be praised for putting a policy in the public domain, but what it says matters, too. Some guarantee a minimum level, with the emphasis on ‘minimum’.
LG, which made more than £50bn in revenue in 2022, offers a woeful two years of guaranteed support from launch across many appliances. As of January 2024, we had live online reviews for eight LG smart washing machines released over two years ago, and so presumably already out of officially stated support. LG told us that these washing machines are still being supported, but did not give an updated date on when support would end.
We found the same issue with the Google Nest Learning Thermostat, which had 'five years support' from its launch in 2015. Google told us in late 2023 that it was still receiving critical updates, but refused to put an end date on support – it could be next week or years away.
Then there is Apple, which we know offers good support (the iPhone 8 still gets security updates more than six years on from its launch in 2017) but the brand will not put clear policies into the public domain.
Use our phone support calculator to see how long a smartphone will continue to receive important updates.
And the 'ugly' – brands who say nothing
Having a bad policy isn’t great, but saying nothing is worse – and some brands have done so repeatedly in the three years we’ve run this survey. These companies sell you internet-connected products to wash clothes, cook meals and heat your home, apparently without a clear plan as to how long they will support them.
These aren’t small firms. Hoover and Candy (both owned by Haier), along with Beko and AEG have never given clear policies. TP-Link and Huawei (both various devices), Canon (printers) and V-Tech (baby monitors), consistently say nothing, too.
From 29 April, under the Product Security and Telecommunications Infrastructure Act 2022 it will be illegal to sell products in the UK that don’t have published update policies stating a defined minimum period for support. Manufacturers will be breaking the law and face potential fines of up to £10m or 4% of worldwide revenue.
Some brands did say they were aware of this and were working on a policy, but we think it’s fair to expect more than an eleventh-hour decision on products that can cost £1,000 or more.
Businesses have 'all they need' to comply
We contacted the Department for Science, Innovation, and Technology (DSIT) about our findings, and it said businesses have 'all of the information required' to comply with the law.
A spokesperson said: 'These new regulations designed in partnership with industry will be a true game changer for consumers and will see the UK become the first country in the world to require new minimum cyber security standards on connectable products from 29 April.
'As we’ve done throughout, we continue to regularly engage with retailers and manufacturers to make sure they know what steps need to be taken ahead of this coming into force, and by the time it does, all of the information required for businesses to comply will have been in the public domain for a year.'
Rocio Concha, Which? Director of Policy and Advocacy, said: 'With new laws to force transparency on the horizon, our investigation has found that currently big brands are either failing to guarantee vital tech updates will be provided for a long period of time or, worse, completely stonewalling their customers.
'Smart product manufacturers must get their houses in order ahead of new laws coming into force later this year. If they don’t then the regulator must be prepared to take strong enforcement action, including issuing fines against companies which are not complying.'
Time to come clean
The issue of security updates goes beyond whether your fridge, TV or doorbell will get hacked. This is about the integrity of the products you buy and use every day. Smart functionality brings great benefits, but also risks – including working appliances going to landfill way earlier than they should. That is why we fought so hard to make the Product Security and Telecommunications Act 2022 law.
The legislation makes it a legal requirement for manufacturers to tell you how long they will support a smart product. By forcing them to have a policy, they must consider a product’s longevity. Or so the idea goes.
Yet just over four months before the law comes into force, more than half of all mainstream smart products – from TVs to washing machines and smart thermostats – are being sold with no information at all. Even the regulations that are coming in don’t go far enough.
The government has ignored our calls for update policies to be shown to you at the point of sale, for marketplaces to be held responsible for the security of products on their platforms or to consider mandating a minimum period for support. You’re unlikely to see the policy unless you check the manufacturer’s website, making it too easy for brands to hide weak policies.
So we’ll continue to publish support policies in our smart product reviews and advice, and will highlight the best and worst. When the new rules start to bite from April, we’ll check companies are meeting their legal obligations. Those that aren’t should expect to hear from us.
What to do when buying smart products
First of all, shop around, and use our guide to support periods to inform a purchase. Why buy a £1,900 smart oven from Fisher and Paykal with no update update, when you can get a Bosch with guaranteed 10 years after the product is discontinued?
For a few product types (for example smartphones), we take into account update support when we consider which models to recommend as Best Buys. If manufacturers stop updating a phone, we remove any Best Buys. We’d love to do this for all smart appliances, but too many brands say nothing about their policies. If we penalised a brand for no longer officially supporting a washing machine, a brand that says nothing would get away with it.
When all brands are forced to publish a policy in late April 2024 we will review the situation and look at how update support could be factored into our recommendations.
If you do own an unsupported product, you’re unlikely to be at immediate risk, but if you’re concerned you could disconnect the device from the internet, assuming this isn’t essential to using the device.
It’s obviously not acceptable that you buy a product in good faith only to see it abandoned after a short time. But with our help, and upcoming laws that will force manufacturers to be clear, at least you’ll be able to buy a smart product with your eyes open, and walk away from brands that are all too willing to walk away from you.
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