How long will your smart tech last? Big brands fail to deliver on new laws

After 10 years of campaigning, the Product Security and Telecommunications Infrastructure (PSTI) Act 2022 has made it a legal requirement for brands to inform you how long smart products will be supported with vital security updates. 

This means how long devices you use to do the dishes, make meals or binge the latest box set will fend off hackers, and stay in good working order. With potential fines of up to £10 million, you’d think manufacturers would be rushing to comply. Well, you’d be wrong. 

When we checked within days of the law coming into force, almost a quarter of smart brands did not have update policies for their products in the public domain. Among those that did, some we're offering just a year of support before they could, in theory, abandon the smart product that you own. Read on for full results on our investigation. 

Smart products and updates - see our in-depth guide to how long your smart tech and appliances will be supported.

Smart tech brands with poor support policies

Under the new regulations, brands must now publish a defined minimum period for smart product security update support with a clear end date. Yet, when we surveyed manufacturers and manually checked their websites after the law came in on 29 April 2024, in the case of 29 out of 128 brands (23%) we didn't get a response or see a published policy. That included big names such as Alcatel, Hoover and Netatmo. 

A further 23 brands (18%) had a policy, but it wasn’t, in our view, clear what they were guaranteeing in terms of support. It might have stated a period of support time, for example, but without a clear date in which that will end. Which? believes 76 brands (59%) had a compliant published policy, stating a clearly defined support period. This despite the regulations stating that a policy should be ‘clear, ‘accessible’ and ‘transparent’, and understandable by anyone, regardless of their technical knowledge. 

Update policies are important as they help you choose long-lasting smart products, and use them more securely. Ahead, we detail the best and worst policies across a range of smart product areas. 

Smart white goods

While some white goods, such as fridge freezers, only have a small proportion of smart products. In other areas, like washing machines and dishwashers, around a third of their range is now 'smart'.

Update policies are intended to help you choose long-lasting smart products, and use them more securely. But if you only know about a policy after you have bought the product, or not at all, it rather defeats the point. Some smart white goods policies are tied to the 'warranty of the product', which in one case was just one year, others are 'from purchase', or from launch. 

So it's still not an easy market to navigate, but you can find details of all policies we know about from the links below. 

• Tumble dryers: Both Bosch and Miele offer outstanding 10 year support policies. Samsung and LG’s five year support could also be worth considering, but AEG’s two years lags behind rivals. Beko only offers one year. 
• Washing machines: Some 76 out of 224 of washing machines on the Which? website are smart, but go Miele, Siemens or Bosch if you want one with the longest support. Samsung and LG’s five years of support is decent, but again AEG and Beko lag behind. 
• Dishwashers: Again, Miele, Bosch and Siemens offer the longest support on smart dishwashers. Otherwise consider the age of the product – as with all ‘from launch’ policies, every year after purchase cuts a year from the guarantee. Hisense offers just two years of support, and Beko (including Grundig) once more just a year. Haier group (including Candy and Hoover) give just two years 'from purchase'. 
• Smart ovens: Bosch and Miele lead the way in terms of smart oven support again with 10 years, compared to Grundig's undercooked one-year support guarantee.
• Fridge freezers: Bosch smart fridge freezers sold right now have guaranteed support up to 2034. Siemens offers the same. Buy a 2024 Samsung or LG smart fridge and support is guaranteed for five years, but only from the appliance’s launch date. Neff and Liebherr have left you out in the cold. 

Smart entertainment/communication tech 

Some products are exempt from the PSTI regulations, including laptop and desktop computers – the feeling is that these run operating systems like MacOS and Windows that are centrally controlled and monitored for security. Also excluded are wi-fi-only tablets that can’t get online using cellular networks (unless they are aimed exclusively at children). 

Everything else is covered, including smartphones - and following years of us exposing the brands with good and bad support policies, fortunately the situation here is much improved. The same can't be said for all Smart TV and Printer brands, however. 

• Smartphones: Apple states five-year minimum support on iPhones, but in practice we've seen this exceeding six. Google and Samsung now support their premium phones for seven years, but Fairphone still has them beat with eight. 
• Smart TVs: Both market leaders - Samsung and LG - offer five years of guaranteed support from launch on their smart TVs. TVs are more often bought new each year, so that support offer is perhaps better than with white goods. Hisense offers a relatively miserly two years from when its televisions were first released. 
• Tablets: Apple's policies aren't always easy to find, but a minimum five years from the first supply date of an iPad is good, as long as you buy fairly new. Amazon isn’t required to indicate support policies for wi-fi online Fire tablets, but it says it will give at least four years after discontinuation. 
• Printers: Brother’s smart printers will receive guaranteed updates until at least five years after discontinuation, whereas Epson gives seven years from the date you buy your printer, compared to HP offering three.

Smart security

Sadly, too many manufacturers with high-performing devices, such as Ubiquiti and Arlo, have seemingly ignored the legislation. And all this was despite the industry having plenty of notice of the upcoming regulations. 

What happens when support for a product ends? Well, that device becomes more at risk of being hacked as any security flaws that emerge will no longer be fixed. However, out of support devices can also stop working entirely. Hive has confirmed that from 1 August 2025, it will remove support for its Hive View indoor and outdoor security cameras, and at this stage the cameras will no longer function or be secure to use. While it’s not ideal to see a smart device being abandoned, at least owners have been made aware of the situation and can take action when the time comes.

• Wireless cameras: Ezviz’s policy is confusingly presented, but it guarantees support on cameras sold today up to 2031. That’s even better than Ring’s four year guarantee up to 2028, and potentially better than TP-Link's three years from discontinuation. Far too many brands have said nothing, including Arlo and Ubiquiti.  
• Smart doorbells: Ring offers at least four years of support after the last doorbell has been sold on its website. However, Ezviz goes further, claiming to offer around seven years minimum. Arlo, Ubiquiti and Netatmo don't appear to have a policy that we could find, despite it being a legal requirement. 
• Smart burglar alarms: Ring, Yale and ERA all offer around four years guaranteed, but Texecom did not have a published policy. We couldn’t at first find one for Somfy, but eventually the brand supplied one to us. 
• Smart smoke/CO alarm: Google Nest is the only smart smoke alarm brand. You can still buy the Nest Protect Smoke + CO Alarm, despite guaranteed support ending in June 2020. Google says it is still receiving critical security updates, but it’s unclear for how much longer. 

Smart home tech

Also covered by the legislation are products that we use to heat our homes, entertain ourselves and monitor our children while they sleep. They matter, and how long the companies that sell them to you will keep them in good working order matters too. 

No one wants to see their thermostat expire unexpectedly in the dead of winter, or even worse get locked with ransomware by a hacker. The same goes for smart radiator valves. 

We criticised Google in the January 2024 for a lack of clarity over how long it would support its market leading Nest thermostat. The tech giant listened, and has addressed that by adding an end date to its pledge for five years of support. The Nest Thermostat will get official support up to October 2025. Support for the Nest Thermostat E officially ended in August 2022, but Google says it is still issuing critical security updates. 

• Smart speakers: Amazon’s Echo devices get at least four years after the product is discontinued, and Apple and Google offer at least five years from the launch of Homepod and Nest speakers. 
• Baby monitors: V-Tech has plenty of Best Buy baby monitors, and also offers the longest support. The kids smart tech brand will honour at a minimum of four years from the date you purchased a monitor. Hubble only commits to two years. Owlet will also commit to updates for two years, but this is from the date the device was registered. Nanit left us, and you, in the dark.
• Smart thermostats: Tado° leads the way with an impressive 10-year update commitment – any Tado thermostat bought today will be supported to at least 2034. Google gives five years of support, although that is from the launch of its thermostats. 
• Smart radiator valves: The picture is similar for smart radiator valves, with Tado offering the same commitment, compared to Hive's modest two year minimum guarantee, the same as Drayton and Worcester Bosch. 
• Smart plugs: TP-Link’s a popular brand for smart plugs, and at three years guaranteed minimum from discontinuation, its update policy impresses, too. We couldn't find policies many other brands, despite it now being a legal requirement.

Smart tech should last as long as possible

Back in 2014, we criticised manufacturers for having ‘commitment issues’ when it comes to smart product support. Ten years on we have seen improvements, but on the whole it's still not nearly good enough.

Despite the product security law being introduced, far too many manufacturers have pushed the limits of what’s required, or just ignored it completely. We’ve taken aim at the industry here, but we should be equally outraged by our lawmakers. The government failed to tightly define these regulations (despite us calling for it) and the designated regulator (the Office of Product Safety and Standards) has failed to give clear guidance to brands (again, we asked for this). And what has ensued is an abject but predictable mess of compliance. 

Let’s not forget that update policy transparency was supposed to help you buy and use smart products more securely. By surfacing how long a smart product will be supported, you know how long that manufacturer has committed to maintain the product digitally in good working order. 

You might wonder why we’re so bothered about this issue. Will my washing machine ever really get hacked? Well, that’s missing the point. 

One day all products will be smart, manufacturers charge a premium for it and should ensure products stay secure and work effectively for as long as possible. In many ways, this is a battle for the soul of the products you use every single day – and our fight has only just begun.  

Rocio Concha, Which? Director of Policy and Advocacy, said: “It’s very disappointing that big brands are seemingly failing to comply with new product security laws despite having well over a year to prepare, leaving customers in the dark about how long their products will be supported with vital security updates and potentially putting them at risk. 

“It’s bad news for consumers and the environment, especially when you consider these short support periods could result in smart tech ending up in landfill way before its time. 

“The OPSS must urgently investigate this issue, provide clear guidance for manufacturers and explain how it is going to crack down on brands ignoring security laws designed to help consumers buy products that are built to last.” 

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