Pet owners say smart pet feeder outage led to furry ones going unfed
Smart pet-feeder company Petlibro suffered an outage on Tuesday, giving users a harsh reminder of the risks of relying on smart devices.
Smart pet-feeder company Petlibro suffered an outage on Tuesday, giving users a harsh reminder of the risks of relying on smart devices.
The short version
- Petlibro makes pet feeders that connect to Wi-Fi and, for setup with Petlibro’s mobile companion app, Bluetooth.
- Users can set the feeders to automatically dispense food at scheduled times, which is handy for pet care when the owner is out of the home.
- In a statement to The Verge , Petlibro CEO York Wu said this week’s outage was “related to how the Petlibro app communicates with devices through its online servers.” Petlibro first acknowledged problems on Tuesday at 5 am PT.
What happened
It said via a status page that it was “investigating a service disruption affecting the Petlibro app. Our team will continue reviewing the incident over the coming days to better understand the cause and identify improvements to help prevent similar disruptions in the future,” the support page reads.
Why it matters
The page also notes that previously saved schedules should run, but “some activity data may be unavailable,” adding:.
Summary by Nerd News Network. Read the full article at Ars Technica via the links above and below.