Project abandoned

[Pico]

I am also sad that they did such a poor job of end-of–lifeing Hook. No communication. No plan. No nothing.

But, why would you throw out your RF outlets when you could buy a Broadlink RM Pro and keep using them? That’s what I plan on doing.

It is a shame that they don’t care that they doomed all of their Hooks to being disposed of. Luckily there are responsible electronics recyclers in my town rather than having to send it to the landfill.

[itsdone]

You must be holding onto your original 2g iphone and spiteful that Apple doesn’t release OS12 updates for it?

This project peaked just before wifi plugs were widely available and IOT was just becoming widespread. The tide has shifted and I can’t see how/why the original devs could continue to support this indefinitely. I’m surprised the server was active for so long after customer support went dark.

That having been said, I agree wholeheartedly with the other sentiment here–the devs did a shit job of notifying users when actual server support was going to end.

@Pico, thanks for informing us about a possible option for maintaining the RF outlets.

[stanwebber]

yeah, i damn well still have one of the early gen iphones and it serves a very useful life as a security camera now. what of it?

[kmanski]

any alternates outdoor for hook ?

[Golem]

I see what looks like an SD card slot on the board. Nevermind, it’s an RF module. However there are JTAG pins. Edited once I tore it apart. No SD slot.

[Pico]

This looks like an interesting option to replace Hook:

Hacking the Sonoff RF Bridge 433

Also this firmware: https://github.com/arendst/Sonoff-Tasmota

And yet another firmware: https://github.com/Portisch/RF-Bridge-EFM8BB1

The Sonoff RF Bridge itself is just $14 on Amazon but apparently has limited compatibility. Although, it sounds like these different firmware options that can be flashed onto it open it up to be more useful.

Probably would help to have some coding knowledge as well as working with stuff like Arduino or ESP8266 before.

[Reddy]

Hi Hook is working today!!! Hope it continues.

[rms5846]

Looks like mine is back up too!!! YAY!
I was going to start taking my system apart today but glad i checked functionality. Guess it just needed a restart?

Thanks hook!

[Pico]

Back to working for me as well! I really hope they keep it running!!!

Thanks to anyone at Hook if they ever read this!

[avocat]

Confirmed for me, also. It is working. I already started converting to Jeeo, but prefer how I had things with Hook. Will I go back? I don’t know yet.

[itsdone]

Anyone have issues with Google home connecting to Hook? Alexa seems to have picked right back up again, but not my Google home voice control.

[jbromheadsd]

Mine is back working on Sunday, 11 Aug 2019 - at least IFTTT is no longer giving 503 errors

Be good if someone from Hook could comment

Regards JohnB

[stanwebber]

service is back up for me tonight as well although I already ripped out 11 of my 433mhz outlets. i already have WiFi replacements on order so I think I’m past the point of no return. I may continue to use the hook for a remaining 3 outlets or outfit it in another family member’s house altogether. we’ll see if there’s any more, by default, unannounced extended outages.

I looked into the sonoff device as well…banggood.com has it for as low as $8.50 shipped, but with 16a tuya-compatible compact outlets to be had on amazon for a pricepoint of $10.99/pair (lower than i paid for rf outlets) I decided to finally upgrade technologies.

[jockovonred]

I picked up a Broadlink Pro+ a bit ago and set it up when gethook.io went down both in app and on web. I noticed the service came back up but haven’t switched back to it yet. It’s nice to know the Broadlink works with my Etekcity 433mHz remote outlets. (Amazon Echo Dot works with Broadlink too.)

[Mike]

I changed my Wifi settings and my Hook dropped out of my account and I was unable to re-add it. Emails to support went unanswered and now are bouncing back as undeliverable.

My Etekcity 433mhz sockets work with Broadlink RM Pro+ and the new Etekcity Wi-Fi sockets are cheaper than the 433’s.

Does anyone know if the Particle Photon inside the 1st generation Hook can be repurposed?

[rmoehle]

Hey all,
Rob here from the Hook team. We did have a temporary downtime, but as you’ve noticed things are back up and running for now. Our apologies for not posting here sooner.
Expect a message from us shortly about our future plans for supporting Hook. In short, we’re hoping to transition everyone to local servers or personal cloud, as we cannot maintain the servers forever.
Cheers

[rmoehle]

Yes, we’re going to open source our code and release each user’s Particle so the dev community can help us develop a locally-hosted option. Seeing as you feel so strongly about it, I’m sure we can count on you to step up and help.

[stanwebber]

hell yes I’ll participate. get a github started and I will contribute.

[Yaygull]

Thanks for the update, Rob! I’m just getting into Raspberry Pi and the like, so repurposing my Hook is just the kind of project I’m looking for. This is a great piece of kit that could serve its purpose for a long time under the right circumstances. Looking forward to helping out any way I can.

[beckyricha]

this is good to know. i was an original Kickstarter buyer but mine never controlled the devices i needed so it’s been a drawer. i wouldn’t mind using it as a learning toy to flash something else on it, but don’t really know what’s inside or even the best way to crack it open without breaking the internals. i look forward to some of those details coming out as i think a dev community would make some use of it.