Not So Stupid

You know which smart products are really stupid? The ones that are only smart and never stupid. In fact, we wish more manufacturers would provide some sort of label. “Base level functionality possible in stupid mode.” Something like that.

We bring this up because it’s been a much-discussed topic the few times we’ve sold these under-cabinet lights: can you use them without the app?

Often the answer to this is fairly straightforward. On one end of the spectrum, there’s that screen-less food scale we sold that required you to connect via bluetooth in order to read the measurement on your phone. On the other side, there was the sous vide cooker with a “subscription service” that was entirely unnecessary.

But with these, it’s not so simple. The answer is… sorta?

At least that’s the takeaway from when we offered these in January, and @werehatrack said:

No manual mode? No bueno.

To which a completely unbiased user with absolutely no agenda at all named @troy responded:

They do have an on/off button which you can hold down to adjust brightness, but you will need the app to set the color temperature

@phendrick then added:

According to reviews at JeffyWorld, without the app enabled, all the lights do is continually rapidly strobe when turned on. One called it seizure-inducing.

troy then clarified:

You technically only need to use the app once for setup – after you connect them to WiFi and set your desired color temperature, they can be operated and dimmed with local controls.

And that was that. Until we sold them again in February during a Meh-rathon, when @theonlybuster chimed in:

Without the device specific app, you’re limited to On/Off functionality. And when powered on they’ll sometimes flash a few times noting that they aren’t set up via the app.

Which is basically what phendrick said above, though less extreme-sounding.

But, again, this was posted in the comments of a Meh-rathon offer, where discussion can often be pretty sparse. Which is why we’d love those of you who purchased these previously to let us know how they work without the app (and also with the app).

Then, we can get to the bottom of this once and for all.