IoT gadget maker AcuRite shares reasoning for killing customers’ favorite app

AcuRite must kill its customers’ favorite companion app due to “obsolete technology,” VP of product development Jeff Bovee tells Ars Technica.

AcuRite, which makes smart weather-monitoring devices, announced this month that the My AcuRite iOS and Android app that has been around since 2016 won’t be available after May 30. After that date, device owners must use AcuRite NOW, which AcuRite released in June 2025, to control their gadgets.

The announcement has frustrated long-time AcuRite users, largely because the new app lacks some of its predecessors’ capabilities. For example, AcuRite NOW doesn’t allow renaming multiple temperature sensors, organizing on-screen sensors, or reporting temperatures as anything other than whole numbers (AcuRite says it’s working on adding some of these features).

Newer platform preferred

Speaking with Ars, Bovee provided insight into AcuRite’s decision. He pointed to AcuRite NOW being built on a “newer cloud-connected platform” that enables more flexibility. My AcuRite was “primarily a weather-station cloud dashboard,” compared to AcuRite NOW, which ” is intended to be a broader, connected-device platform,” per the executive.

Explaining further, he said:

[My AcuRite] provided app and web access to weather data, but the underlying technology was more limited in terms of long-term app development, modern cloud services, smart home integration, and support for newer connected devices.

AcuRite NOW, purportedly being built on a more modern connected-device architecture, provides a “stronger foundation” for feature improvements, per Bovee. The executive claimed that the new platform is better for mobile-first app development, cloud-based feature updates and services, “such as longer weather data history,” as well as user account management, device pairing, and notifications. For people with additional, third-party smart gadgets, AcuRite NOW also works with Tuya’s SmartLife IoT ecosystem.

The new app also charges a subscription fee to share data from AcuRite devices with the real-time weather service Weather Underground—something My AcuRite supported for free. Bovee claimed that AcuRite NOW provides better support for sharing data with Weather Underground. Although the financial benefits for AcuRite are what’s most obvious.

Keeping both apps not “sustainable”

Online complaints suggest that AcuRite has customers who are content with My AcuRite’s capabilities. However, maintaining the app long-term isn’t sustainable for AcuRite, Bovee said.

“The technology behind My AcuRite is obsolete and can no longer be maintained,” he said.

AcuRite is declining to maintain two apps in order to save money but also due to “long-term supportability,” the executive said.

“Even if [My AcuRite] continues to function for many users, the underlying systems require ongoing maintenance, updates, hosting, monitoring, security support, and compatibility work as phones, operating systems, cloud services, and third-party integrations continue to change,” Bovee said.

New online dashboard coming

As AcuRite announced the end of its first app, it also removed the online dashboard that let users manage their devices through a web browser.

“Because the web dashboard, mobile app, cloud services, and device connections were all tied to the same older system, browser access cannot be maintained separately once the platform is retired,” Bovee explained.

He said AcuRite is planning a new web-based dashboard for AcuRite NOW, but he couldn’t confirm the release date.

Despite customer frustrations, Bovee hopes that the new app won’t lead to long-time users abandoning their devices, since AcuRite went “to great expense to bring those legacy weather stations along” to the new platform.

“We know the move to AcuRite NOW has not been as smooth as some customers expected, and we understand the frustration that creates. We’re not dismissing that feedback,” Bovee said. “We’re asking for patience as our team continues to fix issues, improve usability, and build out the new platform. Our goal is to earn back confidence by making AcuRite NOW the best user experience in home weather stations.”

A broader challenge with smart devices

There’s financial and technological reasoning in Bovee’s statements, but releasing a new app to support new endeavors that many customers may not want is questionable. It’s unfair for a customer who has already paid for a device marketed with specific software to suddenly have to pay to share data with Weather Underground, just so AcuRite can introduce new features the customer has never needed before.

Also troubling is AcuRite’s decision to start forcing the new app (based on online discourse, AcuRite originally told customers it would close My AcuRite on May 15), before AcuRite NOW was on par with My AcuRite. Being forced onto a new app is more manageable if it’s equal to, or, dare I say, an obvious improvement over, one that’s worked for years.

On the other hand, connected device makers also struggle to find ways to get people to spend money more than once. Often, that means releasing more capable products, which could require a more advanced app, and forcing a subscription model.

AcuRite’s new app is the product of a challenge looming over smart gadget makers and their early adopters. Many of these companies are still grappling with how to maintain their businesses in the long term. And these devices’ smart capabilities mean users are in the lurch when a vendor decides to change the way it does business—like by forcing ads onto products, bricking older devices, suddenly charging a subscription fee, killing offline functionality, or releasing a maligned, incapable app.

After years of carefree use, it’s easy to overlook how quickly smart device manufacturers can change the rules of how you use your property. But if the rules change in a way that feels abrupt and intolerable, it may also be a good time to start seeing what else is on the market.

I don’t expect smart device makers to remain stagnant, but moving forward shouldn’t mean leaving longtime customers behind.