The smart home has reached a tipping point. Many of its early pioneers are aging out — a decade plus is a long time for a startup. Most have been bought by bigger companies, likely attracted by the shiny thing but then quickly dismayed by the bottom line. Back then, a cloud server was cheaper to build than a local hub, but servers continue to cost money, and once a company decides to shut down a product, reasons to keep paying fade rapidly.

Definitely for me a consideration when buying products, especially smart home products, is whether they can keep working even after the company shuts down.

Also, the same thoughts have crossed my mind when I was rebuilding Little Memory to 2.0. If a bus hit me today, would the app still keep working without me? I don’t want folks getting stranded without me and losing access to their diaries. For me, it’s a matter of respecting the user and their data.