This investigation has been ongoing since December 2022 and only now do I think I have enough information to report on. Back at the end of 2022 I was digging into a company called WIFIPLUG, a small startup based in Leeds, UK which was founded by Leon Doyle back in 2012. Based on companies house filings, the company had between three and two members of staff and Doyle had other companies he ran. According to his LinkedIn profile, he stopped being the CEO of WIFIPLUG and another company in June 2022 and is now working for a Chinese smart home company, Haier.

WIFIPLUG wasn't a random Kickstarter popup company, it had a registered address, ten years of history, evidence of working products in the past and I personally have used an older WIFIPLUG device.

Leon has also been seen on some UK TV shows too, such as The Apprentice.

WIFIPLUG 2.0

However, the issues arise when we take a look at WIFIPLUG 2.0 which was announced in late 2019. Throughout 2020, the CEO Doyle did a good job of maintaining the company's official blog and provided updates about testing processes, WiFi certifications and also partnering with TT Electronics, the new hardware partner for the company.

By December 2020 - over a year at this stage after the initial pre-orders, Doyle posted an update to the blog informing that there were over 10,000 pre-orders and that there were some delays and update would be provided in 2021. That update was regarding an earth pin design to meet UK safety standards. However, by July 2021 there was a promise that production would start in a few weeks.

That brings us to 2023. There was 0 communication from WIFIPLUG to its customers between July 2021 and March 2022. The last update Doyle posted to the blog was regarding lockdown restrictions in China. He said, "when they lift the lockdown in China, we are going into mass production."

The official support from WIFIPLUG was dropped in January 2022 with the website starting "Support discontinued Jan 4th 2022."

Just from reading reviews of WIFIPLUG on Trustpilot and Google reviews it seems that the AWS servers the company was running have been shut down, leaving users who haven't used HomeKit without access to their plugs. The reviews also mention the lack of a phone line and support.