AWS outage reminds us why $2,449 Internet-dependent beds are a bad idea
Some users complained that faulty devices kept them from sleeping for hours. Others lamented waking up in the middle of the night drenched in sweat.
Even more basic features, such as alarms, didn’t work when Eight Sleep’s servers went down.
Eight Sleep will offer local control
Eight Sleep co-founder and CEO Matteo Franceschetti addressed the issues via X on Monday:
The AWS outage has impacted some of our users since last night, disrupting their sleep. This is not the experience we want to provide and I want to apologize for that.
We carry out two main actions:
1) We restore full functionality when AWS returns. All devices are currently working, with some experiencing delays in data processing.
2) We are currently in the process of protecting your Pod experience from outages and will be working tonight, 24/7, until this is done.
Monday evening, Franceschetti said “all features should work.” On Tuesday, the company began offering an offline mode that works over Bluetooth when Eight Sleep’s servers are down, The Verge reported today.
“During an outage, you will still be able to open the app, turn the Pod on/off, change temperature levels, and flatten the base,” Alexandra Zatarain, co-founder of Eight Sleep, told the publication.
Eight Sleep users will be relieved to know that the company makes its products usable in the event of an internet outage. But many also wonder why Eight Sleep didn’t implement local control sooner. This isn’t Eight Sleep’s first outage, and users may also experience personal Wi-Fi issues. And there’s a clear benefit to the user in being able to control the elevation and temperature of their bed without internet or if Eight Sleep goes out of business.
For Eight Sleep, however, making flagship features available without its app while still making enough money isn’t easy. Without requiring people to put their Eight Sleep devices online, it would be harder for Eight Sleep to convince people that Autopilot subscriptions should be mandatory. High prices for Pod hardware will deter people from making multiple or frequent purchases, making alternative, more frequent revenue streams essential to the survival of the 11-year-old company.
After an outage in June, an Eight Sleep user claimed the company told him it was working in offline mode. This week’s AWS issues appear to have accelerated efforts, so users don’t lose sleep over the next outage.
