Link: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/08/pet-owners-say-smart-pet-feeder-outage-led-to-furry-ones-going-unfed/

This feels like bad design

Smart pet-feeder company Petlibro suffered an outage on Tuesday, giving users a harsh reminder of the risks of relying on smart devices.

Petlibro makes pet feeders that connect to Wi-Fi and, for setup with Petlibro’s mobile companion app, Bluetooth. Users can set the feeders to automatically dispense food at scheduled times, which is handy for pet care when the owner is out of the home.

In a statement to The Verge, Petlibro CEO York Wu said this week’s outage was “related to how the Petlibro app communicates with devices through its online servers.”

Some user reports have also conflicted with Petlibro’s claims about offline functionality. As The Verge pointed out, various users online claimed that during the outage, their devices did not perform any scheduled feedings, performed some feedings but not others, or performed feedings late (examples here, here, here, here, and here).

How is it smart to have an app driven pet feeder that relies on Internet connection?
Why not just have one where you adjust and push a button on the feeder? You freaking have to fill it anyway!
This sounds like pure stupidity IMO. But then again we do it 100% manually, and the cat will absolutely remind us if there is no food.

Why even have a pet if you don't want to feed it. One of the highlights for the pet connecting to the owner!

What if you're far from home but you suddenly decide you don't want to feed the cat that day? Unless you have a smart food dispenser it would be impossible!

Hey, it says smart feeder, not smart owner...

Why the hell does anyone need an app to feed a pet?

Use this when you're home:

Use this when you're gone for a couple of days:

We got one so we could go on vacation while owning a cat who would 100% eat all the food he could fit, vomit, and then keep eating.
With the auto feeder we just had someone stop by once a day for litter and such.

Definitely not networked though. That just seems like bad design purely from a "building a feeder" side. Why would you want to manage servers to coordinate pet feeding? At most an app that can set the timers, but it's not so hard to offload that actual tracking to the device.

I think an automatic feeder can be useful when you're not at home for a while, it just boggles my mind why this thing doesn't store the programmed timer locally on the device, and instead relies on 24/7 internet connection

Fine, you know what, corporations gonna corporate, yes you need our companion app so we can datafarm your phone and continue to extract wealth from you after purchase.

Okay, but I ask WHY does this not have offline local storage to keep operating when offline?

Oh gosh. Amateurs. Surely maintain last schedule stored locally and only update if connected and change present.

Why does a pet feeder need internet access? Next thing you're going to tell me is that my fridge needs internet. What's next? My car? The thing that drives away from the internet connection?

Yeah, there's been timed feeders longer than there's been wifi, and I'm sure the first had old-school and modern, but it's been long enough people stopped wanting to pay for both.

But even doing what your talking about, my wifi thermostat still works without wifi if I walk over to it. My smart plugs still do their normal timed schedules.

An internal clock and a tiny piece of flash memory is all it takes.

But that's like $0.05 per unit, and a corporation will always cut that corner.

All those things you mentioned HAVE models with internet capabilities. Some features are required for use, while not completely limiting you using the unit for its intended purpose without internet, yet, it soon will I bet.

Edit: vehicles offer their OWN internet from the manufacturer now; for a premium of course... isn't that crazy?

Yeah but it's not much of a smart feeder if it can't tell the time without being told/asking someone else.

For some reason I pictured a grandfather clock asking, "should I chime yet?"

I think some cars already do. All those modern recalls we hear about are often a "connect your car to your home wifi and they'll download the update"

The latter is potential for over feeding if your pet over eats. But yeah, don't own a pet if you can't take care of it without full automation.. what's the fuckin point?

Why do they have pets?

Because businesses are not in the business of providing valuable products and services that improve our lives; they are in the business of extracting value and maximizing profits by any means necessary.

When you see businesses like Microsoft signing contracts with Israel to help the IDF efficiently genocide Palestinians, do you genuinely believe they wouldn't do the same to you the moment it becomes their most lucrative option?? Do you believe they would draw some arbitrary line in the sand between genocides, and magically reject profiting off your murder, imprisonment, or enslavement?

Automated feeders are useful for consistency and avoiding screaming near feeding time in some cases. Also makes diets more enforceable for fat pets.

These already existed without WiFi and servers, and worked fine. Food, ice packs, and a timer set to whatever interval you want.

Because pets are accessories, not companions

A lot of IOT device on the market tend to be poorly planned, made, and maintained.

But they need an internal clock and flash memory anyway, if it can use Wi-Fi and access an API then it's just a little computer, it has all the pieces already

Https encryption requires a system clock, and software updates require flash storage. Even just storing your Wi-Fi info requires some storage

I don't have an app for it, but I have a fully offline automatic feeder. For over a decade I didn't and it was fine but then I had some nights where I ended up delayed on my return home and I felt bad because their bowl would be overturned even if I was only 30 minutes late. Now they have a predictable schedule regardless of if I make it home exactly on time or not and there's an added bonus of having it for pet sitters so they never have to worry about getting the time wrong or forgetting. Mine plugs into the wall and has a battery backup so even if the power goes out it's still going to work for quite some time.

I definitely wouldn't do free feeding like in your second picture for my pets, but I'm sure some could pace themselves.

Most car updates are done through mobile network now. Mine has "over the air updates" which is just a dumb way of saying 5g... Before that, they'd be updated during service at the mechanic. I've never heard about a car being connected to your home wifi to update, since that would be practically impossible for most renters.

I've only ever done free feeding for my cats. None have really had any issues staying in shape. Don't know much about dogs though.

Never buy something that unjustifiably requires to be connected to a cloud server to work.

What fully offline automatic feeder did you get? The "fully offline" one I got ended up requiring internet.

Yes, that must be it.

Can we be sure these feeders even used https or validated the certificates? I'm sort of joking, but with how poorly designed so many IoT devices are, I wouldn't be surprised even if they did have a RTC. The hardware capabilities being present doesn't help when the real missing pieces are competence and concerns for reliability/pets/customers.

Yes I get it for vacations, although even then we don't use it, but just put extra food out so there is enough for the duration. If a cat has learned from it was little that food is not a shortage item my experience is that they rarely overeat. Giving them a little too little every day however, and you will get a cat that can never have enough.

I'd even feel guilty about selling an IoT pet feeder that doesn't have a backup battery. Internet/server outtage is a thing, but power outrages happen too.

vomit, and then keep eating.

Maybe we've been lucky, but we've never had that problem.

Definitely not networked though. That just seems like bad design

Indeed, automatic feeders have existed long before we even had Internet.

Yeah, he was the runt of the litter we think, and abandoned by his mother. We pulled him out from under a neighbor's porch and got him through it, but he always has a bit of a frantic urgency around food time, even for a cat. Our other cat was 100% good with one of those gravity feeders and would just graze over the course of the day and keep himself at a good weight.

We've kept the auto feeder around so the one can get five or six smaller meals throughout the day, since he eats so fast a normal portion often causes issues.

It's basically a dumb alarm clock that drops food in tablespoon increments. Only features I wish it had that it doesn't is an "I'm nearly empty" sensor that could flash a light, and the ability to sync it's clock with the radio broadcast time signal, since it drifts waaay more than you would expect and we need to reset the clock every month.

i am far too neurotic and anxious about making sure the cats get fed as it is i cant imagine doing a smart pet feed T_T

What the fucking point is? I take it you don't have a cat. The point is you don't have to be home to feed your cat. Meaning you can be late one day and not worry about your little friend getting their food. If you are lucky you don't have to get out of the bed in the morning, just for the feeding, either.

But definitely do not get one that requires Wifi. I got one from this brand that actually has no internet connection whatsoever, and its great!

Took me two takes with that title.

Yea, pet animals going unfed is bad...

Morons with their cloud-everything...

This is something that literally needs no internet connection.

Just a simple electric motor and a mechanical timer.

We've had this technology for a long time.

We don't need the fucking internet and smart screens and wifi shoved into every goddamn thing.

When will idiots learn that does not provide convenience, it just provides justification to charge you 200 dollars for a 20 dollar item.

Wasn't this exact one, as I'm pretty sure they're all fly by night companies and I can't find the one I have, but it's basically this:
https://www.chewy.com/nityers-food-dispenser-lcd-screen/dp/5012590

Seems to be the same down to the battery backup. I'm sure you could get it cheaper through Amazon or Temu or some other company, I just try to avoid sharing amazon links.

Sorry I couldn't find mine exactly, but based off the appearance and info I'm pretty sure it's the same.

Even then! They can have WiFi for remote managing and still just store the program locally. Just seems wasteful for no reason, most people buying a WiFi pet feeder will connect it to the internet anyway.

Hell, if you want it connected to the Internet to adjust the schedule on the fly or to report when food is low or an error has occured that's fine. I could see that being useful. Why on earth would you make it so the actual timer functionality isn't local?

"The S in IOT stands for Security."

Exactly. We do have an automatic feeder, but it is not “smart” and I still have to tend to it occasionally. It’s main use is scheduling small feedings throughout the day so she gets fed correctly even if I’m busy.

Bruh what. It's a fucking clock that turns a gear.

Only reason they run this through their servers is because they are selling that data.

No reason why this setting couldn't be contained in the feeder itself.

Many have backup batteries to prevent this very situation.

or if the company goes under, adn the feeder becomes useless.

i think you can buy one without an internet connection.

They make ones that do, I have one. It does not connect to the internet at all. It also has battery backup in case the power goes out. Insane that the company forced WiFi connection on these other models.