Blink, are you listening to your users?

[SJMarty]

Hello Blink,

I currently own 8 cameras - 6 indoor and 2 outdoor. I was very encouraged to see the addition of the Community Creations section as well as the polite, enthusiastic, and speedy responses by those on the Blink staff. It’s been about 4 months since I made several suggestions on the forum. Other users have echoed my sentiments in those threads so I don’t believe my suggestions were niche ones. Additional threads with requests for the same or similar features have also been posted.

I was the OP on this thread. As I mentioned, it has been over 4 months since my request to reorder the cameras. Another user posted a response that he requested that same feature over a year ago. I was surprised that this feature was absent at launch. Now, with no sign of this feature months later, I am very disappointed. From just scanning the forums, this feature is clearly in high demand. My concerns, however, go deeper than the fact I cannot reorder my cameras.

Other feature requests from myself and others have also gone unimplemented. For example…

• camera-level scheduling
• camera-level notifications
• browser-based viewing of clips
• motion sensor masking

Unfortunately, none of these items have been implemented. What is of deeper concern to me is what has been changed in the app. With such key features as the ones listed above still not implemented, why on EARTH would you have the developers spending their time changing the color palette of the app? Is that really the best use of their time? To take that concern one step further, the color change does not even appear to have been very well thought out…

• All of the nice window stickers I put up are green.
• The window stickers that are available on Amazon are still green.
• The signs and stickers on Blink’s own online store are still green.

I hope Blink steps back and seriously considers the message that it sends to your dedicated users such as myself when rather insignificant things like app color are being worked on while essential features are still missing.

As I initially stated, I have 8 cameras plus a sync module so I’m around $1K invested in Blink hardware. I understand growing pains firsthand as I have quietly dealt with brittle mounts with snapping tabs and Blink’s lack of inventory of replacement parts. I think Blink is beyond the growing pains stage.

I’ll close my lengthy post with this…

Overlooking or omitting a feature on launch to meet a deadline or whatever reason is one thing. Failing to respond to the needs of your users in such a competitive market is a mistake with much greater repercussions.

[RightHand]

I would have to say I agree, especially when it comes to individual arm/disarm of cameras(not having to go in app to press buttons). Also native geofencing, instead of relying on IFTTT seems like a day one feature. I would much rather keep my Blink system, instead of losing money selling on eBay. With the lack of some basic features and the XT sensitivity issue, I’m debating to just take the loss and go with another product, although more expensive and possibly not as flexible with mounting locations. @nick_at_blink

[flyswoosh]

I definitely agree with the poster. My main feature that im waiting on is being able to schedule each individual camera seperatley. I dont think the sccheduling was well thought out. Having multiple cameras in a system will not necessarily have a one schedule fits all. If you are listening Blink please put that on a priority list.

Would also like to see zones if that’s is possible. And lastly, being able to change the order of the cameras on the app rather than deleting then addindg.

[Taps]

Honestly all they care about is $$$. I regret bringing 100s of people to them.

[Taps]

Personally I am very close to selling them on eBay and grabbing Ring outdoor cams. They are always listening and assisting!

[jayO]

Yes, unfortunately I am at this point of thinking about selling all 6 of my cameras and switch to Ring. Sad that they choose to change colors and change layout, instead of working on what customers want. At the very least, they could keep us updated on what they are working on, what features will be released next, etc.

[SJMarty]

Yes, keeping us informed would be great. Back in July, I asked for that, too.

Coincidentally, I received notification that an update to the Blink app was available. Guess what the “What’s New” section said? Same exact thing the last update said…

“Bug fixes and interface improvements.”

[nick_at_blink]

Hi All,

I appreciate you all voicing your concerns and being completely honest about how you feel. As @SJMarty mentioned, the Community has been up and running since roughly mid July, and there have been a bunch of features that many users have requested, like the ones listed. Having this space on the Community to voice your concerns and criticisms is one of the greatest aspects of this site, and I am very happy to be able to provide you all an outlet to leave us your thoughts.

I want to begin by addressing your concerns regarding our response to all of your requests, by saying that the needs and desires of Blink customers is, and always will be our top priority. I was brought into Blink for one purpose, which was to bring this Community to life, so we can get direct feedback on what is most important to all of you. We really do try our best at Blink to hear directly from all of you and build our products the way you all want it to be; that is basically my only job at Blink. Me, along with others at Blink, have done and will continue to do our best to respond to all of the requests and suggestions we hear from all of you, but unfortunately, this doesn’t always result in quick implementation of these suggestions.

I know you’ve all probably heard this before, but we have a relatively small team, especially when compared to many of our competitors. As a small company, when there is a big project being worked on, a vast majority of our resources are invested in that project; this includes team members, financial resources and time. Since July many users have been asking for features like more detailed scheduling, but our whole team, including mobile app developers, were likely working on other major requested projects, like developing the panic siren. The panic siren is a product that has been discussed since our kick starter days, and required attention from every aspect of our company to get going. This includes our mobile app developers, software engineers, marketing team, etc, and over the past few months, likely before the Community was even founded, this was something being actively pursued by our team.

The main point I want to make is, you all are entirely right to be frustrated, but I want to make sure that it is very clear how important our customers are to our company, and that we are always listening. The Community, while it may feel like a long time, has not really been around for too long, and the longer it is around, the more you will see your requests being pursued and implemented. There are projects being worked on right now that are direct requests from our users, but due to the size of our team, we are hesitant to give release dates too far ahead, because small bugs and other things can arise that divert resources. If you stick around, I can assure you there will be many surprising and exciting Blink developments down the road.

From running this Community for the past 4ish months, I am very aware of who are most passionate customers are, and I do not intend to let your voices go unheard. I do my best to make sure that all of your requests, thoughts and opinions are echoed throughout our entire company, and I thank all of our active and passionate users for their continued devotion to our products and our company.

Best,

Nick

[RightHand]

Thank you @nick_at_blink, very well written. I appreciate you honesty and passion for the company and your career. Based on your response and my personal monetary concerns, I’ll be keeping my Blink system, but will hold off on purchasing additional cameras. Speaking for myself only, I am known to be impatient. Also I don’t know exactly what it takes for these features to be implemented, and must consider the small team. I look forward to Blink outpacing the competition in the future. Your presence here in the community is definitely appreciated by many.

[RightHand]

Logitech's bricking stunt reminds us why cloud-powered gadgets suck

Things like this make me wary as well, and don’t want to see the virtual plug pulled due to any of the various reasons this could happen.

[Taps]

I was led to believe when I emailed them in the early part of 2017 that they were working on a list of 6-7 updates to the cameras. Maybe I interpreted that wrong as I believed this was going to be software advancements. Hence for why I have sold well over 100 of these for them to friends and family.

I respect Nick and always coming to defend Blink. That all being said he can only do so much. I strongly believe BLINK has only at most 1 software employee. If they even have one at all. I would not be surprised they contract this part. If the founder would actually care about the people pushing his products, he would have stepped back and made the advancements into the software a top priority. Hell even taken care of us who helped sell his product… But wait it gets better, They blacklisted all the $25 off codes I posted for members here. As I sure as hell was not going to make 100 plus orders myself to get $25off. lol Setting a schedule is easy when you have a cloud based camera. As a programmer this is really pretty easy to make changes with.

Lets be real here, They are wanting to line their pockets with very minimum changes. As all changes will cause lost money from the founders pocket.

Until the founder realizes this I highly doubt anything is going to change. I have tried to crack these devices to get zones. To much dismay there is no adding zones? Why? Not enough storage on the devices. So this will in the end cost the customer more money as no way the owner/founder will eat this.

[adolfo2]

Save your money & sanity! I have a Ring Pro and the video is just terrible!! Check out the Reddit group first https://www.reddit.com/r/ringdoorbell/

[Taps]

Not true at all. My ring Pro works great and they even will provide you with the source code.

[Taps]

I was led to believe when I emailed them in the early part of 2017 that they were working on a list of 6-7 updates to the cameras. Maybe I interpreted that wrong as I believed this was going to be software advancements. Hence for why I have sold well over 100 of these for them to friends and family.

I respect Nick and always coming to defend Blink. That all being said he can only do so much. I strongly believe BLINK has only at most 1 software employee. If they even have one at all. I would not be surprised they contract this part. If the founder would actually care about the people pushing his products, he would have stepped back and made the advancements into the software a top priority. Hell even taken care of us who helped sell his product… But wait it gets better, They blacklisted all the $25 off codes I posted for members here. As I sure as hell was not going to make 100 plus orders myself to get $25off. lol Setting a schedule is easy when you have a cloud based camera. As a programmer this is really pretty easy to make changes with.

Lets be real here, They are wanting to line their pockets with very minimum changes. As all changes will cause lost money from the founders pocket.

Until the founder realizes this I highly doubt anything is going to change. I have tried to crack these devices to get zones. To much dismay there is no adding zones? Why? Not enough storage on the devices. So this will in the end cost the customer more money as no way the owner/founder will eat this.

Forgot to also add… 2 of the 4 XT dont even provide any color. Just black and white… Was told over a month ago they would replace them… Haven’t heard anything since.

[patgperry]

I completely agree. We’re still waiting for the system to notify us when batteries are getting low, or when they die. That’s a big deal, and it’s just one of the big deals. We’ve had our system almost a year, and we’re still waiting for this. We haven’t yet decided what we’re going to replace it with, but we won’t invest any more money in Blink products.

[Estpaul]

I ordered 1 XT set from Lowes saturday to be told today it’s out of stock. I found local Micro Center has them stocked but reading posts like these to research what I’m buying has me starting to second guess my purchase.

[marktheknife]

I have one XT camera. Overall I’m pretty happy with it, all things considered.

[A_Person]

I’m happy with my system, yes there is room for improvement but there’s nothing else on the market at this price point that comes close for the kind of battery life these cameras have. Stability wise they have also been excellent. They are truly set and forget. Since the user forum opened the app has seen a dramatic redesign with new features , the XTs have had 1080p enabled and the siren has been released. I’d say the Blink team is doing a great job.

[xotech]

I have many cameras at many different sites and I believe I am the of the only customer using them for industrial operations remotely. These are the best solutions for us because they do not require any cabling and we already have an infrastructure to watch them 24/7 for motion clips and send crew to the sites.

I have been in the community since September and very happy with the response time from Blink, Especially @nick_at_blink and @Bob_at_Blink. I cannot believe people are complaining so much about a product as new as this cameras. Nick explained that they are a new and small company and they are trying hard to come up with all the requests.

As I said earlier this is a new product and we all decided to buy it in early stages and it is developing as we give more and more input. But we cannot expect everything to happen instantly. I for one created my own desktop viewing by using Android emulators and I can watch multiple sites with multiple zones with no problem. You can see my solutions here Video storage

I do not believe the company which developed a product have to give anybody the source code. We might have some very advanced users in the community but admitting openly to crack these devices and blaming company not to give source code is very brazen. They are a for profit company and it is not a charity. They have to make money to develop a lot better products. You cannot blame them for that.

We need to be more understanding and patient that is why they made most of us Beta testers and they do not owe us anything.

Have a nice day.

[dan_the_man]

Hello All,

to reinforce Nick’s comments - he has direct and frequent contact with the management team and is a vital contributor to where and how we allocate our resources to best satisfy the greatest number of customers. Product development is ongoing and we are adding A-players to our team each week. It takes time to build a great company. As comedian Steven Wright said: “time is what keeps everything from happening all at once”

Dan