He was achieving this by reverse-engineering the Android application. The goal was to recreate the local web interface that had previously existed on the Connect by TCP hub. By mid-July 2016 he had launched a project called TCPLightingWebInterface. In this instance, it’s a guy going by the moniker Bren1818. Thankfully there are some very smart people in the world. For many, this meant we were de-commissioning equipment we had planned to use for many more years. Leaving customers like myself with only the phone app to control lights within the home. This had the effect of removing all remote integrations and control. TCPi contacted registered customers in May 2016 announcing the shutdown of their cloud services as of June 1.
Unfortunately, most of the products never came to be and only the new hub and a few bulbs made it to market.
This included a new Wi-Fi hub, smart plugs, power strips, motion sensors and more bulb form factors. At Lightfair 2014 they had announced a major expansion to the product line. The future was looking bright for the platform, Wink and SmartThings integrations were available. Additionally, at the time Hue was an Apple store exclusive product. At the time a 3 bulb Hue kit cost $200 while the same kit from TCP was $109 at Home Depot. One of the many reasons the TCPi product was attractive is that at the time of introduction it was nearly half the cost of Hue.
