The Internet of Things goes wrong: Hive thermostat changes to 32 degrees, bakes users

Hive, a smart thermostat system built by British Gas, showed us how bad the Internet of Things can get over the weekend when some customer thermostats were pinned at 32 degrees celsius.

The company issued a statement to The Memo today saying that “We are aware of a temporary glitch affecting a very small number of customers, where a certain sequence of commands in the Hive iOS app can cause the thermostat temperature to rise to 32°C.”

That’s no excuse, though, given you’d expect something as basic as a thermostat to function correctly.

Hey @hivehome @HiveHelper when are you going to stop letting skynet try to boil me alive? (2nd time now) pic.twitter.com/iQDVvJxLaX

— Laura Adams (@AdamsLaura) February 27, 2016

Multiple customers tweeted their frustration with their thermostats being pinned at high temperatures to the company, which responded with an apology and that it was “a rare fault” and that a fix is coming “really soon.”

@BritishGas it's getting hot in here, #hive app was set to 32 degrees without me touching it.

— Steve Willson (@willsonix) February 27, 2016

The Internet of Things is supposed to make our lives better, but as we’ve seen time and time again with Nest thermostats disconnecting and leaving users cold, or door bells exposing Wi-Fi passwords, it’s often not ready for the prime time.

➤ Hive customers hot up in 32°C heatwave glitch [The Memo]