Hubitat Steps Up to Support Iris by Lowe’s V1 Zigbee Devices

Back in January, after an unsuccessful effort to sell off its smart home automation platform, Lowe’s announced that it would ultimately have to shut down the Iris by Lowe’s service. That end date is currently slated for this Sunday, March 31. The housewares and home improvement retailer launched the platform in 2012, but failed to gain much traction with the brand—primarily because it was a very tight-knit ecosystem of products. With the shutdown of the program, Lowe’s said it would no longer charge customers for the service after the end of January, and that customers will be compensated for purchased devices that only work on the Iris by Lowe’s platform.

But that doesn’t mean they need to dump all of those devices just yet.

Hubitat, makers of a security-feature-packed IoT hub, said it has figured out a way to support Iris by Lowe’s Version 1 Zigbee devices—including things like contact sensors, motion sensors, plug-in outlets, key fobs, and more—on its platform.

According to Hubitat, a single engineer on its team was able to uncover how those devices communicated with the Iris cloud-based system and make the connection with the Hubitat Elecation hub to allow for local control and communication with those devices directly.

“We are doing the impossible, supporting Iris Version 1 Zigbee sensors on a platform that doesn't require the cloud or an internet connection to work," Patrick Stuart, Vice President of Product and Business Development for Hubitat, said in a statement. “We have an experienced yet scrappy team that just doesn't take no for an answer.”

In addition to finding a way to support those devices, Hubitat announced a plan to help get those Iris by Lowe’s users onto the Hubitat system with little to no cost. Iris users were offered prepaid Visa gift cards for those sensors. That money, Hubitat said, can be used to purchase the Hubitat Elevation hub, which normally retails for $149.95, at a discounted price of $99.95 and with free shipping through the Hubitat website.