Petlibro, the California-based pet-technology company, faced criticism from customers after a service outage rendered some of its products inoperable. The disruption affected the apps that connect to its smart devices, including automatic pet feeders and fountains, beginning on a Tuesday.
The company said on its website that functions were restored and the issue fully resolved on the Wednesday. It added that its team would continue reviewing the incident over the coming days to better understand the cause and identify improvements to help prevent similar disruptions in the future.
Owners Report Ongoing Problems
Despite the company declaring the matter resolved, customers on the Petlibro subreddit said they were still experiencing problems even after contacting the firm. Some of these owners rely on the devices to care for their pets remotely while travelling, using models with built-in cameras to feed and monitor animals from afar.
One Reddit poster wrote that support staff suggested troubleshooting the connection while ignoring the fact that they were away from home on holiday. As the outage continued, some users reported that even devices already set up for feeding were not dispensing food as usual, regardless of communication with the app. A screenshot posted by the owner of a pet named Ralphie appeared to show the network malfunctioning on the morning of 13 August.
Servers Blamed, Not Hardware
The first service alert arrived at 8am ET on 11 August, stating that Petlibro had begun investigating a service disruption affecting the app. Some users experienced difficulty accessing the app or controlling devices remotely, though existing settings and schedules stored locally on devices continued to operate as programmed.
Chief executive York Wu said the outage was related to the Petlibro app and its online servers, not the hardware products themselves. He said feedings are programmed directly onto the device and should continue to run as scheduled without an internet command, adding that the company was investigating reports that contradicted this information.
In addition to feeders and fountains, the company also makes automated litter boxes and pet cameras. These products use the same app for remote functions, and issues with them were also reported on the Petlibro subreddit.
