When people think about smart home technology, they often picture it being so futuristic that its end-of-life cycle is meaningless. However, every technology will find its way to EOL at some point.

If you haven't upgraded your home's systems in the last few years, there's a good chance at least some of them are approaching obsolescence. Regardless of when you installed smart home technology in your residence, you should know how to assess its viability to run now and into the near future. Look for these four signs a smart home setup is approaching the EOL phase so you can upgrade or replace it.

No Software or Firmware Updates

The ability to update smart home technology is critical to keeping it as secure and functional as possible. Systems typically check for updates automatically. However, you may start to see messages indicating they could find updated packages or servers.

A lack of updates may happen if a company's discontinuation of a product has gone well past its end-of-life procedures. Ideally, a company will provide EOL notices warning that it won't provide updates past a certain point. Generally, best practices dictate a company should do this for a couple of years or at least a few months prior to EOL. However, you shouldn't assume this will be the case. The updates may just dry up one day.

Loss of Functionality

Especially if a piece of older smart home technology depends on third-party infrastructure, you may see some of its functionality start to disappear. You might see the weather application on a smart fridge stop providing information, for example. This happens as licenses and agreements expire.

Also, some firms will change their data formats to suit newer systems and stop supplying data in recognizable formats for older systems. This is especially common once an old system represents a tiny percentage of the active user base.

Increasing Maintenance Needs

Not all systems go into EOL and die. Many systems will keep fighting, but they may start to experience more problems. No technology will last forever, and homeowners will eventually have to decide whether or not they want to keep paying technicians to repair aging setups. If you're seeing maintenance problems with an old smart home system, it may be time to move on to something new.

Outpaced by Modern Technologies

Old DOS-based systems from the 1980s could do incredible things like turn off the lights in a different room. You probably wouldn't consider that an impressive feature today. If your setup just doesn't do the cool stuff you see in other homes, you might want to upgrade it.

For more information about upgrading your smart home technology, contact a local service.