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I recently got an air purifier. The touch button controls for adjusting the fan speed didn't seem to be working, so I emailed support.

They had me download their app, link the air purifier, and give them its MAC address. Then they asked me to try pressing each of the buttons a few times and email them back. I did so, and they responded that they re-calibrated the buttons using my touch samples. It worked.

That’s insane. I actively avoid buying things that are pointlessly internet connected nowadays. An air purifier’s buttons should be simple electromechanical switches.

By "touch buttons" possibly he means that they are "buttons" on a touch screen. What's crazy to me is that this is now cheaper to put in a product than electromechanical switches.

It's a Mila, they're capacitive touch buttons but not a touchscreen. There's just a fan down, fan up, and mode button. Even still, I don't know how they got the calibration wrong enough at the factory that it can't detect a full-pressure thumb press.

I am amazed that by emailing support you were able to actually get in contact with someone technical who understood the product well enough to fix the problem.

Feels like having touch calibration procedure built into firmware and documented in the manual (remember those?) would also work.

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