An Amazon Web Services outage disrupted Eight Sleep's smart beds, leaving users unable to adjust temperatures or bed positions. People reported waking up sweating or trapped in inclined positions due to the internet-dependent devices. The company apologized and announced plans for an offline mode.
This week's Amazon Web Services outage, caused by a Domain Name System resolution problem, affected over 1,000 web-based products and millions of people. Among the impacted services were Eight Sleep's smart mattress covers, known as Pods, and adjustable bed bases, which rely on internet connectivity for control.
Users experienced significant disruptions during the night of the outage. One Reddit user described waking up too hot and frantically double-tapping the device to lower the temperature, only realizing the issue in the morning: "I woke up too hot in the middle of the night last night and kept double-tapping like a maniac to adjust the temp[erature] down since I wasn’t getting any haptic feedback." Another on X complained, “Would be great if my bed wasn’t stuck in an inclined position due to an AWS outage. Cmon now.” Reports included users staying awake for hours, waking drenched in sweat, and even alarms failing to function.
Eight Sleep's Pods allow temperature adjustments from 55° to 110° Fahrenheit via a companion app, with prices ranging from $2,449 to $3,249. The smart base costs $1,950, and purchases require a one-year Autopilot subscription starting at $199 annually for automated sleep optimization. Although on-device buttons exist, they require an internet connection to work, leading to the malfunctions.
Eight Sleep co-founder and CEO Matteo Franceschetti addressed the issue on X: "The AWS outage has impacted some of our users since last night, disrupting their sleep. That is not the experience we want to provide and I want to apologize for it." He outlined actions: restoring features as AWS recovered and implementing outage-proofing for Pods, with work ongoing 24/7. By Monday evening, he stated “all the features should be working.” On Tuesday, the company rolled out an offline mode using Bluetooth, allowing users to turn devices on/off, adjust temperatures, and flatten bases, as explained by co-founder Alexandra Zatarain.
This follows a June outage where Eight Sleep promised offline capabilities, highlighting ongoing concerns about internet dependency for high-end products.