This is my favorite kind of HN content, people following their curiosity. This a double-deal since the original story (https://kuenzi.dev/toothbrush/) had someone trying to investigate their toothbrush, someone else couldn't stop thinking about the story, and decided to take it further. Thanks for posting this!
Somewhat related: my 10 year old Sonicare is starting to shit the bed so I started to look for a new one. Back then there was 2 models. Now there's like 8, each with several variations and fucking phone app integrations and are several hundred dollars. It was headache-inducing to read through.
We have a pair of 2019 Sonicare that need battery replacements.
I picked up a compatible battery but haven’t taken the time to pull it apart yet. It does require soldering.
The company scrambled the model numbers and it’s not easy to figure out which are similar or even the same.
The obfuscation of product differences, release dates and nerfs to longevity are all over consumer goods.
I hope open product designs + micro hyper local manufacturing capability will deeply erode the power of companies creating these wasteful, capital-driven artifacts.
I just went through this too, and I ended up with a Philips One.
Its only smart-ish feature is the vibrating quadrant timer, it feels like it cleans more or less the same as my old Sonicare, it uses a normal AAA, and best of all it was like $30.
There's no real third-party ecosystem for heads yet, but I'll happily trade that for something that just works.
I'd pay several hundred for a toothbrush that had easily replaceable batteries and other components like shaft seals (with them being standard commonly-available parts), and was designed to last many decades. I don't want any of the "app" crap.
> my 10 year old Sonicare is starting to shit the bed so I started to look for a new one. Back then there was 2 models. Now there's like 8, each with several variations
Electric toothbrush marketing designations are out of control. When I was looking for one I found a website that went out of its way to identify which models were behind marketing wording and numbers and what their specs were (mainly: movements per minute and pulsations per minute). Companies love to rebrand the same models with different numbers based on how many additional brushes they put in the package but they rarely put those specs on their own websites. Anyway, oral b 2700 still looks good.
TL;DR: recent (2020-ish) Sonicare brush handles have an alert to remind you when the attached tip has exceeded its useful life, according to the manufacturer's recommendations (which are printed on the packaging as well).
This functionality is implemented using NFC, and as per protocol recommendations, there is a password. Given the low cost requirements and extremely low risks, this password is static, and can be sniffed as described in this blog post.
If you are at all offended by this, you can feel free to either ignore the Sonicare handle's beeps/lights upon tip expiry, use non-NFC third-party tips, use a non-Sonicare brush handle, use a regular toothbrush, or not brush your teeth at all (not medical advice). Big Toothbrush may be out to get you, but they're not quite there yet.
If you think this is actually kind-of cool, good for you! Analyzing NFC and other 'household' protocols is a really nice hobby, and you can get started using low-cost tools.
P.S. Just got a HN 'if this is really your comment, please press Submit again' prompt that I hadn't seen before. Doing as instructed worked, but escaped the formatting chars in my comment, i.e. every asterisk got replaced by a backslash-asterisk. Thrilling, I know...
2- leave everything as it is and pretend nothing happened (very likely if the news about the hack don't spread too much).
3- waste time and resources to implement proper encryption plus protection, then enforce it in new Sonicare products, possibly giving also them in exchange of old ones for being "new and upgraded for customer's convenience".
That "NFC nonsense" is an optional brushhead replacement reminder feature. It never stops you from continuing to use a brushhead, and if you hate the reminder, you can turn the feature off completely.
You can also buy brushheads that dont have NFC chips in them - its not required.
[+] [-] politelemon|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] JasserInicide|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] bredren|2 years ago|reply
I picked up a compatible battery but haven’t taken the time to pull it apart yet. It does require soldering.
The company scrambled the model numbers and it’s not easy to figure out which are similar or even the same.
The obfuscation of product differences, release dates and nerfs to longevity are all over consumer goods.
I hope open product designs + micro hyper local manufacturing capability will deeply erode the power of companies creating these wasteful, capital-driven artifacts.
[+] [-] culturestate|2 years ago|reply
Its only smart-ish feature is the vibrating quadrant timer, it feels like it cleans more or less the same as my old Sonicare, it uses a normal AAA, and best of all it was like $30.
There's no real third-party ecosystem for heads yet, but I'll happily trade that for something that just works.
[+] [-] userbinator|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] throw0101b|2 years ago|reply
So what did you decide on?
[+] [-] johnchristopher|2 years ago|reply
Electric toothbrush marketing designations are out of control. When I was looking for one I found a website that went out of its way to identify which models were behind marketing wording and numbers and what their specs were (mainly: movements per minute and pulsations per minute). Companies love to rebrand the same models with different numbers based on how many additional brushes they put in the package but they rarely put those specs on their own websites. Anyway, oral b 2700 still looks good.
> is starting to shit the bed
Off-topic but... language, please ?
[+] [-] _Microft|2 years ago|reply
https://nitter.net/atc1441/status/1667252413051424773
[+] [-] PreInternet01|2 years ago|reply
This functionality is implemented using NFC, and as per protocol recommendations, there is a password. Given the low cost requirements and extremely low risks, this password is static, and can be sniffed as described in this blog post.
If you are at all offended by this, you can feel free to either ignore the Sonicare handle's beeps/lights upon tip expiry, use non-NFC third-party tips, use a non-Sonicare brush handle, use a regular toothbrush, or not brush your teeth at all (not medical advice). Big Toothbrush may be out to get you, but they're not quite there yet.
If you think this is actually kind-of cool, good for you! Analyzing NFC and other 'household' protocols is a really nice hobby, and you can get started using low-cost tools.
P.S. Just got a HN 'if this is really your comment, please press Submit again' prompt that I hadn't seen before. Doing as instructed worked, but escaped the formatting chars in my comment, i.e. every asterisk got replaced by a backslash-asterisk. Thrilling, I know...
[+] [-] GoToRO|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] buzer|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] snakey|2 years ago|reply
Hopefully much easier to read.
[+] [-] squarefoot|2 years ago|reply
1- remove that NFC nonsense.
2- leave everything as it is and pretend nothing happened (very likely if the news about the hack don't spread too much).
3- waste time and resources to implement proper encryption plus protection, then enforce it in new Sonicare products, possibly giving also them in exchange of old ones for being "new and upgraded for customer's convenience".
Not holding my breath waiting for 1 to happen.
[+] [-] ac29|2 years ago|reply
That "NFC nonsense" is an optional brushhead replacement reminder feature. It never stops you from continuing to use a brushhead, and if you hate the reminder, you can turn the feature off completely.
You can also buy brushheads that dont have NFC chips in them - its not required.
[+] [-] SV_BubbleTime|2 years ago|reply