This week’s massive Amazon Web Services (AWS) outage not only knocked out apps and websites, but also left some people without beds.
Owners of Eight Sleep’s $2,000+ smart pod mattress covers found their beds overheating, freezing upright, or not responding at all after AWS’ US-EAST-1 region went down in the early hours of October 20th. The company’s high-end sleep systems rely on the cloud for temperature and position control, so there’s no comfort without the internet.
By dawn, users turned to X to vent their late-night tech nightmares. “A backend outage means you’re sleeping in a sauna,” joked user Alex Browne’s post after the pod locked up at more than 9 degrees above room temperature. Another user joked that the bed was stuck in a “tilted position,” to which Eight Sleep CEO Matteo Franceschetti responded: “We’re currently working on a fix.”
In a previous post, Franceschetti said the outage had “affected some users since last night and disrupted their sleep,” apologized for the outage and acknowledged that the company was working 24/7 to create a “failure mode.” This is a long-requested feature that allows the bed to continue functioning even when the clouds darken.
The AWS crash triggered more than 8 million disruption reports and hit major services ranging from gaming to banking apps. But the Eight Sleep incident struck a particular nerve, highlighting how much modern smart home technology relies on cloud servers.
Although AWS had most systems restored by 6 a.m. ET, the night’s disruption was a lesson. If you need a connection to keep your mattress cool, even a short outage can interrupt your bedtime without power.
Luckily for Eight Sleep users, an offline mode update has been rolled out to help everyone sleep a little easier.
