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Nearly five years after discontinuing its Harmony brand of universal remote controls, Logitech is chopping support for the older remotes in the line.
More than two dozen first-generation Harmony remotes are slated to lose support, including the Harmony 670, 720, 880 and 880 Pro, 1100i, and the Harmony for Xbox 360.
Such newer Harmony remotes as the Harmony One, Harmony Elite, and the Harmony Companion aren’t on the list. But the news that Logitech is dropping support for first-generation Harmony remotes begs the question of how much longer other Harmony devices will remain supported. We’ve reached out to Logitech for comment.
The “Harmony Remote Discontinuation Notice” pops up when you open the legacy Logitech Harmony Remote Software, which allows you to reprogram the remote’s buttons as well as configure it to work with different makes and models of TVs, A/V receivers, DVD and Blu-ray players, game consoles, and other home theater components.
“After careful consideration, and more than 10 years of dedicated support, we have made the difficult decision to discontinue support for our Harmony First Generation Remote devices,” the notice reads. “As technology continues to evolve, we recognize the challenges in maintaining our services to the standards we strive for.”
While the affected Harmony remotes will still work, users won’t be able to change the behavior of the buttons anymore, nor will they be able to add or remove devices or activities (that is, a sequence of actions that might turn on your TV and Blu-ray player while setting them to the correct inputs and outputs).
Newer Harmony remotes “will continue to be supported” via the MyHarmony website or the Harmony app, Logitech added.
Logitech, which acquired the Harmony brand back in 2004, announced in April 2021 that it was discontinuing the line of universal remotes.
At the time, Logitech said it would “support our Harmony community” with “access to our software and apps to set up and manage your devices,” for “as long as customers are using [them].”
Logitech added that it would “continue to update the [Harmony] platform and add devices to our Harmony database.”
Home theater aficionados prize their Harmony remotes for their ability to control multiple A/V devices with a single controller, perfect for clearing a jumble of remotes from their coffee tables.
But while the Harmony fan base is devoted, it’s also small—too small for Logitech, which stopped making new Harmony remotes in 2021.
Former Logitech CEO Bracken Darrel called Harmony a “small business” in a 2019 interview, noting that “over time, you’ll have fewer and fewer people who feel like they need that universal remote” given the increasingly powerful remotes that ship with newer smart TVs.
Here’s the complete list of Harmony remotes that are losing online support:
- Harmony 510
- Harmony 515
- Harmony 520
- Harmony 522
- Harmony 525
- Harmony 550
- Harmony 555
- Harmony 610
- Harmony 620
- Harmony 628
- Harmony 655
- Harmony 659
- Harmony 670
- Harmony 675
- Harmony 676
- Harmony 680
- Harmony 688
- Harmony 720
- Harmony 745
- Harmony 748
- Harmony 768
- Harmony 785
- Harmony 880
- Harmony 880 Pro
- Harmony 882
- Harmony 885
- Harmony 890
- Harmony 890 Pro
- Harmony 892
- Harmony 895
- Harmony 897
- Harmony 900
- Harmony 1000
- Harmony 1000i
- Harmony 1100
- Harmony 1100i
- Harmony for Xbox 360
Author: Ben Patterson, Senior Writer, TechHive
Ben has been writing about technology and consumer electronics for more than 20 years. A PCWorld contributor since 2014, Ben joined TechHive in 2019, where he has covered everything from smart speakers and soundbars to smart lights and security cameras. Ben’s articles have also appeared in PC Magazine, TIME, Wired, CNET, Men’s Fitness, Mobile Magazine, and more. Ben holds a master’s degree in English literature.
