Qiara put the key under the door: the Freebox remote surveillance will no longer be available

One and a half years ago, Free unveiled its Qiara video surveillance system, which promised to revolutionize the field. Unfortunately, the adventure has been short-lived. The announcement of the definitive cessation of Qiara, the French pioneer of connected remote monitoring, has just disrupted the connected home ecosystem in partnership with Free. This company, founded by specialists from the Iliad universe, aimed to democratize home security through exclusive integration into certain Freebox offers. Aiming to equip up to a million households by 2027, Qiara offered innovative services: alarms, detectors, sirens, cameras, centralized mobile application hub, connected to its secure cloud. In June 2025, the judicial recovery marked a decisive turning point, followed by the hearing at the Paris Economic Activities Tribunal on September 17. The judicial liquidation, scheduled for October 16, 2025, signifies the total interruption of the service and the definitive disconnection of connected Freebox devices. Affected subscribers are thus deprived, without extended notice, of a service that had reinvented accessible and integrated remote monitoring. The absence of a buyer, mainly due to external financial difficulties, leads to the immediate obsolescence of the equipment, while Free and the entire French market question the future of their home automation strategy. In this context, the issue of sustainability and service continuity for customers becomes more crucial than ever, inviting them to explore alternatives and to learn lessons from this major technological setback.

Definitive end of Qiara: timeline, consequences for Freebox subscribers, and alternatives after the cessation of connected remote monitoring services

The abrupt halt of Qiara services falls within a succession of rapid events, starting with the announcement of judicial recovery in June 2025. Despite growing notoriety, this start-up failed to secure the necessary funding in the face of market pressure, dominated by groups such as Verisure, Somfy Protect, or international platforms. The Paris Economic Activities Tribunal held a hearing on September 17, resulting in the decision for judicial liquidation. The date of October 16, 2025, marks the irreversible cut-off: all services, from the cloud to the servers controlling the alarms, will cease to function, rendering the equipment, including cameras, detectors, and sirens, completely useless.

The partnership between Qiara and Free was designed to position Free at the heart of the connected home. The offer combined self-contained security hardware and home automation controllable via the Freebox mobile application, with preferential pricing and advanced integration. This strategic synergy allowed Free to compete with SFR and Orange in the field of domestic innovation in France. However, the dependence on Qiara’s cloud infrastructure turned against subscribers: any malfunction or server shutdown results in a total loss of service, once again demonstrating the fragility of connected devices dependent on a single player.

Qiara, in a statement infused with gravity, expressed its “deep sadness” over this outcome, while insisting that the difficulties encountered are primarily due to financing and external constraints, rather than a product or business model failure. The absence of a buyer is explained by the technological specificity developed and the impossibility of ensuring service continuity without heavy investments. Since September 19, Qiara has suspended collections for all its subscribers, who benefit from service maintenance until October 16. After this date, it is formally advised not to use the equipment, which becomes obsolete; no compensation is planned, and customer support will gradually be discontinued, accompanied by a reduction in technical support until the final closure of the platform.

The impact for Freebox subscribers is anticipated to be significant, with the disappearance of a home security solution favored for its simplicity and moderate cost. Free does not offer an immediate alternative, leaving a gap in the national market for integrated connected remote monitoring within telecom offers. This situation exposes both the structural weaknesses of embedded security offers and the inherent vulnerability of dependence on a single technological partner. Customers are forced to quickly turn to other players: Verisure or Somfy Protect, recognized leaders, offer robust services but are more expensive; conversely, devices like Ring or Eufy appeal due to their accessibility and autonomy while sometimes sacrificing the quality of remote monitoring or the guarantee of a responsive customer service.

This disappearance highlights the systemic challenges of the connected home: while innovation from start-ups stimulates the sector, it also exposes users to risks of sudden disruption in the event of financial difficulties of a strategic partner. Home Labs, for example, recently published a testimony underscoring the need for a strengthened guarantee policy for home automation offers linked to a telecom operator. The experiences of SFR and Orange with their own services, regularly adjusted or suspended, also illustrate how precarious stability remains in this market.

For Free, the end of the partnership with Qiara means a reassessment of its ambitions in the world of home automation. Without speculating on the future, observers already envision the search for a new alliance to fill this strategic gap, while subscribers await a reliable and durable solution. In light of this episode, the question of service sustainability emerges as a major selection criterion, far exceeding the mere product innovation. Users are now invited to prioritize players capable of long-term stability, to evaluate the real quality of customer service, and to ensure that their equipment is not dependent on a cloud infrastructure destined to disappear.