Tech That Died in 2025: From iPhone Home Button to Nest Thermostat

Tech Departures of 2025

• 💔 The year 2025 saw the end of several iconic technologies, some due to obsolescence and others due to corporate greed and forced obsolescence.
• 💡 This retrospective aims to pay respects to these departed gadgets and services, offering a therapeutic way to confront the grief.

Notable Tech Exits

• 📱 Apple officially discontinued the iPhone Home button with the last model being the iPhone SE.
• 🤖 The Humane AI Pin, a $700 wearable, became a paperweight due to overheating, poor AI performance, and reliance on gestures.
• 🛒 Amazon closed its App Store for Android and Windows, ending the Amazon Coins program used to incentivize purchases.
• 📞 Microsoft announced the shutdown of Skype, after 22 years, shifting focus to Microsoft Teams for video chat.
• 💻 Microsoft also retired the infamous Blue Screen of Death, replacing it with a less alarming black screen, though system crashes persist.
• ☎️ AOL pulled the plug on its dial-up internet service, ending an era for those still reliant on it, particularly in rural areas.

Google's Nest Thermostat Controversy

• 🌡️ Google shut off smart features in older Nest Learning Thermostat models, disabling remote control via the app.
• 💸 Customers were offered a coupon for $150 to buy a new model, despite the old ones working fine, sparking customer grief and accusations of forced obsolescence.
• 🤔 Google cited