Amazon kills physical Dash buttons

Image: amazon

Bad news, Amazon Prime addicts: the company is no longer selling its Dash buttons.

As of today, the company will no longer sell the magical plastic buttons that let you summon refills of laundry detergent, paper towels, and Trojan condoms at will. The company will, however, continue to support existing buttons.

If you’re bummed about that, it appears that Alexa may be largely to blame for Amazon’s decision. In a statement, an Amazon spokesperson said “we’ve seen customers increasingly using programs like Alexa Shopping, which provides a hands free shopping experience, and Subscribe & Save, which lets customers automatically receive their favorite items every month.

“With this in mind, we’ve decided to shift the Dash program focus—as of February 28, Dash Button devices are no longer available for purchase on Amazon globally. Existing Dash Button customers can continue to use their Dash Button devices.”

Amazon will also continue to offer its virtual Dash buttons, which embeds digital Dash buttons onto devices with displays like the Echo Show.

Though shopping with Alexa may be more popular now, the reality is Amazon’s Dash buttons always seemed like more of a gimmick than something that was actually useful. When the company first introduced the product, it seemed so bizarre the company actually had to clarify that the whole thing was not, in fact, in April Fools’ day joke. 

Still, the gadget was successful enough the company eventually expanded Dash buttons to dozens of different products.

But, in a major blow to the product, Dash buttons were ruled illegal in Germany, the company’s second-largest market after the United States. German courts said last month that the buttons ran afoul of the country’s consumer protections laws because they don’t provide enough information about the products people were purchasing. 

Current Dashers can still use their buttons, but it looks like the rest of the world is now out of luck.