Why is Synapse so broken?

I still haven’t gotten synapse to work. I’ve all but given up, my devices all work without it, i just can’t control the lighting. Razer has high end products, and low end customer support. Whenever I call tech support all they do is tell me to download the synapse logs and email them, but I never hear anything back. What happened to tech support being f’n tech support?  

It makes it awfully to recommend products when the support is lacking so much. Please do better.

I’ve been struggling with this garbage app for months. I have to uninstall and reinstall it if I want it to open and if I want my devices to actually connect properly and be custom lit. Every time I restart my PC. So I just don’t bother and what is the point of even owning RGBs if they’re all on unsynchronized light cycles. When I do finally wrestle it open it maybe recognizes my headset 20% of the time. It has always had problems but it wasn’t this bad until recently. before, it actually provided basic functions. 

I purchased a new Razer Blade 17 laptop and absolutely love it (even more so than Alienware 17), except for… SYNAPSE.  From day one it has been buggy like everyone reported. If I close the lid and laptop goes to sleep, synapse does not work after waking up from sleep. I am also suspecting that it may be causing problems with my USB wireless mouse (the issue goes away if synapse is not active).  I am sure that Razer is actively working to improve synapse, but I am surprised to see so many issues ongoing since version 1.

Hello,

and it´s still broken. Macros dont work as intended, they don´t start/stop. Profiles are being corrupted every day, especially if you are using multiple computers with the same peripherals. I don´t know how to access cloud profiles so that i can delete/ edit them. The Software crashes at least once if you actively use it.

You cant stop the Application from starting in fullscreen, covering the whole screen for at least 10s, while nothing can be done beacuse the application is frozen while loading up…. 

I wouldnt even try to compare this application to garbage or sth. equivalent. It´s worse and annoying af. Since “waste” can be recycled to other goods. Synapse recycled itself and became more bad every time.

This software should be illegal. The selling practices are. If your device will only function properly with software, then your software hast to be working every second the devices are used.

So many issues:

1. Profiles
   1. corrupted
   2. Hybrid storage doesn’t work
   3. Profiles and macros don’t work when signed IN to Synapse, but work OK on a guest account.
   4. Unable to sync profiles
   5. unable to factory reset / erase profiles (!) 
2. Macros don’t work in a dozen ways
   1. issues with combined modifiers (like win + ctrl)
   2. keys stuck in down-press or un-press
   3. keys do not respond
   4. corrupted in so many ways...
      1. random keystrokes removed from macros
      2. unwanted duplicates
      3. failure to run
      4. failure to duplicate correctly
      5. corrupted on import
      6. up/down keystroke pairs no longer “linked”
      7. no name “No macro”
      8. unable to edit
      9. unable to wipe from account
   5. NOTE: yes, I am sure many (if not all) the issues stem from Razer/Synapse, not the user. eg i checked the macro files themselves and discovered, for example, some were missing ID tags, had the wrong ID, ordered my inputs differently from what was displayed in Synapse, 
3. Random:
   1. Razer products to continuously connect/disconnect every 30-40 seconds -- literally unusable. Culprit: plugging in the mouse dock (!)
4. resource intensive
   1. Consumes 100 MB to 200 MB of GPU VRAM (!) while machine is idle just after rebooting. 
   2. Generated >10 GB per user in AppData. (Razer, what on earth are you doing that requires multiple gigabytes?!)
5. indirect signs of terrible software:
   1. they made a dedicated razer software/driver removal tool
   2. they advise disabling their own services
   3. their main app (Synapse 4) is kept in perpetual “beta” simply to manage user expectations. (Do you think Razer intends to “release” Synapse 4 anytime soon? or do you think they intend to “release” it only just months before Synapse 5?)
6. support is terrible
   1. tons of “yes-men” in these forums who just repeat official lines from Razer
      1. … even if the advice is irrelevant 
      2. … even if the advice does not work (see a comment above), eg their driver removal tool doesn’t work on recent patches
   2. they actively dissuade users from contacting support:
      1. they require A LOT of personal info to even start talking to you.
      2. they require VERY invasive logs to even start helping you
         1. even if their intent is completely benign, would you really trust Razer Security™ with your personal info? If you think Synapse code is bad, do you think their internal code is any better?
   3. they can’t help you anyway (so what was the point of collecting all your personal info?)
      1. their main advice:
         1. uninstall/reinstall everything.
         2. don’t get fancy: don’t make complicated (useful) macros, don’t use USB hubs including their own accompany peripheral, don’t ‘run too many things at once’
7. And yes I’ve tried EVERYTHING while troubleshooting over the years:
   1. clean Windows installs
   2. new machines.
   3. laptops/desktops.
   4. different OS.
   5. different synapse ver.
   6. different combinations of razer products
   7. safe mode
   8. lesson: razer products work better the less you use them.
      1. don’t use synapse
      2. don’t use macros
      3. don’t use chroma / lighting
      4. don’t reassign keys
      5. don’t mix/match razer products
      6. … sefl-defeating etc. ad nauseum 

I could go on for hours… this is just the tip of the iceberg… and these are just the issues i’ve experienced this year alone. 

Razer has written terrible software and fielded terrible support for years and years. Do you expect them to improve any time soon?

From the start and for years on, I was a big fan of Razer products because they offered features not found anywhere else on the market. But their value soured. Their broken software is a deal-breaker. If they invested half as much on software as they did on marketing, they would not need marketing. 

But I can no longer recommend their products any longer. Even if Razer started discounting their products AND Razer’s competitors all went on vacation (no longer true in 2024, if ever), I could not recommend buying Razer products: they just DON’T work. They are tremendously tiresome, hassle-some, fragile, inconsistent, perpetually broken, and time-consuming. They have wasted thousands of dollars of my time. At minimum. 

I bought Razer products because they not only accelerated my work, but also enabled me to do things I could not otherwise. So I tolerated their terrible software for a long time... until now. This is the last straw.

One can’t help but wonder whether their software issues are intentional. It would make more sense than this calamitous never-ending train-wreck.

final note: if you have specific questions/issues with the blackwidow v4 pro or naga pro, feel free to ask me; i’ve learned far more about them in the last week than i’ve ever cared to. if i can help someone else, at least i will have achieved some return on the time i invested.