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upstart writes:

Yet another piece of hardware becomes junk

Amazon Halo is dead, and it's a bigger deal than you think:

Does paying a subscription fee to own and use a piece of hardware feel reassuring? Does that monthly commitment make you feel safe, as the company has income past any original purchase, encouraging it to support and update the product so it never becomes useless?

As Amazon's decision to end support for its Halo line of health products proves, it absolutely shouldn't. What it should do, however, is make you seriously consider whether any subscription-based health and fitness product is a good idea at all.

On April 26, Amazon discontinued its Halo product line, which consists of the Halo Band, Halo View, and the Halo Rise. The app will stop working on August 1, when the hardware will also cease to provide any functionality. It's not good for owners and also bad news for staff at Amazon working on the projects, as many will lose their jobs.

[...] Halo is now a failure, and regardless of why it has happened, it's one that the subscription model couldn't help save. The Halo products weren't the best of their type you could get, but Amazon's massive reach, brand recognition, and willingness of its core customers to pay a subscription for its services should have helped mitigate at least some of that issue. But Amazon isn't going to discontinue successful product lines that make it money — it's going to get rid of the ones that do the opposite. The subscription fee absolutely wasn't a lifeline for Halo and provided no protection to you as a consumer at all.

Amazon's Halo isn't the only subscription-based health and fitness product out there, but it is one of the few that has entirely closed down its operations. When a company with Amazon's resources is forced to do that, it doesn't bode well for other, far smaller companies with similar products. At the very least, Halo's destruction should be a warning to anyone thinking about buying a Whoop fitness band, the Oura Ring smart ring, or even a Fitbit.

[...] Subscription packages of all types aren't exactly getting the best press at the moment; just look at what's happening at Twitter for evidence, and the end of Halo isn't going to help. The death of Amazon Halo should be another warning sign we should be extremely wary about paying a subscription for a health and fitness tracker. Because, unfortunately, we've no idea what the future holds.

What are the non-subscription options out there?

Original Submission