According to an announcement by Amazon today (via Bloomberg), the company will no longer sell its “Halo” brand of health and fitness bands. A low-cost alternative to the Apple Watch, the first Halo band was released in August 2020 to compete with the Apple Watch.
The Halo wristband did not have a watch face; it provided a sensor module that could be worn on the wrist. It included an accelerometer, a temperature sensor, a heart rate monitor, two microphones, and an LED indicator light. It was used with an app that presented the health information gathered through the band.
The band cost $99. However, it did not have GPS, WiFi, cellular connectivity, or interaction with Alexa. Additionally, several capabilities require an Amazon Prime membership to access them. The 3D body scan feature and the speech analysis tool that Amazon implemented have been criticized for their intrusiveness. The scanning function requested that users dress in as little as possible so that the camera on their smartphone could see their body, while the tone readings used the always active microphones.
In the end, Amazon expanded its offerings to include the Halo View, Halo Band, Halo Rise, and several accessories; however, all of these products need to be phased out.
As of the 31st of July in 2023, Amazon will no longer provide support for its Halo product line, and the company will reimburse customers for any purchases or subscriptions they may have made within the previous year. Amazon uses email to communicate with its customers about the impending service termination.
Customers of Halo have until the 1st of August, 2023, to download any data from the app they want to save for themselves.
