Unacceptable: Apple Health Sync is now behind a $99/year paywall for new accounts

I was about to buy Withings products as Christmas gifts for my parents but not going to do that anymore. I have to post-pone my own next products too because like always at some point the existing users will be affected as well. Congratulations for making a really bad business decision.

I have a Withings scale and BP monitor, I was looking to get the smart watch, I don't care that I am grandfathered in (for now) to free synching, this is predatory behavior and you have lost me as a customer.

Bye, Withings. I'm a customer with a Withings scale, but after this I will never purchase one of your products again and I'll be deleting my account. Even if you reverse this decision, you've shown that embracing AI slop and screwing customers is your new business model and I'm not OK with that. I can enter my weight into my Apple Health app manually just fine, thanks.

Charging people $99 for some pinhead executive's AI obsession? No, I don't want to pay for slop tokens, and whoever thought it was a good idea to make a function call into an "MCP" should be fired. End of the Withings ecosystem.

This is incredibly disappointing. I'm a longtime Withings device owner and have had their watches for probably close to a decade. This decision makes me lose trust in this company. It doesn't matter that I'm "grandfathered in" - this decision demonstrates that they can and will change core device functionality with no notice in order to force users into more unwanted subscriptions. What's to stop them from putting this functionality behind a subscription for all users in the future? What other features that I currently use will end up behind a paywall? 

This decision is short-sighted and anti-consumer - I hope Withings will reconsider and issue a statement reassuring loyal customers that they will not diminish the value of their products with subscriptions and rent-seeking tactics. As it stands I will not be buying any new products from them.

Unacceptable. I will not be purchasing or recommending another scale from Withings unless this change is rolled back and an apology is made.

As a longtime Withings customer who has purchased and recommended multiple products over the years, I completely agree with this post.

While I appreciate that existing customers are being grandfathered in, that doesn’t make this decision any more acceptable. Charging new customers $100 a year simply to synchronize their own health data with Apple Health or other platforms is ridiculous.

One of the reasons I’ve supported Withings is the combination of quality hardware and the freedom to integrate my health data into the ecosystem of my choosing. Making that basic functionality dependent on a paid subscription undermines the value of the products and the trust customers have placed in the brand.

And frankly, being grandfathered in doesn’t reassure me about the company’s direction. It simply means I’m not the customer being penalized today.

If Withings continues down this path, my current devices will be my last. I’ll take my business elsewhere rather than support a company that puts previously standard functionality behind a subscription paywall.

I genuinely hope Withings leadership is listening. Build subscription services that offer real additional value, rather than charging customers to retain basic functionality. That’s how you earn loyalty, not lose it.

Don’t buy any Withings products like I did. I’ve been a customer for quite a while now, but once this device is done. So will I be with this company.

I’m grandfathered, but I’ve also bought my last Withings scale. This is clearly greed on the part of Withings.

I really regret buying my watch now, as I assumed that "works with Apple Health" meant it works with Apple Health. I have worn/used it, so I don't think I'd get my full money back if I returned it. Having to pay hundreds of € to be able to use a, for me, quite expensive product as advertised in the coming years feels like a scam, and being prompted to get withings+ all over their own app doesn't help either.

Boo

I have 3 Withings devices and love them, they are the first things I interact with on a daily basis. I'm grandfathered in with free sync due to being a user for many years - but your decision will see my future purchases be made elsewhere.

I don't buy products from BS companies, there are always alternatives I can find - it's so disappointing to learn the Withings is one of the BS organisations to avoid.

Long time customer.  Background: I've purchased two premium scales (Body Scan and Body Scan 2) and the HR cuff.  I implore you to reconsider your Apple paywall issue.  This is doing tremendous damage to your reputation and goodwill.  Make W+ a valuable add-on and people will pay a reasonable price for it.  Gatekeeping a customer who just spent $600 with you from syncing the customer's own weight is going to do tremendous damage to your goodwill.  Even though I'm grandfathered (for now!) I can't justify any further purchases in the Withings ecosystem given the company's current direction.  Please reconsider.

I 100% only bought this scale because this feature was free. Seriously, I had been happily manually entering data into My Weight app for YEARS. I've already been looking around for another scale because I'm getting tired of having to approve my measurement because the app thinks I'm someone else and I have to approve it. LATER WITHINGS.

Ich habe gestern meine Waage bekommen, werde sie aber umgehend wieder zurücksenden. Für mich war die Synchronisation mit Apple Health ein Kaufargument. 99€ im Jahr geht gar nicht, zum Glück gibt es noch andere Anbieter.

Das kann ich gut verstehen 😞

Der wahre Wert liegt tatsächlich in den Daten. Aber es sind unsere Daten. Und wir sollten selbst entscheiden können, wem wir sie anvertrauen und zu welchem Zweck.

Dann viel Erfolg mit euren Daten und euerer Hardware.

Absolutely disgusting behavior. I have 4 Withings devices and have been a customer for over a decade. I was considering buying the Body Scan 2, but refuse to buy another Withings product unless this ridiculous, greedy decision is reversed.

Syncing with Apple Health is something even the most basic smart scales can do for free. Withings' "explanation" as to why their already-expensive products can't do so without a $100/year subscription is insulting. 

A friend asked for a recommendation on smart watches and was about to recommend Withings, since I have a BodyFit that I absolutely love and has worked flawlessly for past 5 years. Then I remembered he would need to pay extra 99eur/month just to get the data sync'd with Apple Health. I'm recommending something else. Great hardware but horrible decision to deteriorate the experience on purpose.

It’s been over a week since massive customer revolt over this started and no change has been made. I’ve lost hope and will be giving up and logging off. Withings has forever lost a customer in me, and I’m sure many others. Very disappointing.

It's pretty crazy that a new spouse or teenager can't be added to a grandfathered account. Why wouldn't you want more household members to purchase your products and become brand loyal.

A lot of people can't afford a premium product price with an expensive annual subscription for each family member.

A $100 a year subscription should at least include 5 total family members.

I was about to pull the trigger on a purchase, but after happening upon this thread I decided against buying the Body Scan 2 (significant purchase) because requiring a Withings+ subscription to export my data to Apple Health feels like holding my health data hostage. I’m willing to pay for useful premium features, but basic access to my own data and interoperability with Apple Health should remain free. Please reconsider this policy. I was a loyal Withings user but will not purchase anything else and will phase out current products. I’m glad I researched this first, as it’s hidden in the details. New customers may not realize the trap they are falling into.

I find this absolutely insane as well. But to me, even the idea of offering to pay for this service is unacceptable.

You have to be completely out of touch with reality to think this is going to end well.

The more they push, the deeper the damage will be, and the longer it will take to heal.

Right now, people are still speaking up. Then there will be fewer and fewer messages, until eventually there’s nothing but silence. Not because people have accepted it, but because there will be no one left.

And I’m pretty sure that silence will eventually be reflected in their revenue.