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

As an owner of multiple Withings products, I find this decision deeply disappointing. Automatic syncing with Apple Health is a basic part of the experience customers expect when purchasing connected health devices. Placing that functionality behind a subscription for new accounts undermines my confidence in the company.

Grandfathering existing accounts does not resolve the underlying concern: this decision changes what customers can reasonably expect from Withings in the future. I am willing to pay for additional services that offer meaningful value, but access to basic interoperability should remain included with the hardware.

This move has cost Withings my trust, and I will not be purchasing any further Withings products.

I won't ever buy Withings anything with this change.

I'm grandfathered in, but this is not acceptable.

Agree, been a customer since the first smart scale and always thought of Withings in high regard, wont buy anything else if this change stays, 

Sigh. I was afraid this was going to happen given how much they've been pushing their subscription service. I'm "done" with Withings and I'm looking forward to alternatives in the years to come.

BYEthings!

What a ridiculous decision.

Good timing though, as I was due to buy some more Withings stuff on Black Friday but this has ruled that firmly out.

Whoever’s decision this was might have lost your company loads of money, but they’ve saved me money, so they did something right at least!

Putting the export behind the paywall looks like an admission that the subscription can't compete on its own. Withings+ doesn't provide any value for me beyond what's available in Apple Health, and Withings app itself relies heavily on reading data other sources write to Apple Health.

I've been a customer for about 5 years, and the only time I open the app is when my measurement's aren't showing up in Apple Health, even though it doesn't affect me directly I can't recommend Withings to anyone anymore, and I won't be buying their products in the future.

Wow! You buy a “smart” device, and then you have to pay every month just to keep it actually “smart”? That sounds like a scam. In that case, you're better off buying a mechanical scale.

The problem is, when you act like this, no one is going to believe "buying a new scale, watch or any other Withings device in the future won’t affect it. Your sync stays free."

If you've done it to one group, eventually someone in finance or management is going to say 'number not going up fast enough' and think it's a great plan to squeeze existing users for some more.

So okay, my devices still work as I bought them today, for now, but I certainly don't trust you enough to ever give you any more money for hardware, and I'll make sure to strongly advise any friends or family against buying any either.

My data is mine. I choose where it goes. You're spectacularly misunderstanding of your relationship with your customers - we buy your hardware to gather health data. We can swap your hardware in for someone else's with little pain - no matter how hard you try to create lock-in with stunts like this. People will choose Apple or Google over Withings every time.

No one wants more AI, read the room.

Having to pay 99 bucks a year subscription to sync your own data to your Apple device is just ridiculous.  

It's pure profit for some.  I guess that's Withings' USP and part of its journey into software revenues. 

This decision is a reflection of the decision-makers' and the organisation's collective inability to see the wood for the trees.

This is absurd. Even though I purchased the scale a few years ago hence not affected by this, I find it shameful and I won’t buy any other Withings products and will actively discourage family and friends from buying. Apple Health sync was the primary reason I bought the scale; I don’t care about the subscription extra features. I guess Withings found out many people didn’t shell out the money for it so they tried to force customers into it by paywalling data sync.

Paywalling data sync with local APIs such as HealthKit is ridiculous: no cloud computing required, zero cost, zero maintenance required. You are cannibalising your own users. For sure, I won't buy new Withings devices.  

This is a scummy move. I am looking for a smart scale at the moment and I've just crossed you off my shortlist. As the resident gadget advisor for my family I will also recommend that none of my family and friends ever buy one of your products.

Absolutely terrible choice. Already gave you a low score on Amazon due to my Withings smart scale constantly unable to do more than weight - if you do this I am changing my score to a 1 and making this change my summary comment.

I have no active sync service to either Apple or Google and I am grandfathered in, but this shows the unacceptable direction that the company is headed in. Locking users data behind paywalls instead of encouraging integration and ease of use.

You've lost a customer and I will never pay for any of your products or services again.

Textbook enshittification. What is especially annoying is that Withings try to mollify their user base with bland corporate-speak about how their mission hasn't changed. It seems their real mission is squeezing out more corporate cashflow. 

Wow, this is really disappointing news. I'm glad and sad I came across this before making a purchase.

I've been a loyal Withings customer for about ten years, Nokia phase and all. I even have an Aura device Just a few weeks ago, my six-year-old ScanWatch stopped working completely.

I've been looking for a replacement over the past few days, and I was already finding it somewhat concerning that Withings hadn't introduced any significant new products in quite some time. The fact that the ScanWatch 2 is already over two years old was starting to raise some red flags.

Still, I've always liked Withings' approach to smartwatches, especially the combination of traditional watch design, health tracking, and excellent battery life. Having owned their watches for so many years, I was actually just about to buy a ScanWatch Nova. But after reading this news, I've changed my mind. To me, what's happening is simply not a good sign for the company's future, and I'm no longer comfortable investing in its ecosystem.

It's a real shame. I've been a very satisfied customer for a decade, and I genuinely wanted to remain one. But at this point, the situation is just too concerning for me to ignore.

I have been a customer since 2012. My scale still works fine but I have been looking at renewing it by a buying a newer model to benefit from new features; even though I would likely not be affected this since I already have an account, it is clearly an anti-customer sign and this weighs in (pun intended) in my eventual decision to buy new health products.

As an existing Withings customer, I find the reported decision to put Apple Health synchronization behind a paid subscription for new customers completely unacceptable.

Automatic synchronization with Apple Health is a fundamental feature of connected health products. Customers who have already paid for the hardware should not have to pay an additional subscription simply to have their measurements automatically available in Apple Health.

Even if existing accounts are currently exempt, that does not make this acceptable. It seriously undermines my confidence in Withings and raises concerns about what other essential features might be put behind a paywall in the future.

This decision makes me seriously reconsider whether I want to continue using Withings products at all. I am strongly considering replacing my devices with products from another brand.

Withings, please listen to your customers and reverse this decision. Apple Health synchronization should remain free for all customers, regardless of when they created their account.

Thomas

One of the most egregious cases of enshittification I've ever seen. I'll never buy another withings product again and I'll make sure none of my friends and family do. Putting _the_ feature that led me to buy a withings scale behind a paywall for new customers is absolutely insane and just plain consumer hostile.

I've read the Withings response. It ignores the OPs point: "writing data to Apple Health via HealthKit happens locally on the phone. It does not require complex cloud compute, server costs, or any "AI connector". It's a basic API call."

This is OUR data NOT YOUR data. Putting it behind a CSV export is introducing extra friction just so that you can claim you haven't locked in our data -- but you have done so. You now charge $99/yr for the "privilege" of a seamless integration that costs you literally nothing. You just found an extra lever to try squeezing more money out of people.

You cannot buy me off by applying the charge to new customers only. We can all see what kind of ethic the company chooses to have with OUR data. I'll discourage people from buying Withings.

I bought a Withings scale over the summer specifically for the sync to Apple Health and that this was a decent brand. Created my Withings account well before this paywall for sync arrived.

However my intent was for family members (4 of them) to share these scales and sync their own data to their Apple Health app. This requires them to create a Withings account.

With this change we are now expected to fork out nearly $400 a year for the sync function?!!

I don’t think so.

Looking at other manufacturers already and our new Withings scale will go to a charity shop.

FURIOUS. $100/year for MY DATA.

My refund from Boots UK for the Withings scales I bought on October 11th just landed. I hope all the other new customers are getting refunds too, it's the best way to show Withings that trying to wring every last penny out of us was a catastrophic choice.

I've had an account for more than 10 years.

Imagine if I looked back and thought wow I've spent $1000 for my scale to report that number to another service.

Was hoping to get a cuff monitor today but it just doesn't seem worth it now if there isn't any easy syncing with Apple Health, it was the whole reason I had wanted Withings

Enshittification. I've used several withings devices for years, and was about to upgrade just so I could get USB-C charging, but you've made me change my mind. I'll look elsewhere.

Despite being grandfathered in, I will look at alternatives. I can't support a company that charges you 100$ to see your own private data. Thanks for letting us know what you were up to - it gives us plenty of time to search the competitors.

Vote with your money and decisions everyone. Withings is just hoping that you grin and take this ridiculous charge, which when added to the price of their goods will make them more expensive than the competition.
Don’t let this be another example of gatekeeping, like Google did with YouTube feature like PiP. Enough money gouging already - just think how much money they are making off your personal data already.

I've been an avid supporter for years and have many withings devices in my house. I will no longer be recommending withings to friends and family as long as this is the case and will also no longer be buying or upgrading devices myself. This is a slippery slope and its only a matter of time before grandfathered users lose access as well. I'm also annoyed about how much my expensive devices nag me about paying a monthly subscription, this is the final straw.

So your official response is to state what we already know? We know our accounts are safe (for now) from losing Apple Health sync, but I wouldn’t recommend or buy a device that requires me to pay to sync my data to Apple Health. And it’s not just that you want us to pay to send our data to Apple Health; you’re also reading data from Apple Health to benefit your platform. That’s something I would agree to if we both benefited from the sync.

I would never buy a Withings device again, and I’ve stopped recommending them, which is something I used to do.