I’m taking more care of my health as I age, and I wanted something that would put my weight measurements into Apple Health automatically instead of having to enter them manually. A tiny quality of life thing that I was willing to invest in some smart scales for. I don’t really trust any of the additional metrics they claim to record (fat, muscle, etc) but I’d take them if the smart scale offered them.
I did some research and Withings seems to be a trusted brand. They’ve got years of experience in the health device market. They’re European, not Chinese or American. They make other devices I was looking at (particularly a blood pressure monitor).
And most importantly, they sync with Apple Health using the HealthKit APIs built into iOS. Lovely stuff.
They also have an expensive annual subscription service called Withings+, which unlocks further analysis of the raw data that you both record with their devices and import in from Apple Health. I didn’t need that, so I wasn’t bothered that it exists.
So on October 11th after much research I ordered a Body Smart from Boots in the UK. It arrived on October 13th. Setting it up was quite a pleasant and painless experience, and I took my first measurement with more excitement than I ever thought I’d have for scales of all things, then checked their app to make sure it had arrived.
All good, so I checked with Apple Health to see it sync the same data there. Nothing.
Hmm. To Google… Oh, apparently it’s not automatic after all. That’s a bummer. I’ve got to go in their app, then in Apple Health app, then back to their app, then refresh their app’s home page? What a fucking ballache, I could have noted it down manually in that time. But fine, whatever. At least it works.
Wait. No it doesn’t. It hasn’t synced yet. Hmm. To Google again.
Apparently I have to activate it first, makes sense! Off to the Withings app again, Profile, Settings cog, Sync With Apple Health…
And it flashes up a demand to subscribe to Withings+ at £99 a fucking year? To send MY data to Apple Health? What the fuck? To Google again!
Ah. Apparently this started on October 12th? And everyone with an account set up before October 12th isn’t charged? But everyone on or after that date is?
Why? The fuck? To Google…
And it turns out Withings claims that due to changes in their API and for privacy and security reasons, they now HAVE to charge a Withings+ subscription to send data to Apple Health.
What you are about to read is an elaborate lie, cooked up by Withings execs to justify the most blatantly greedy data grab I’ve ever seen, buckle up to enjoy some utter bullshit:
Disclaimer: The activation of our Withings AI connector has required changes to our API and new privacy measures. Any account created after October 13th, 2026 will be asked to sign up for a Withings+ subscription in order to export their Withings data to third party apps like Apple Health and Health Connect. You always have direct access to your data no matter what your subscription status. To download or share a pdf of your data, see this article for more information. Accounts that already existed before October 13th 2026 will never need to worry about this change, but new users who make their accounts after that date will need to sign up for Withings+ in order to transfer their data between the Withings App and our partner apps.
The part which makes it abundantly clear that they’re lying is “required changes to our API and new privacy measures“. This not only highlights the lie, it also explains the lie.
What you need to understand is that all the data their app sends to Apple Health is moved between the apps on-board the iPhone itself, it never has to leave the iPhone to get into Apple Health.
And Apple takes user health data privacy and security extremely seriously.
So what possible purpose does a Withings+ subscription have in the privacy and security of using Apple’s built-in HealthKit APIs? Are Withings saying that Apple’s HealthKit APIs are neither private enough nor secure enough without having a ‘Withings+ Subscriber’ flag activated on your account?
But if that’s not clear enough, think about this: Withings has included “changes to our API” as a fallback when the privacy claim is challenged.
But that is also proven to be bollocks by the fact that all existing Withings account holders will continue to enjoy free transfer of their data to Apple Health even without a Withings+ subscription. Seems like neither the API changes nor the invented privacy concerns are an issue if you made an account before October 12th 2026. Suspicious…
So if it’s not privacy, or security, or their mysterious new API, why are Withings really doing this?
It’s money: something’s coming that’s going to cost them a LOT of Withings+ subscribers.
Apple Health is about to be updated with new features, entirely for free, that offer similar sorts of AI-powered ‘insights’ extrapolated from your raw measurement data as a whole bunch of expensive subscription services have been offering for a while now – services like Bevel, or Athlytic… and of course, Withings+.
Withings is threatened by this. They know a lot of Withings+ subscribers are going to look at the new Apple Health and go “you know what, that’s enough for me actually, I don’t need to pay for Withings+ any more”.
So Withings decided the best way to stem the imminent cash bleed is to start charging users to send their data to Apple Health. That way Withings will get paid for those insights no matter who’s providing them.
It also means your own health data is no longer your own. That’s a massive deal breaker for most customers.
They’re gambling that they’ll make enough from the suckers who don’t fight it to cover everything they’ll lose from customers who think they’re greedy cunts and cancel.
It’s a bit like the ‘class action’ calculation described in Fight Club: will it cost us less in lawsuits, fines, and reputation damage than it will to recall the product and fix the problem? If it will, then don’t recall the product or fix the problem.
There’s also the issue that Apple apparently prohibits monetisation of free iOS APIs according to their Developer terms and conditions. That clause doesn’t specifically cite HealthKit, but HealthKit employs free iOS APIs, so a lot of people have been using ‘Report an issue’ with the Withings app on the App Store. I hope Apple does something about it, although I expect they won’t given that YouTube has got away with monetising the iOS picture-in-picture feature for years now.
To me as a brand new customers this reeks and I feel completely ripped off. So I contact Boots and immediately start the process to return my Body Smart scales.
Then I contact Withings support – which incidentally is appalling, and does everything it possibly can to dissuade you from even trying to contact them, pushing you to one FAQ then another, one forum page then another.
Even after specifically clicking CONTACT US it takes numerous clicks through efforts to distract me before finally finding the ‘STILL WANT TO CONTACT US?’ button, but I do find it, and I start a chat.
I explain the issue. The chat immediately tells me they’re sorry I have to pay Withings to export my data to Apple Health after Withings eagerly slurped up all my existing Apple Health data for free, but pay I must, because of security and privacy measures.
I tell the chat agent that this is absolute rubbish and explain why (existing users without a sub aren’t affected by these “privacy and security” measures so why should I be; I ordered the device knowing that Apple Health sync was free and by the time it arrived they were charging for it; Apple HealthKit APIs exist purely on the device so there’s no risk at all).
… and to my surprise Withings Support Chat just… waives the fee.
They click a button at their end that exempts my account. I check the app, I go to the Sync With Apple Health setting, and right enough there is no paywall. It’s that easy for them. So I guess my account isn’t affected by their new API or their privacy concerns after all, eh?
FUNNY, THAT.
So, here I am with a Withings account that’s been ‘grandfathered’ in to free Apple Health sync, and a brand new smart scale that I’ve got a return label for. What do I do?
I do the right thing, and I send that piece of shit back to Boots.
Fuck you Withings. You torpedoed your reputation as a trusted and experienced health device brand, and chose ‘Just Another Enshittified Scam Brand’ instead. I was going to buy quite a few of your devices over the next year – the BPM Connect would have been next.
Now I won’t even consider a single product they ever make, even if they reverse this decision in the next few days. Because the trust is gone. Who’s to say they won’t try and pull the same stunt again in six months for different reasons, or start limiting the measurements their app syncs for free, or just pull it for everyone, even subscribers? By that point I won’t be able to return my scales.
Also, it’s been three full days since they unveiled this and their customers started campaigning on Reddit (one, two), complaining on their forums and updating App Store reviews with one star, and Withings have done nothing.
Not a peep, not a dicky-bird. They really do just think we’re suckers don’t they?
If you read this far and you’re a Withings customer who thinks this sucks, go to this thread on their support page and add to the pages of complaints, before Withings almost inevitably deletes it.