Amazon will halt support for its Halo products in July, and some employees working on the product are being laid off.
Amazon Halo Band
Amazon Halo has released a total of three products since its launch in August 2020. The wearable Halo Band without a screen, the Halo View with a screen, and the Halo Rise, a smart alarm clock with sleep tracking.
All of these products and their associated Halo services will no longer receive support from Amazon as of July 31. Customers that ordered new products or paid for unused subscriptions within the last 12 months can seek refunds, and some employees will be laid off with full separation packages.
Amazon didn't provide specific details as to why the Halo division was shuttered. It called Amazon Halo an "experiment" that will no longer be supported.
A portion of Amazon's statement read as follows:
"Beginning on August 1, 2023, Amazon Halo devices, and the Amazon Halo app, will no longer function. If you want to download or delete your Halo health data, you can do so from the Settings page in the app. If you want to save your scan images to your phone's Camera Roll, open the individual scan image, click the button next to the camera icon, and select 'Save images to phone.' Remaining Halo health data will be deleted after August 1, 2023.
Some viewed the Amazon Halo products as competitors to Fitbit or Apple Watch. However, the wearables lacked many of the functions found in modern wearables, like tap payments, and some of what it tracked was deemed creepy.
The AppleInsider review of the Halo Band reflected its lack of features and invasive tracking. The fact it collected voice data to track mood didn't sit well with us.
Service for Amazon Halo products end on July 31. Make sure to seek out refunds as applicable, or as Amazon offers, recycle products that won't be in use.