Amazon announced it was shuttering its fitness wearables and would no longer support its Halo devices after July 31. The Halo wristband, which can track heart rate, physical activity and sleep, debuted in August 2020. It also had the capacity to measure body fat and use AI to analyze tone of voice in order to determine stress and emotional wellbeing.
In making the announcement in a company blog post, Amazon said that anyone who purchased a Halo device in the past 12 months would be refunded and subscription charges would be immediately cancelled.
The Halo band bared a resemblance to Whoop’s signature product; Whoop CEO Will Ahmed recounted on LinkedIn that Amazon met with his startup about a possible investment but didn’t, only to launch the Halo in 2020. When Whoop released its 4.0 product in 2021, the company wrote on its circuit board, “Don’t bother copying us. We will win.” In response to the discontinuation of Halo, Whoop is offering a free trial to all current Halo users.
