Remember the Microsoft Band? The wrist-worn health tracker was released in 2014 with a disconcerting thud; our editor in chief himself reviewed the unit and warned that “you’ll grow to hate carrying it as an awful lot as I have.” Just two years later, the tech organization abandoned it in the face of fierce opposition from the makers of similar gadgets. Microsoft persevered to help the Band and comply with Band 2 (our EiC’s assessment of that product? It “collapses quickly at the finish line“) via its Health Dashboard apps and offerings, but on Friday, Microsoft announced it’s ultimately pulling the plug on the platform. This approach, that from May 31, 2019, Microsoft will no longer provide support for the Health Dashboard, with all related apps set to depart the Microsoft Store, Google Play, and Apple App Store at the same time. While customers might hold the use of their Microsoft Band device, the internet-related features will now not be available, the organization showed in a message on its website. Band proprietors have until the end of May 2019 to export their fitness facts or switch to another service or wearable.
Refund
Notably, Microsoft said it’d offer a refund to satisfied customers who personal the Band. It consists of the ones whose tool continues to be protected under assurance, or all of us considered as a “lively user” of the device. Microsoft defines this as a person “who has worn the Band on their wrist and completed data sync from the Band to the Health Dashboard between December 1, 2018, and March 1, 2019.” If that’s you, then anticipate receiving an email with refund commands — and make sure to file your claim earlier than August 30, 2019. Owners of the authentic Band, which launched in 2014 for $200, will acquire $80, even as proprietors of the Band 2, which offered for $250, get $a heventy-five.
Microsoft Band
The GPS-enabled Band can remember steps, reveal coronary heart rate, map runs, calculate ultraviolet exposure, and provide sleep records, among other capabilities. It can also send notifications through a smartphone by way of a gentle vibration—the device was released in October 2014 with the improved Band 2 following precisely a year later. But in the fall of 2016, Microsoft announced it had given up on the tracker and had no plans to make any more. The decision came at the same time as the Apple Watch was released, which had health trackers very much in its points of interest, even as competition, including Fitbit, was already taking part in first-rate sales with their services.
