Amazon is pulling the plug on its Halo wearable fitness device and bedside sleep tracker, discontinuing the accompanying subscription service, and laying off an unspecified number of people from the team behind the products.
The surprise announcement Wednesday afternoon is part of a broader wave of cutbacks at the company that started late last year. The company today also started notifying employees impacted by its latest round of job cuts in Amazon Web Services, HR, Twitch and Amazon Advertising.
The decision comes less than three years after Amazon released the Halo service and original Halo Band, which made headlines as much for testing the limits of personal privacy as for its underlying features.
“We recently made the very difficult decision to stop supporting Amazon Halo effective July 31, 2023,” Amazon said on its website. “We are incredibly proud of the invention and hard work that went into building Halo on behalf of our customers, and our priorities are taking care of our customers and supporting our employees.”
In a message that Amazon plans to send to customers, the company promises to fully refund purchases made in the past 12 months for Halo View and Halo Band wearable devices, accessories, and the Halo Rise bedside device.
The company also promised to refund any unused, prepaid Halo subscription fees. The subscription was $3.99/month, but those who bought the original Halo Band or the Halo Rise received a six-month subscription for free, and those who bought the follow-up Halo View received a year-long subscription for free.
The original Halo Band and app, unveiled in August 2020, included optional features that used 3D body modeling to estimate body fat, and listened to a user’s conversations to provide feedback on tone of voice.
Those features drew widespread scrutiny despite Amazon’s assurances that it was taking significant precautions to protect personal privacy. The Washington Post wrote at the time that Halo “collects the most intimate information we’ve seen from a consumer health gadget — and makes the absolute least use of it.”
Amazon’s announcement Wednesday encouraged users to recycle their Halo devices through the Amazon Recycling Program, through which the company covers the costs of shipping and recycling.
An earlier round of Amazon layoffs impacted some other parts of Amazon’s Devices & Services division. Here is an internal message sent to employees today from Dave Limp, Amazon’s senior vice president of Devices & Services, as provided to GeekWire by Amazon:
Folks,
As some of you may be aware, today we announced that we are winding down the Halo program effective July 31, 2023.
In 2017, we envisioned building a new service and products dedicated to helping customers improve their individual health and wellness. Over the past few years, the team has invented tirelessly for customers, leading to features like Body, Tone, and Movement Health, as well as new, differentiated hardware.
The opportunity to invent on behalf of customers is why many employees join Amazon. I am so proud of the invention and hard work that went into building Halo, but after evaluating our current investments, our long-term goals, and in light of the current macroeconomic climate, we had to make a difficult decision. It was not taken lightly, believe me—and we recognize we are losing valued team members as a result.
We notified impacted employees in the U.S. and Canada today. In other regions, we are following local processes, which may include time for consultation with employee representative bodies and possibly result in longer timelines to communicate with impacted employees. We are supporting those we have to let go, and are providing packages that include a separation payment, transitional health insurance benefits, and external job placement support. I want to acknowledge and thank our impacted colleagues for the work they have done on behalf of our customers.
I know today’s news may lead to questions about our broader Devices business, so I want to be clear—I remain incredibly optimistic about our business and I am inspired every day by the great work you deliver for customers. Please do not hesitate to reach out to me or your manager if you have any questions.
Dave
