Amazon Halo is shutting down
In 2020, Amazon introduced Amazon Halo, a product that included a wearable device along with a suite of AI-powered health features to help people improve their health and wellness.
Some of the insights users could gain access to with Amazon Halo included body composition, tone of voice analysis, sleep, and activity tracking. The Amazon Halo lineup consisted of two fitness trackers: the simple Amazon Halo and the Amazon Halo View with a touchscreen. In late 2022, Amazon also added the Halo Rise, a contactless sleep tracker and alarm clock.
Amazon Halo also had an insurance angle – at the time of the announcement, Amazon and John Hancock said that the new device, along with a three-year Halo membership, will be made available to Vitality members.
Yesterday, Amazon published a post saying it is winding down Amazon Halo, while refunding customer purchases made in the preceding 12 months. “At Amazon, we think big, experiment, and invest in new ideas like Amazon Halo in our efforts to delight customers. While we are proud of what we built, we recently made the difficult decision to stop supporting Amazon Halo effective July 31, 2023.”
Amazon is laying off some employees as a result of this decision.
“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.” – Dave Limp, Amazon’s hardware chief, in a memo to employees shared by an Amazon spokesperson.