Nokia 'Regrets' Withings Health App Backlash (bbc.com)

Nokia says it is "regrettable" that problems with its Health Mate fitness-tracking app have frustrated users. From a report: Nokia took over health tech firm Withings in 2016 and recently replaced the Withings Health Mate app with a Nokia-branded version. Health Mate has been downloaded more than one million times from app stores. But many users have left one-star reviews, saying the new app removed popular features from the Withings version and had technical issues. The company told the BBC an update would "integrate missing features." Before being taken over by Nokia, Withings made internet-connected health products such as weighing scales and air quality monitors, which provided data for the Health Mate app.

Comments

Why?

[HalAtWork]

Why did they have to reinvent the wheel and not iterate on the already established tech? Loyal users appreciate consistency, and hearing about something like this will make people stop considering the tech in general. Appliances that do something properly, reliably, and consistently will become renowned and gain a favorable image and strong recommendations.

The general populace don't want gadgets and gimmicks, but appliances. Developers need to learn that. The constant UI reworkings, functionality being shuffled in and out, it needs to stop. It's frustrating and stressful. There needs to be a damn good reason and an equally good plan for shepherding users if there are any significant changes to things like this.

Re:Why?

[nine-times]

Yeah... I don't know, I think it's mostly fine in this case. I've been using the app in question for a while. I used the old version. I'm using the new version. The old one had a bunch of problems. The new one has new and different problems. Mostly they do the same things, sort of, except the UI is a little more flat an minimalist in the new version.

Given some of the problems I was having with the old one, I wouldn't be surprised if they took one look at it and thought, "Yeesh. We're going to have to redo some of this from scratch." It was flaky. It crashed a fair amount. Sometimes it wouldn't connect to the devices. Sometimes it would take a long time to connect. So beyond wanting to re-brand and leave their own mark, the app just needed some work.

I'm not saying it couldn't have been handled better, but I don't think it's as big a deal as some are making it out to be, and it does seem like they're working on it.

Re:Why?

[jbmartin6]

An OS exploit is a different thing than an exploit in some app most people ever heard of. All the recent non_petya victims had updating turned on for some Ukrainian software app, that was the initial infection vector. Whomp whomp. Should have had autoupdating turned off.

Re:If you need a "fitness gadget"

[__aaclcg7560]

Fitness gadgets aren't covered under the Republican health plan..