Nokia causes controversy over Withings app rebranding and missing features

At the Mobile World Congress Event Nokia announced that all Withings products would be rebranded to the Nokia label, and on Tuesday it did just that.  Nokia, who bought Withings for an estimated $192 million last year, have completely replaced Withings with Nokia Health, complete with renamed products and a revamped app.

The Withings Health Mate app has been unoriginally renamed Nokia Health Mate.  The updated app is clearly intended to be simplistic, easy on the eye and easy to use, but instead it leaves much to be desired.  The new ‘clean’ design in fact looks empty and incomplete.  It is so spaced out, you spend more time scrolling than actually using it.

 

 

The new app is experiencing some technical difficulties which are not addressed on the app itself but leaves users to find information about it on their website.  The Smart Body Anaylzer (WS-50) for example, previously included air quality measurement, which now appears unavailable, with no explanation given on the app.  Nokia do address this issue on their website, explaining on the ‘What’s new with the app’ post that ‘environment widgets’ will be unavailable for a few days.  They also address it on the device page under ‘frequently asked questions’ explaining:

“We are experiencing issues displaying the Air Quality and Temperature measurements from the Smart Body Analyzer in the Nokia Health Mate app on iOS. The issue has been identified and will be fixed with an app update in the near future. In the meantime, you can track this data on the Health Dashboard using a web browser. We apologize for the inconvenience. ”

Here, they suggest it will be fixed in the near future, not indicating an exactly date.  Nokia do not address these issues in the app itself but instead focus on new features they are introducing.  For example, the Wellness Programme and a new wi-fi connected scale, Nokia Body.

Nokia’s lack of acknowledgement on the app itself about the problems has left many customers in the dark about the apparently missing features.

 

 

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