Withings now charges new users for Apple Health sync

If you set up a Withings smart scale or hybrid smartwatch today, getting your data into Apple Health or Google Health Connect automatically is no longer free. Withings support staff confirmed in the company’s community forum that accounts created on or after 13 October 2026 need a Withings+ subscription to use automatic third-party sync, The Verge reports.

The facts

• Price: Withings+ costs $9.95 a month or $99.50 a year.
• Trial: new devices include a one-month free trial that covers third-party sync. When it ends, syncing pauses, but data already in Apple Health or Health Connect isn’t deleted.
• Existing users: accounts created on or before 12 October 2026 keep free automatic sync. The exemption is tied to the account, not the device, so buying new Withings hardware later doesn’t trigger the paywall.
• Free options remain: Android Authority notes that all users can still see their data in the Withings app and export their history manually as CSV or PDF.

Our take

A smart scale’s whole point is to feed a bigger picture: weight next to workouts, sleep and heart-rate data from other devices. For many buyers, that bigger picture lives in Apple Health or Health Connect, not in the scale maker’s app. Charging new customers roughly $100 a year to keep that link open makes the hardware price misleading. Two people can buy the same scale on the same day and get different features depending on when their account was created.

Withings deserves some credit for protecting existing owners and for leaving manual export free. But manual CSV exports are no substitute for a daily automatic sync. Subscriptions are easier to justify when they add something new, such as coaching or analysis, than when they lock away a basic connection.

If you’re shopping now: add the subscription to the price when comparing scales and wearables, and check which apps each one syncs to for free. If you already have a Withings account, keep it rather than creating a new one when you add a device.

For more on choosing connected-home gear that won’t lock you in, read our explainer on Matter and Thread. For a recent wearable launch, see Google’s Fitbit Edge.