[German]On May 31, 2019, Microsoft will turn off all services for the 'Microsoft Band' (fitness tracker) and remove the apps from the stores. Owners will then have a piece of (partially) useless electronic scrap, if they still use the fitness tracker. And after the reset of the tracker it is really dead.
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The Microsoft Fitness tracker 'Microsoft Band' was quite expensive on the one hand, and not really successful on the other. In 2014 there was the Microsoft Band for about 200 US $. The Microsoft Band 2 could be bought in the USA for 249 US $ as of October 30, 2015.
However, I found the price of 249 US $ quite hefty and only followed the discussion on the topic 'on the sidelines'. On Facebook I noticed that people who had imported Volume 2 from the USA to Germany had to exchange it more often because of defects. And also updates have caused trouble. One year after entering the market, Microsoft stopped selling and producing the Microsoft Band 2.
The end comes on May 31, 2019
If you still own a Microsoft Band and have not been plagued by failures or other damage and still use it, you must be prepared that Microsoft will 'pull the plug' soon. Friday evening I already read on The Verge, that Microsoft is shutting down the services required for operation (the Microsoft Health Dashboard) on May 31, 2019. The announcement was made in the form of the KB4467073 article, and users also received a corresponding e-mail indicating the end of the services.
The apps for the Microsoft Band will then be removed from the Microsoft Store, Google Play, and the iTunes Store. Existing users of the Microsoft Band will be able to export their data before the end of May. But all services based on the Microsoft Cloud will stop working in June. At the same time, Microsoft is announcing that it will delete the data stored in the cloud.
But band users should still be able to record daily steps, heart rate and training sessions as well as activity data, sleep monitoring and alarms. However, when a tape user resets a device, Microsoft says it is "impossible to set up the device again.
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Small compensation for some users
Certain band users are entitled to a refund in accordance with the following conditions. Authorized users are:
- Owners of a band covered by a limited warranty (probably only available in the USA,
- Active users, i.e. users who have worn the band on their wrist and performed data synchronization from the band to the Health Dashboard between 1.12.2018 and 1.3.2019.
This clients will receive an email with refund instructions. Reimbursements include the following amounts:
Band 1: $79.99
Band 2: $175
The request for reimbursement must be made by 30.8.2019. However, details are still open.
