Withings smartwatch
Shares rank 17 of 20 smartwatches by recommenders
Praised for month-long battery life and data collection; the most common caveat is paid subscriptions for app features and health data sync.
Praised for month-long battery life and data collection; the most common caveat is paid subscriptions for app features and health data sync.
11 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 6
- criticize it
- 5
- approval share
- 55%
Recommended in 4 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 6 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 1.2 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 4 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Subscription fees for app and data
“Withings smart watches are kind of insane with 30 day battery life, but the subscription farming in the app is infuriating.”
Comment from 5 Jan 2026 in “Pebble Round 2 – The Most Stylish Pebble Ever” “Imagine buying a third party slopwatch and then being told you have to pay $99 to read your own data.”
Comment from 15 Oct 2026 in “New Withings Users Must Pay $99/Year for Apple Health Syncing” “Withings is charge you $100 to send your PHI to Apple. They're profiting off the evil.”
Comment from 16 Oct 2026 in “New Withings Users Must Pay $99/Year for Apple Health Syncing” App locked down, requires data mining
“it was becoming evident from changes to the app that it was getting more and more locked down”
Comment from 16 Oct 2026 in “New Withings Users Must Pay $99/Year for Apple Health Syncing” “you cannot use the latest mobile app versions without agreeing to data mining”
Comment from 6 Jan 2026 in “Pebble Round 2 – The Most Stylish Pebble Ever”
Other smartwatches people recommend
The four most recommended other smartwatches, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apple Watch | 246 | 272 | 47% | 12 | 5 yrs29 owners | — |
| Pebble smartwatch | 117 | 37 | 76% | 12 | 12 yrs4 owners | Approved |
| Pebble Time 2 | 53 | 19 | 74% | 10 | 3 mo4 owners | Approved |
| Google Pixel Watch | 41 | 57 | 42% | 10 | — | — |
| Withings smartwatchThis page | 6 | 5 | 55% | 4 | — | — |
What people said
11 of the 12 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“it was becoming evident from changes to the app that it was getting more and more locked down”
“Withings is charge you $100 to send your PHI to Apple. They're profiting off the evil.”
“I have a Withings watch and this is a good thing.”
“Very very poor customer service”
“Imagine buying a third party slopwatch and then being told you have to pay $99 to read your own data.”
“couldn't get it Bluetooth paired with my phone”
“I'm currently reversing the protocol and it mostly works.”
“it looks analog, the smart is almost hidden away, that's how I like the tech”
“it does collect a lot more (and higher quality) data than Withings for activity”
“you cannot use the latest mobile app versions without agreeing to data mining”
“Withings smart watches are kind of insane with 30 day battery life, but the subscription farming in the app is infuriating.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.