Jawbone fitness trackers remained available to buy more than a month after the defunct company’s UP companion app was shut down, consumer watchdog Which says.
The wearable tech company, which went out of business last year, had kept the app running for existing users and continued to sell off inventory.
However, Which found devices like the UP2 fitness tracker had been available to buy on Amazon US and Groupon and Selfridges in the UK – even after the app was disabled earlier this year.
The shutdown left countless Jawbone users without access to their workout history or the ability to record new activity data gleaned from the device. However, folks buying UP devices following the shut down weren’t even able to log a single job on their brand new fitness tracker.
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Which had to inform the retailers in question, who’ve now removed the trackers from sale. Now the company is warning retailers of their responsibility to consumers to ensure the tech products they’re hawking still have viable digital components.
“Retailers have a responsibility to ensure that products listed on websites or sold in stores are fully functional,” said Alex Neill, Which’s managing director of home products and services (via Guardian). “This is especially relevant to products that include a digital component that’s vital to operation, which is typically the case with wearables.
“It’s important for all retailers to ensure that suppliers keep them fully informed of any issues that customers might have and take appropriate steps where necessary to ensure that consumers are not inconvenienced.”
Jawbone Health, a new holding which took over the remaining assets, says the trackers haven’t officially been on sale in the UK for a couple of years now. The company still says it plans to bring the app back online, but hasn’t commented since a pair of May 27 tweets explaining this was part of the transition.
2/2: Please bear with us during this process as you may receive intermittent service disruptions. UP trackers will continue to store data (when charged) and will sync with the service when up and running again. Data on the servers won't be lost. Thanks for your patience!
— Jawbone (@Jawbone) May 28, 2018
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
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We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.