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Update => As of July 31, 2023, Amazon will be discontinuing support of its Halo products. Owners of Amazon Halo products and subscribers to Halo fitness services will receive refunds.
Learn more about Amazon’s decision at: Our decision to wind down Amazon Halo
Amazon, the company that popularized ereaders with the Kindle and digital assistants with Alexa, is entering the world of fitness trackers with a new product called Halo Band. Unlike many other fitness trackers, Halo Band measures your well-being beyond your activity.
Halo Band is a more of a wellness tracker, measuring the intensity of your activity, your sleep, and even your mood. Amazon has partnered with third-party businesses to analyze the data from your Halo Band further so you can learn more about your health and well-being, if you link your accounts.
This expansion into health and fitness with the Halo Band and the accompanying Halo app is new territory for Amazon. In announcing the Halo Band, Dr. Maulik Majmudar, Principal Medical Officer, Amazon Halo said:
Despite the rise in digital health services and devices over the last decade, we have not seen a corresponding improvement in population health in the U.S. We are using Amazon’s deep expertise in artificial intelligence and machine learning to offer customers a new way to discover, adopt, and maintain personalized wellness habits. Health is much more than just the number of steps you take in a day or how many hours you sleep. Amazon Halo combines the latest medical science, highly accurate data via the Halo Band sensors, and cutting-edge artificial intelligence to offer a more comprehensive approach to improving your health and wellness.”
About Halo Band
Halo Band is different from other fitness trackers in that it doesn’t have a screen. The band is designed to measure data throughout the day and night. Information about your health and fitness is available in the Halo app on your phone.
Because it doesn’t have a screen, Halo Band has a battery that can last up to seven days before it needs charging. No need to charge it daily, so you can wear it nightly to measure the quality of your sleep. According to Amazon, Halo Band can be fully charged in 90 minutes.
Halo Band is water-resistant up to 50m, so you can wear it swimming and in the shower. The band comes with a fabric band but you can change it to a band of a different material such as silicone.
Halo Band has a microphone that can listen to the sound of your voice to gauge your mood (more on that below); a sensor to measure your temperature, activity level, and body fat percentage; a heart rate monitor; and an accelerometer. 
What Halo Band Measures
Amazon’s Halo Band measures more aspects of your health than just activity. The Band measures:
- Intensity of fitness
- Sleep quality
- Mood
- Body Fat Percentage
The Halo app then analyzes the data collected by the Band and suggests changes for a healthier lifestyle.
Check out the Amazon video that shows how Halo Band measures different aspects of your well-being and makes suggestions for improving your health: Amazon Halo Band video.
Intensity of Fitness
Using its heart rate monitor and accelerometer, the Halo Band can keep track of the intensity of your workout. Instead of just measuring the number of steps you take, Halo Band can detect whether you are walking, running, climbing stairs, or having an intense workout session.
Halo sets a baseline workout goal of 150 activity points which you earn by, you guessed it, being active. You gain more activity points from running than from walking, and you can lose points if you’re sedentary more than eight hours in a day, not including sleeping.
Sleep Quality
Halo Band measures your heart rate, body temperature, and movement while you sleep to analyze the quality of your sleep each night. When you wake in the morning, you can see in the Halo app how much time you spent in each phase of sleep, including deep, light, and REM. You can also see your skin temperature while you were sleeping.
The Halo app rates your sleep each night out of a score of 100 and can make suggestions on how to improve the quality of your sleep.
Mood
To analyze your mood, Halo uses a new tool called Tone which, according to Amazon, uses “pitch, intensity, tempo, and rhythm to predict how others would perceive and describe the customer’s tone of voice, which creates a summary you can see and use to identify trends within your life.” The microphone on the Halo Band records the sound of your voice then Tone uses that data to let you know your mood and how you may sound to others.
Tone can help you identify when you’re stressed, angry, or happy. Tone’s voice analysis can help you prepare for a speech or meeting, by learning how your tone may come across to others.
Body Fat Percentage
In its Halo announcement, Amazon explained that a better indicator of fitness than weight or body mass index (BMI) is body fat percentage and that Halo can help users learn their body fat percentage. “Using new innovations in computer vision and machine learning, Amazon Halo lets customers measure their body fat percentage from the comfort and privacy of their own home, making this important information easily accessible. ”
The company says that Halo’s measurement of body fat percentage is twice as accurate as that of a smart scale and as accurate as measurements taken in doctors’ offices.
Users can also take photos of themselves in the Halo app, and view a body scan image of themselves to track their progress over time.
Halo Third-Party Partners
Amazon is working with other companies to give Halo users a deeper dive into their wellness data. Halo users can link their accounts to learn more information from companies such as 8fit, Aaptiv, American Heart Association, Exhale On Demand, Harvard Health Publishing, Headspace, Julian Treasure, Lifesum, Mayo Clinic, Openfit, Orangetheory Fitness, P.volve, Russell Wilson, Relax Melodies, SWEAT, and WW (formerly Weight Watchers).
Get suggestions from these Halo partners for ways to make changes to improve your health and well-being.
Halo Subscription
To use the Halo Band, you must have an active subscription to Halo through Amazon. Initially, the price of the subscription is $64.99 for the first six months, which includes the cost of the Halo Band. After that, the Halo subscription renews for $3.99 per month.
The $64.99 price is available only during Early Access (see the Halo Band Availability section below), after which the price increases to $99.99.
Halo Band Availability
Halo Band will be available for purchase from Amazon in the future. The Halo app will be available for Android and iPhone.
Colors for Halo Band at launch will include Black and Onyx, Blush and Rose Gold, and Winter and Silver. Accessories include silicone bands in different colors.
For now, you can apply for Early Access to Halo by clicking on a link on the Halo Amazon product information page, then completing a survey about your interest in fitness trackers.
Amazon has not yet announced when the Halo Band will be available, either through Early Access or sale to the general public, though the product information page says Halo Band will be released in 2020. Early Access to the Halo Band will be offered in the U.S. only, according to Amazon.
Privacy
With all of the data that Halo Band is collecting, users may be concerned about privacy. Amazon has stated:
Privacy is foundational to Amazon Halo, and multiple layers of privacy and security are built into the service to keep data safe and in customers’ control. Health data is encrypted in transit and in the cloud, and customers can download or delete their data at any time directly from the app. Body scan images are automatically deleted from the cloud after processing, so only the customer sees them. Tone is enabled by creating a personal voice profile, after which it begins capturing short samples of speech and providing insights and daily recaps. Speech samples are always analyzed locally on the customer’s phone and automatically deleted after processing—nobody, not even the customer, ever hears them.“
You can turn off Halo Band’s microphone if and when you do not want your voice recorded.
Learn more about Amazon’s privacy policy at the Halo Privacy page.
Your Thoughts
Do you like the idea of the Halo Band tracking your fitness and well-being? Which of the Halo Band features are of most interest to you? Will you be applying for Early Access to the Halo Band?
Share your thoughts in the Comments section below!
I wondered when Amazon would be releasing something! I’m using a fitbit right now and always wondered when something would come out that covers even more out there. I got mine to track sleep and heart rate, but find it’s not enough. The ones I need are super expensive, ut I think this might be one for me to look into.
Hi Sam, Yes, Halo Band will be a competitor to FitBit with all of the health and well-being information Halo provides. The subscription fee for Halo may be an obstacle for some people, but if Halo works well to help people become more fit and healthy, the price of the subscription would be a wise investment.
I’m not sure how I missed this announcement but thanks for filling me in! I am a big fan of Amazon’s tech range (we have 4 Kindles and 2 Echos in our house) so it sounds like this is likely to be my next investment. Can’t wait for it to launch!
Hi Nicola, You sound very excited by Amazon’s Halo Band. You can apply for Early Access so you have a chance to be one of the first to own one.
To be honest, I’m starting to get a bit scared by Amazon.. I have the feeling that they will get the monopoly of the market..
Hi Oferte, You’re not alone. Many people are concerned about the retail power Amazon has gained. But Halo certainly has competition from plenty of other fitness trackers. If Amazon is able to dominate the fitness tracker market in spite of being a late entrant, then that would speak well for the effectiveness of the Halo Band.
This is really cool! We use Amazon/Alexa for everything! I definitely need to get in better shape…so this is awesome!
Hi Sue, Yes, if you’re a fan of fitness and Alexa, the Halo Band is an exciting new product for you. It couldn’t hurt to sign up for Early Acess, there’s no obligation to get a Halo Band if you change your mind.
Can we order it now?
Hi Monica, The Halo Band is only available via Amazon’s Early Access program. You can request an invitation to buy the Halo from Amazon through the link in this article.