Spire's Wearable Health Tags Now Available in Apple Retail Stores

[MacRumors]

Spire, a company that makes small Health Tags that are designed to clip on to your clothing, is now selling its products in Apple retail stores.

The Spire Health Tag, available as a single tag for $50, a 3-pack for $129, or an 8-pack for $299, tracks sleep, stress, and activity. It's meant to be an activity tracker that you can forget about, clipping it onto a shirt or pajamas and then not worrying about it again.

It's sold in multiple packs so you can keep one attached to each of the clothing items that you use most often. It's small enough that it can clip into the waistband of a pair of pants or attach to the strap of a sports bra.

The Health Tags can be washed, so you can clip one to a piece of clothing and leave it there permanently if desired, for no-hassle tracking and no device to worry about. Health Tags feature a 1.5-year battery and don't need to be recharged.

Spire Health Tags measure activity, heart rate and heart rate variability, sleep quality, breathing patterns, and stress levels to offer up an overall picture of a person's health.

According to TechCrunch, Apple retail stores will be offering the Spire Health tags in one, three, and eight pack configurations, with stores set to get the new accessories soon. The Spire Health Tags will also be available on Apple's website, but aren't showing up just yet.

Apple also sells Spire's Mindfulness and Activity Tracker, a $130 activity tracker that clips to your clothing and senses respiratory patterns to detect changes in your state of mind.

Article Link: Spire's Wearable Health Tags Now Available in Apple Retail Stores

 

[drumcat]

Forgive me if this looks like e-waste... not seeing the long term play here.

 

[roland.g]

So it’s like a tile except that you wear it? Don’t see it.

 

[jonblatho]

This seems asinine at best compared to other options, and very well suited for those with far more money than they know what to do with.

 

[OldSchoolMacGuy]

Not until the 5th paragraph do they even mention what the purpose of the tags is. Even then it doesn't explain a thing about HOW they do it. Really? Horrid writing.

 

[123]

very well suited for those with far more money than they know what to do with.

and with an environment to spare.

 

[AngerDanger]

Not until the 5th paragraph do they even mention what the purpose of the tags is. Even then it doesn't explain a thing about HOW they do it. Really? Horrid writing.

The very first two sentences:

Spire, a company that makes small Health Tags that are designed to clip on to your clothing…

The Spire Health Tag, available as a single tag for $50, a 3-pack for $129, or an 8-pack for $299, tracks sleep, stress, and activity.

Spire's site itself only refers to "proprietary sensors," so it's not like the author had a wealth of info. The writing isn't horrid; your reading compression faltered.

 

[riverfreak]

This seems asinine at best compared to other options, and very well suited for those with far more money than they know what to do with.

Really? Asinine?

I’m not a fan of this per se, but a transmitting/recording tag that can be permanently attached to clothing? It’s not that hard to see the utility of this. And what happens when the form factor gets smaller and with greater features?

People claimed the 5GB iPod was also asinine. Those people are still trying to get their Archos to work.

 

[Focusx0131]

You don’t have to recharge it but the battery only lasts 18 months? Seems like a pricey product to just end up throwing away next year.

 

[Arran]

You don’t have to recharge it but the battery only lasts 18 months? Seems like a pricey product to just end up throwing away next year.

A $400 Apple watch works on the same principle. Okay, you'll get about 36 months out of the watch, but that still works out at:

Tag: $50/18 = $3 per month
Watch: $400/36 = $11 per month​

Not bad. I think these will be popular with folks who want to keep wearing their expensive mechanical watches but also want to benefit from health tracking.

Switzerland can be a little less worried.

 

[boston04and07]

This actually sounds like a cool way to track sleep while my Apple Watch is charging. Does anyone know if it integrates with the Health app? Guessing it does if it’s being sold by Apple...)

 

[Rafamrqs1]

This actually sounds like a cool way to track sleep while my Apple Watch is charging. Does anyone know if it integrates with the Health app? Guessing it does if it’s being sold by Apple...)

I was wondering about that too

 

[jtara]

I wear (wore - the face finally popped-off) my Apple v1 watch only when I leave the house. (I've ordered a V4, I won't have it for a while, because I chose the Nike, just for the band). And not even every time I leave. I especially don't like wearing the watch, because I find the band a bit uncomfortable, and especially so while I am coding.

So, my Apple Watch is useless as an overall activity tracker. I have occasionally used it during sports activities.

I think this tag is a great idea for those of us who don't wear the watch full time, and the price is quite reasonable.

Buying one for every pair of underwear is a stretch, though! I don't know why you would need an "n-pack" unless buying for the whole family.

I hope they have a good algorithm for washing-machine detection, so that they don't inadvertently give you credit for all that tumbling.

 

[smirking]

Not until the 5th paragraph do they even mention what the purpose of the tags is. Even then it doesn't explain a thing about HOW they do it. Really? Horrid writing.

It says it’s an activity tracker in the second paragraph. Seemed perfectly understandable to me.
[doublepost=1537326624][/doublepost]

This actually sounds like a cool way to track sleep while my Apple Watch is charging. Does anyone know if it integrates with the Health app? Guessing it does if it’s being sold by Apple...)

If it’s a good sleep tracker that pairs well with an Apple Watch, I might be able to get an Apple Watch. The key thing keeping me away is battery life making sleep tracking impractical.

 

[jonblatho]

I’m not a fan of this per se, but a transmitting/recording tag that can be permanently attached to clothing?

Permanently attached to clothing and dies in 1.5 years so you presumably have to buy more at their exorbitant pricing?

EDIT: Okay, I did a little further research. You can pay $10/mo to have it replaced for free when it dies. So, nonsense.

 

[riverfreak]

Permanently attached to clothing and dies in 1.5 years so you presumably have to buy more at their exorbitant pricing?

EDIT: Okay, I did a little further research. You can pay $10/mo to have it replaced for free when it dies. So, nonsense.

No worries. Their market isn’t consumer cheap charlies or uni students.

It’s the medical sector and quants looking for a more seamless monitoring facility. Toodles.

 

[webdriverguy00]

A $400 Apple watch works on the same principle. Okay, you'll get about 36 months out of the watch, but that still works out at:

Tag: $50/18 = $3 per month
Watch: $400/36 = $11 per month​

Not bad. I think these will be popular with folks who want to keep wearing their expensive mechanical watches but also want to benefit from health tracking.

Switzerland can be a little less worried.

You only get 36 months out of the watch? Really?

 

[Graphikos]

Overall I like the concept of these. Moar data!

This actually sounds like a cool way to track sleep while my Apple Watch is charging. Does anyone know if it integrates with the Health app? Guessing it does if it’s being sold by Apple...)

Quick research doesn't bring up much. I'd guess, no, it doesn't. They should fix that.

Buying one for every pair of underwear is a stretch, though! I don't know why you would need an "n-pack" unless buying for the whole family.

Personally, I'd rather just get one and move it from garment to garment. Less convenient but yea... I don't want 20 of these things. They also mention that you can't buy a pack and split it between different devices. The greed is real.

 

[macduke]

You only get 36 months out of the watch? Really?

Oh boy let me tell you they are right! I have a 42mm SS Series 0 that is a few months past that and it is definitely expired. I have it dialed back in nearly every regard in settings so it barely sends me any notifications and even though I didn’t have an exercise today it died at 6 pm after taking it off the charger around 8 am. When it’s cooler outside I’ll go around the track 5-6 times during lunch and log it and that kills it in the afternoon. It didn’t get the watchOS 5 update either, and that’s probably a good thing because it’s so freaking slow to do anything. My Series 4 cannot get here soon enough! Hopefully in the future they will last longer like iPhone is starting to but so far I have the only Apple Watch series that can be past 36 months old and it’s barely limping along.

 

[riverfreak]

Oh boy let me tell you they are right! I have a 42mm SS Series 0 that is a few months past that and it is definitely expired. I have it dialed back in nearly every regard in settings so it barely sends me any notifications and even though I didn’t have an exercise today it died at 6 pm after taking it off the charger around 8 am. When it’s cooler outside I’ll go around the track 5-6 times during lunch and log it and that kills it in the afternoon. It didn’t get the watchOS 5 update either, and that’s probably a good thing because it’s so freaking slow to do anything. My Series 4 cannot get here soon enough! Hopefully in the future they will last longer like iPhone is starting to but so far I have the only Apple Watch series that can be past 36 months old and it’s barely limping along.

The series 0 was expired the day it was released. Nothing to do with it’s battery per se. Battery life is concomitant with so many other things that factor into true useability.

Series 3 when an LTE device with a processor that enabled useable response times coupled with Watch OS 4 was when the watch was born. Series 4/OS 5 was when it spoke its first words. Series whatever when it can do glucose monitoring is when it will take its first steps.

 

[macduke]

The series 0 was expired the day it was released. Nothing to do with it’s battery per se. Battery life is concomitant with so many other things that factor into true useability.

Series 3 when an LTE device with a processor that enabled useable response times coupled with Watch OS 4 was when the watch was born. Series 4/OS 5 was when it spoke its first words. Series whatever when it can do glucose monitoring is when it will take its first steps.

Series whatever when it becomes an always on wearable tricorder that can warn me months before I have a heart attack is when it evolves into a dragon man and burninates the countryside.

 

[IJ Reilly]

Not until the 5th paragraph do they even mention what the purpose of the tags is. Even then it doesn't explain a thing about HOW they do it. Really? Horrid writing.

A pretty typical MR article, it is little more than a light rewrite of one from another source, which in turn reads like a barely reprocessed press release. In reality we don't find out anything about this product beyond the manufacturer's claims. The TechCrunch source article includes the language "according to the company," so at least it comes off a little less like a sales pitch for the product.

 

[SoGood]

Questionable efficacy and value. Waste of money.

 

[coolfactor]

Storms are ravaging our cities due to weather change, and consumers still support companies that design and sell disposable, Earth-polluting products like this?

Health Tags feature a 1.5-year battery and don't need to be recharged.

Sorry, but that's just outright irresponsible! They'll never get my money!

 

[Arran]

You only get 36 months out of the watch? Really?

More or less.

It's not a criticism of the watch. Just the way it is. After about 2.5 years the battery on my series 0 wouldn't last a full day. Battery replacement is $79 which is roughly what you'd get for the old watch if you tried to sell it.

So, yeah, it's kind-of shot at 3 years.