Mobvoi Is The Latest Smartwatch Maker To Jump On The Subscription Bandwagon

Mobvoi is the latest apparel company to charge users for "premium" features.

Something that will surely upset consumers. Add monthly fees where there weren't any before. Mobvoi, known for making affordable Wear OS smartwatches, is the latest company to join subscriptions. The company will start rolling out new sleep features for its TicWatch line this week, but if you want them all, it'll cost you $4.99 a month.

In a tweet, Mobvoi announced that the new features will include sleep aid songs, AI sleep insights like sleep cycle reminders, historical sleep data, and more sleep-related metrics. such as maximum and minimum heart rate and SpO2. Among these new features, detailed data such as SpO2, minimum/maximum heart rate and sleep trends will be available only to subscribers. Members also have 50 backing tracks to choose from, with 12 available to non-members. A small caveat is that all advanced sleep features are only available on TicWatches running the Mobvoi app. If you have a TicWatch but use a different app for your fitness and health tracking needs, things get confusing.

Mobvoi is currently offering its "VIP Service" at a reduced price of $2.99 per month if users sign up before December 31st. The TicWatch GTH 2 will also have a six-month free trial. But even at this price you don't get your money's worth.

This isn't the first time a wearables company has taken subscriptions. Fitbit did this with Fitbit Premium, introducing an annual fee for deeper sleep and health metrics after a $10 monthly fee or $80. Oura's Ring angered consumers last year when it introduced a $6 monthly subscription for free data after device purchases. Meanwhile, Hoop 4.0 offers "free" hardware and charges a $30 monthly fee to access its data insights.

Subscription fatigue is real, but there are at least a few reasons why this is an increasingly common trend. A one-time hardware sale is no longer enough to keep the lights on. This is especially true for companies with ambitious plans for advanced healthcare capabilities. While healthcare features don't require regulatory approval, those with diagnostic features like EKG and atrial fibrillation detection do. As the line between medical devices and consumer devices blurs, companies will be more likely to struggle with regulators. The bottom line for apparel manufacturers is that FDA approval is an expensive upfront investment and the money has to come from somewhere.

Mobvoi isn't as well known for its innovative health features as Fitbit, Apple, and Samsung. But earlier this year the TicWatch GTH Pro was announced, which Mobvoi says can measure your long-term blood health. It's the kind of functionality that bridges the gap between healthcare and medical applications.

However, from a consumer perspective, Mobvoi's decision to test subscriptions may seem like a slap in the face. First of all, the company hasn't delved into its Wear OS 3 strategy for a while. Last year, Google said 4,100 smartwatches, including the TicWatch, could be updated to Wear OS 3 by the end of 2022. That deadline is fast approaching, and Mobvoi hasn't said a word about when users can expect the update.

Meanwhile, Fossil began upgrading work as early as October. Mobvoi also announced that it will release a new TicWatch this fall, powered by Qualcomm's new Snapdragon W5 Plus chip. It's December and... cricket. Starting a subscription after months of radio silence isn't exactly what you'd expect consumers to be excited about. And if Mobvoi's tweets are any indication, they're not.