Free tool lets Withings scale owners send their data anywhere

A free project now lets owners of certain Withings scales sync their data to other apps without a subscription. It is called YourOwnWeigh. It arrived after Withings said new users must pay for Withings Plus to send health data from its devices to third-party apps.

How it works

Developer Tom Anthony, who called the Withings mobile app a "bloated mess," built the tool. It is a web app that runs on a server you choose. If you do not have one, it can run on a free Cloudflare account, because it moves so little data.

The web app uses Bluetooth to load alternate firmware onto the scale. Firmware is the scale's built-in software. The new version sends data to a server you set up, not to Withings. The tool downloads and patches the Withings firmware as needed, so it does not host a copy. It also imports the scale's settings and user profiles, and pulls down your weigh-in data.

For Apple Health, Anthony built a scheduled Apple Shortcuts automation. It collects the data from your server and imports it.

Limits and unknowns

• It works with only two older Withings scale models right now.
• Anthony hopes the community can add other apps, including Google Health.
• Newer scales might be supported if their firmware can be patched the same way.

The report does not name the two supported models, so check the project's GitHub page before trying it. It also does not say how Withings views the tool.