Nokia 'regrets' Withings health app backlash

Nokia Health Mate has a minimalistic feel

Nokia says it is "regrettable" that problems with its Health Mate fitness-tracking app have frustrated users.

Nokia took over health tech firm Withings in 2016 and recently replaced the Withings Health Mate app with a Nokia-branded version.

Health Mate has been downloaded more than one million times from app stores.

But many users have left one-star reviews, saying the new app removed popular features from the Withings version and had technical issues

The company told the BBC an update would "integrate missing features".

Before being taken over by Nokia, Withings made internet-connected health products such as weighing scales and air quality monitors, which provided data for the Health Mate app.

Withings Health Mate let users explore detailed information

"Nokia took over and totally trashed the Withings app in one swoop," one user, Tony, told the BBC.

"The first release of the app was so full of bugs it was incredible. Their new app is appalling and everyone wants the old one back, which we loved.

"They've decimated our investment in quite expensive Withings products."

A set of smart scales currently retails in the UK for £90 ($116 in the US), direct from Nokia.

Negative reviews on app stores claim a number of issues, including:

• Difficulty syncing products with the new app

• Bugs in the app making it difficult to use

• A new "modern" theme that makes the app less user friendly

• The removal of features present in the previous Withings app

"[The] previous app from Withings had long-term charts and much more," wrote one reviewer called Pander.

"This version is a huge degradation in functionality. This is not why I bought this smart scale."

Nokia told the BBC the Withings Health Mate app had been replaced as part of a transition of Withings products "to the Nokia brand".

"Regrettably, a few users faced bugs and syncing issues, others were frustrated to find some features from the previous version were not included," it said.

"We released an update which corrects many of the issues. Very soon we will have another update to integrate the few missing features.

"We will not be satisfied until the final issues have been addressed to deliver the quality user experience consumers have come to expect from Nokia products."