Nike’s self-lacing Adapt BB sneakers are losing their remote control mobile app
Nike’s self-lacing Adapt BB sneakers are losing their remote control mobile app
These $350 smart shoes are getting a little dumber.
If something requires an "app" and a connection to "the cloud" for basic functionality, don't buy it. This sort of abandonment by the manufacturer will always happen. Maybe it will last longer. Maybe it will be next week. But once the company has your money, the last thing they want to do is to spend any of that money providing you with support.
160The funny thing about this is that the first time I had that moment of realization was when I got the Sphero BB-8 toy from my kids for Christmas. It had a dedicated app. The reason it’s funny is because, out of all the things that I own, it’s the only app-driven one that still works. Sphero just merged it into their main app. Once that app stops getting updated, this toy will cease to work despite everything about it being functional. ☹️
28This is why i am for mandatory open sourcing of abandonware. So much stuff just laying wasted that could be hacked.
But allowing you to diy your own toys might make you consume less and thats bad or something.
24That's funny, I have the exact same toy. It was a Father's day gift years ago. It's now an expensive display piece, as the battery no longer seems to hold a charge. And, as best I can tell, the battery is well sealed inside, making replacement impossible. Yet another thing I hate about our disposable culture.
4
I'm laughing my ass off thinking about all the steps required to get these working if you bought them new. downloading an app and pairing your shoes to wifi or some shit. ha
if the internet goes down can you still put on your shoes?! lmao!
4
hearing about shoes that need an app makes me want to stab myself in the testicle.
58Open source the app?
No. Never. That would be literally impossible.
44Permanently Deleted
36Inevitably what happens after 5 years is that someone reports that the app doesn’t work well with a newer version of iOS or Android, and the person that led the engineering on it is gone, because much of your engineering org has turned over after 5 years.
Then a new person jumps into the old project, finds out that it’s had 1 active user last year, then they question why they have to spend a week bug fixing something for one end user.
20As a developer, this is the answer. I can't wait for the day I can finally stop supporting old Amazon Kindle devices.
5
TIL about self-lacing shoes... What a waste of fucking resources. Might as well add some flashing red lights at the back of the soles if you already have batteries in them.
25Honestly if they got the cost down and figured out a better interaction mechanism than an app, I could see it being useful for older or disabled individuals.
For example, imagine someone is 55. They are still with it, and decently active for this age. However they have arthritis in their hands that makes tasks that require dexterity mildly uncomfortable. These kinds of shoes would be a pretty big boon for them in terms of staying active.
The issue is that they tried to make it some cool fashion accessory for Gen Z sneaker heads to buy.
13They have buttons on the shoes too. Still, having a battery for something like this is just wasteful and pointless. People with disabilities have already several unpowered alternatives that work perfectly fine and as mentioned, those things are clearly not designed for that purpose in mind anyway.
4Dude never heard of slipons or Velcro
2You could also just, idk, by Velcro shoes or get lock laces.
Edit: Got downvoted but that's literally what my mother with arthritis uses. Lock laces and a shoe horn. Lock laces are basically the low tech and reliable version of what these app shoes have.
1
We are going to far with technology. If you need an app for your shoes.
19I'd agree, but these are probably good for people with certain disabilities.
0Those people could just as easily buy slip-ons, which serve the same purpose while not requiring an app (or any other form of electronics, for that matter).
7There are shoes that you don't need tho tie that don't need an app and most importantly are not from nike.
1
People who bought these are fucking idiots and they deserve much worse then their stupid fucking smart shoes turning into abandonware.
Maybe we wouldn’t have so much shit in landfills if those idiots didn’t gobble up any piece of trash someone wants to sell them.
16I could see handicapped people being interested in these. Fuck then I guess right.
-5Sure. We totally didn’t have footwear that did not require lacing. Thank god for the tech bro solution. What would the disadvantaged people do if it wasn’t for the free market!
Btw, you really think their app was accessible to handicapped people?
14Why choose these over elastic fabric slip-on shoes?
10Permanently Deleted
7
Someone should make stopkillingshoes.com.
14Allowing these companies to ever sell anything with the "cloud" marketing was a colossal mistake. Not only it was a waste of people's money, but now also e-waste
12In a world where I can slip my shoes on and off without untying them, why would I need shoes that can self-tie?
8Sounds like a job for Flipper Zero.
5Probably overkill and possibly even overly complicated for an MCU.
This probably just requires some good old reverse engineering the original apps bluetooth API and an app to connect to the shoes.
If they're really lucky, it's simple unencrypted packets they can just capture via Wireshark, but I really haven't looked into it any further than this article summary, so I could be wrong.
If if they can work by simple packet replay, that would be the most simple, and definitely doable by the Flipper.
3
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Despite the ongoing popularity of the Back to the Future trilogy that inspired the self-lacing tech found in the HyperAdapt 1.0 and Air Mags, Nike has announced that it’s “no longer creating new versions of Adapt shoes.” Now, the Adapt BB mobile app used to control the $350 third iteration of Nike’s self-lacing sneakers will disappear from Google Play and the iPhone App Store next month.
Without the app, owners can use the physical buttons on the sneakers to power them on and off, check battery status, tighten or loosen the laces, and save a single preset, but there will be no way to adjust the shoe’s lighting.
The power laces on the Nike Adapt BB basketball shoes, which were worn by athletes like Jayson Tatum and Luka Doncic, were adjustable using buttons on the sneakers themselves or over Bluetooth.
Nike’s decision to retire the app is another reminder of the challenges of designing smart apparel.
Most consumers might be used to the idea of upgrading a smartphone every few years, but an electronic pair of shoes or a smart denim jacket can remain in someone’s wardrobe for decades, long after a company stops selling the product.
It’s not entirely surprising when a company chooses to stop paying for the upkeep and continued development of an app for a product it’s no longer making money on, but that doesn’t take the sting out of losing functionality on your five-year-old kicks.
The original article contains 318 words, the summary contains 240 words. Saved 25%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!
2Hahahaha, suckers!
2To be fair, anyone who thought their life needed SaaS supported shoe laces, definitely had this coming.
In terms of cosmic corporate evildoers, Nike may not currently be a top ranked contender, but their definitely an old school hall of fame level player.
So while not saying they were doing the world a favor by dropping cloud shoe lace support, I am saying that the situation is hilarious.
-2