Amazon takes on Apple with fitness and nutrition services for Halo devices

Amazon is pairing its new Halo View activity tracker with services to match. The company has introduced Halo Fitness and Halo Nutrition features that promise to keep you in shape. You'll need to subscribe to the $80 yearly Halo membership to make use of them, but Amazon is clearly betting the Halo bands' customers will treat the outlay as an investment.

Halo Fitness is a not-so-subtle alternative to Apple Fitness+ and similar services. The feature promises "hundreds" of professional workouts, including familiar cardio, strength and yoga sessions as well as basic mobility classes. Like Apple's service, you'll see stats from your wearables (both the Halo Band and Halo View) on-screen to keep your focus on the workout.

Halo Nutrition, meanwhile, aims at the many nutrition apps on the market. It promises personalized recipe discoveries and meal planning, including "pre-curated" menus for vegans, keto fans and others with specific dietary needs. Not surprisingly, you can add ingredients to your Alexa shopping list if you discover a recipe you like.

Halo Fitness will be available through the core Halo app later in 2021. You'll have to wait until January 2022 to try Halo Nutrition. You'll get a year's worth of the Halo subscription service if you buy a Halo View, so it won't cost much to try beyond purchasing the hardware. The question is whether or not you want to commit that deeply to Amazon's wearable vision.

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