Here we go again. The idea that, at least in the realm of digital goods or IoT devices, we no longer own what we’ve bought has been a long-running theme here at Techdirt. While the practice of pulling back features available upon purchase via firmware updates has been a regular occurrence in the video game console space, it’s also reared its ugly, anti-consumer head in the realm of everything from smart home devices, emotional support robots (yes, seriously), and even exercise equipment.
It seems like a simple concept that everyone should be able to agree to: if I buy a product from you that does x, y, and z, you don’t get to remove x, y, or z remotely after I’ve made that purchase. How we’ve gotten to a place where companies can simply remove, or paywall, product features without recourse for the customer they essentially bait and switched is beyond me.
But it keeps happening. The most recent example of this is with Echelon exercise bikes. Those bikes previously shipped to paying customers with all kinds of features for ride metrics and connections to third-party apps and services without anything further needed from the user. That all changed recently when a firmware update suddenly forced an internet connection and a subscription to a paid app to make any of that work.
As explained in a Tuesday blog post by Roberto Viola, who develops the “QZ (qdomyos-zwift)” app that connects Echelon machines to third-party fitness platforms, like Peloton, Strava, and Apple HealthKit, the firmware update forces Echelon machines to connect to Echelon’s servers in order to work properly. A user online reported that as a result of updating his machine, it is no longer syncing with apps like QZ, and he is unable to view his machine’s exercise metrics in the Echelon app without an Internet connection.
Affected Echelon machines reportedly only have full functionality, including the ability to share real-time metrics, if a user has the Echelon app active and if the machine is able to reach Echelon’s servers.
Want to know how fast you’re going on the bike you’re sitting upon? That requires an internet connection. Want to get a sense of how you performed on your ride on the bike? That requires an internet connection. And if Echelon were to go out of business? Then your bike just no longer works beyond the basic function of pedaling it.
And the ability to use third-party apps is reportedly just, well, gone.
For some owners of Echelon equipment, QZ, which is currently rated as the No. 9 sports app on Apple’s App Store, has been central to their workouts. QZ connects the equipment to platforms like Zwift, which shows people virtual, scenic worlds while they’re exercising. It has also enabled new features for some machines, like automatic resistance adjustments. Because of this, Viola argued in his blog that QZ has “helped companies grow.”
“A large reason I got the [E]chelon was because of your app and I have put thousands of miles on the bike since 2021,” a Reddit user told the developer on the social media platform on Wednesday.
Instead of happily accepting that someone out there is making its product more attractive and valuable, Echelon is instead going for some combination of overt control and the desire for customer data. Data which will be used, of course, for marketing purposes.
There’s also value in customer data. Getting more customers to exercise with its app means Echelon may gather more data for things like feature development and marketing.
What you won’t hear anywhere, at least that I can find, is any discussion of the ability to return or get refunds for customers who bought these bikes when they did things that they no longer will do after the fact. That’s about as clear a bait and switch type of a scenario as you’re likely to find.
Unfortunately, with the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection being run by just another Federalist Society imp, it’s unlikely that anything material will be done to stop this sort of thing.