When it was revealed earlier this month that Withings would require new users to subscribe to a Withings Plus subscription to sync heath data from the company’s devices to third-party apps, Tom Anthony, who was already fed up with the Withings mobile app which they describe as a “bloated mess,” became motivated to “free” their scales. Anthony’s solution was to create an open-source project called YourOwnWeigh that reroutes your data away from Withings’ servers so it can be wirelessly synced to other apps and platforms for free.
You can read more about the project on GitHub, where you’ll also find quick-start guides on how to get YourOwnWeigh set up, but it mostly consists of a web app running on a server of your choice. If you don’t already operate your own, Anthony says YourOwnWeigh can run entirely on a free CloudFlare account given how little data it’s moving around.
The YourOwnWeigh web app handles several tasks, including using Bluetooth to update Withings scales with alternate firmware so they upload data to a non-Withings server you’ve configured. Instead of hosting a copy of Withings’ firmware, it’s downloaded and patched as needed. The web app also imports the scale’s current settings and existing user profiles, and downloads the health data generated by regular weigh-ins.
To get that data into Apple Health, Anthony used Apple Shortcuts to create a scheduled automation that pulls the Withings data off the alternate server and imports it into the app, but they’re hoping the community can come up with ways to expand the compatibility to other apps, including Google Health. YourOwnWeigh is also currently limited to just two older models of Withings’ scales. But assuming the firmware on newer models can be patched in a similar manner, expanding the project’s compatibility should be possible.
