YourOwnWeigh Enables Free Withings Scale Data Syncs

By Tom Whitfield

YourOwnWeigh supports two older Withings scale models today and can send their health data to Apple Health without a Withings Plus subscription. The open-source project gives users a route around a new restriction in Withings’ connected-scale ecosystem.

Earlier this month, Withings revealed that new users would need a Withings Plus subscription to sync health data from its devices to third-party apps. The restriction did not target the scales’ weighing function. It placed a subscription between the hardware and outside software that receives the measurements.

Tom Anthony had become frustrated with the Withings mobile app and described it as a “bloated mess.” The sync charge gave Anthony a reason to “free” their scales. Their response was to create YourOwnWeigh, an open-source application that reroutes scale data away from Withings servers and syncs it wirelessly with other apps and platforms at no subscription cost.

Why does the subscription matter?

Withings scales still produce the measurements, but the company’s new commercial rule determines how new users can move those measurements into services such as Apple Health. YourOwnWeigh addresses the distribution layer rather than the scale itself. It gives a supported device another upload destination and leaves the paid Withings route outside the workflow.

That distinction keeps the engineering work narrow: the project changes the upload path, not the act of weighing. Anthony’s reaction also went beyond price because the developer disliked the mobile application before Withings introduced the subscription requirement. The open-source project therefore responds to both the application’s shortcomings and the new charge.

GitHub hosts the project and its quick-start guides explain setup. Most of the system is a web application that runs on a server chosen by the user; Anthony says users without one can run it entirely on a free Cloudflare account because it moves little data. In practical terms, self-hosting supplies the no-cost alternative.

How does the rerouting work?

YourOwnWeigh handles both device configuration and data retrieval. It uses Bluetooth to update supported Withings scales with alternate firmware. That firmware directs the scales to upload information to a non-Withings server configured by the user rather than Withings’ own servers.

The project does not maintain a separate copy of Withings firmware. Instead, it downloads the manufacturer’s firmware and patches it when needed. The same application imports the scale’s current settings and existing user profiles, then downloads health data that regular weigh-ins generate.

The practical sequence is straightforward: a supported scale receives modified firmware, the device uploads its data to the user-selected server, and the web application collects the result. From there, another tool can pull the records into the destination health service. The mechanism changes the upload destination without changing the scale’s basic job.

What works, and what remains possible?

The confirmed Apple Health path begins with Apple Shortcuts. Anthony created a scheduled automation that pulls Withings data from the alternate server and imports it into Apple Health. That establishes a working route from the scale to the alternate server and then into the destination health service without a Withings Plus subscription for the external sync.

Support remains limited to two older Withings scale models, and the announcement did not identify them by name. The free route works today. Anthony believes developers could patch newer-model firmware in a similar way, but that remains an assumption, not a demonstrated release, and the project has not established compatibility across Withings’ newer scale range.

The community is also seeking broader app support. Anthony hopes contributors can extend the workflow beyond Apple Shortcuts to other apps, including Google Health. For now, the practical reach is two older scales and one documented Apple Health workflow, while wider compatibility remains a possibility for community development.

What does the project change for users?

YourOwnWeigh offers a free path for users who want their Withings data in third-party services, subject to the project’s limits and the availability of a compatible scale model. It does not make the Withings subscription unnecessary for every use of the hardware.

Users can perform external syncing without buying Withings Plus by using either a user-operated server or a free Cloudflare account. The open-source code and setup guides lower the technical barrier, but the project still depends on firmware work for each new model and integrations built by the community.

The immediate commercial value is the working Apple Health route for two older scales. Its larger value depends on whether newer devices and additional destinations can work without a paid service. The next test is whether the community can patch newer scales and add Google Health support.

If that work succeeds, YourOwnWeigh could evolve from a subscription-triggered workaround into a broader free integration layer. The result would compete directly with Withings’ paid route for new-user data sync.