Nike
The Nike Adapt BB basketball sneaker.
- Some users are reporting that updating the firmware on Nike's new $350 Adapt BB self-lacing smart sneakers with an Android phone is leading to the shoes breaking.
- The right sneaker appears to stop responding after the update.
- The issue does not seem to affect the Apple version of the shoe's companion app.
- The shoes were just released on Sunday.
Some users are reporting issues with Nike's newest self-lacing sneakers.
According to feedback left by several users on Google's Play store, updating Nike's $350 Adapt BB self-lacing smart sneakers with an Android phone is leading to the shoes breaking.
The shoes were released on Sunday, but a firmware update was immediately available for them. Some users said that the shoes worked out of the box, but when they updated the firmware, the shoes refused to pair with the app.
Multiple users said in their reviews that when they attempted to pair the sneakers with the app, the app relayed a message that the sneakers had already been paired, and the left shoe stopped responding completely.
"App will only sync with left shoe and then fail every time," reads one review written by Steve Craig.
Pairing with the Apple version of the companion app and an iPhone does not seem to produce the same issue, some users said in their reviews, but one user told Deadspin it happened to them even on iOS.
Some users reported being able to get their shoes to pair after a hard reset.
A Nike spokesperson did not immediately provide a comment on the issue.
Dennis Green/Business Insider
The Nike Adapt BB comes with a charging mat and a companion app that lets users change the color of the lights and adjust the shoes' tightness, among other functions.
The Adapt BB was released as a more consumer-focused model of Nike's self-lacing sneakers. It has both a lower price and a key use case in mind: basketball.
The shoe's launch seems to have been a success. According to channel checks by Instinet analyst Simeon Siegel, the shoe was almost completely sold out.
"The sneaker retails for $350, and we highlight that since its Sunday 10 a.m. release through late morning on Tuesday, [resale platform] StockX had recorded 1,600 resales for an average price of $469, a testament to the release's popularity and limited availability," Siegel wrote in a note to investors.
"This is [Nike's] more mainstream version of its new self-lacing, smart adaptive footwear technology, and we will be on the lookout for potential future launches that may use such technology in the future."
The good news is that even without being paired to a companion app, the shoes are not technically bricked, since users can still wear the shoes.
The future is now, specifically that Nike didn't QA the *android* version of their Adapt app as thoroughly as their iOS app, and all customers with Android devices now have bricked shoes due to broken firmware update routine. @internetofshit pic.twitter.com/vBgoHUC9Y4
- Jonathan Warner🥑🚇🤖 (@Jaxbot) February 18, 2019