Consumer Rights Wiki

Whistle pet tracker shutdown IoT fail

Revision as of 17:32, 12 August 2025 by Louis (talk | contribs) (made an article on whistle and tractive)

Whistle pet trackers will cease functioning on August 31, 2025, following Tractive's acquisition of the company from Mars Petcare.

Background

Whistle Labs was founded in 2012 as a developer of GPS enabled pet tracking & health monitoring devices.[1] The company marketed its products as "Fitbit for dogs," offering activity tracking, GPS location services, & health monitoring ability.[2]

Mars Petcare, a subsidiary of Mars Inc., acquired Whistle in April 2016 for approximately $117 million.[3] Under Mars ownership, Whistle expanded its product line to include models such as the GO, GO Explore, Switch, FIT, & Health trackers, with retail prices ranging from $100 to $199.[4]

Tractive, an Austrian company founded in 2012, operates as a competitor in the pet GPS tracking market, offering similar location and health monitoring services across 175 countries.[5]

Acquisition and shutdown announcement

On July 28, 2025, Tractive announced its acquisition of Whistle from Mars Petcare.[6] Financial terms were not disclosed, though a webpage article that seems AI generated values the deal in the "tens of millions."[7] Take this with a shaker of salt.

Alongside the acquisition announcement, Tractive said that all Whistle devices would permanently stop working on August 31, 2025, giving users 33 days notice.[8] The shutdown affects all Whistle product models and will result in:

  • Complete loss of GPS tracking functionality
  • Inability to access the Whistle mobile application
  • Permanent loss of all historical pet health and activity data
  • Obsolescence of all Whistle hardware accessories and chargers

Users have been informed that pet health data collected over years "will not be transferred to the replacement Tractive devices" due to what the company describes as "different algorithms that would not be compatible with Tractive's systems."[9]

Tractive's response

Tractive has offered a replacement program providing free GPS tracker devices to affected Whistle customers. The program includes:[10]

  • One free Tractive GPS tracker (valued at $49.99-$99.00) per Whistle device
  • Transfer of remaining subscription time to Tractive service
  • Two months free service for non-subscribers who purchase a new plan
  • Deadline of September 30, 2025, to claim replacements

The company justified the shutdown by stating that "maintaining and developing two separate ecosystems—devices, apps, and software—doubles the complexity and could limit the quality of service and innovation."[11]

Tractive CEO Michael Hurnaus characterized the acquisition as enabling the company to "deliver new features and improvements faster, more reliably, and with greater impact for all users—including former Whistle customers."[12]

Lawsuit

As of August 2025, no formal litigation has been filed regarding the Whistle shutdown. Legal experts have identified potential claims under the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act and state consumer protection statutes, though Tractive's free replacement program may affect damage calculations.[13]

The situation shares characteristics with the 2016 Nest/Revolv case, where the Federal Trade Commission reviewed but ultimately took no action after Google provided refunds for bricked smart home hubs.[14]

Consumer response

Consumer reactions have been documented across multiple platforms:

  • Trustpilot reviews for Whistle average 2.4 out of 5 stars across 2,579 reviews, with recent complaints focusing on the shutdown announcement. [15] Reviews of the company & the product were consistently poor prior to the shutdown announcement.
  • Better Business Bureau records show patterns of complaints regarding subscription issues and warranty concerns[16]
  • Reddit users have expressed frustration about losing years of pet health data when it comes to animals with medical conditions that require long-term monitoring[17]

One user stated that the loss of behavioral monitoring features was "very handy, so to lose that sucks" when describing how they used the device to track their dog's seasonal allergies.[18]

Technology publication Engadget noted that "thousands of GPS trackers and monitors will morph into e-waste in about a month."[19]

Sadness

The Whistle shutdown contributes to what the US PIRG Education Fund describes as an "Electronic Waste Graveyard" of over 100 tech products that have stopped working after manufacturers dropped support.[20] The organization estimates that expired software and canceled cloud services have created "a minimum of 130 million pounds of electronic waste" since 2014.[21]

Similar incidents include:

  • Google's Nest bricking Revolv smart home hubs in 2016[22]
  • Wink's 2020 demand for mandatory subscriptions with one week notice[23]
  • Best Buy's shutdown of Insignia smart home products in 2019[24]

References

  1. ↑ "Whistle (company)". Wikipedia. Retrieved 2025-08-12.
  2. ↑ "Whistle's 'Fitbit for dogs' acquired by Mars Petcare". TechCrunch. 2016-03-31. Retrieved 2025-08-12.
  3. ↑ "Pet Food Maker Mars Spends $117 Million to Acquire Whistle's 'Fitbit for Dogs'". Bloomberg. 2016-04-01. Retrieved 2025-08-12.
  4. ↑ "Whistle Pet Tracker 2024: Products Description". Aorkuler. Retrieved 2025-08-12.
  5. ↑ "Tractive Acquires Whistle from Mars Petcare to Accelerate Leadership in Global Pet Tech Market". Tractive. 2025-07-28. Retrieved 2025-08-12.
  6. ↑ "Tractive Acquires Whistle from Mars Petcare to Accelerate Leadership in Global Pet Tech Market". Tractive. 2025-07-28. Retrieved 2025-08-12.
  7. ↑ "Tractive Acquires Whistle: Pet Trackers Obsolete by August 2025". WebProNews. 2025-07-29. Retrieved 2025-08-12.
  8. ↑ "Whistle joins the Tractive Family". Whistle. 2025-07-28. Retrieved 2025-08-12.
  9. ↑ "Whistle joins the Tractive Family". Whistle. 2025-07-28. Retrieved 2025-08-12.
  10. ↑ "Whistle joins the Tractive Family". Whistle. 2025-07-28. Retrieved 2025-08-12.
  11. ↑ "Tractive Acquires Whistle from Mars Petcare to Accelerate Leadership in Global Pet Tech Market". Tractive. 2025-07-28. Retrieved 2025-08-12.
  12. ↑ "Tractive Acquires Whistle from Mars Petcare to Accelerate Leadership in Global Pet Tech Market". Yahoo Finance. 2025-07-28. Retrieved 2025-08-12.
  13. ↑ "Tractive Acquires Whistle: Pet Trackers Obsolete by August 2025". WebProNews. 2025-07-29. Retrieved 2025-08-12.
  14. ↑ "FTC lets Nest off the hook over Revolv IoT hub bricking shame". The Register. 2016-07-15. Retrieved 2025-08-12.
  15. ↑ "Whistle Reviews". Trustpilot. Retrieved 2025-08-12.
  16. ↑ "Whistle Labs BBB Complaints". Better Business Bureau. Retrieved 2025-08-12.
  17. ↑ Scharon Harding (2025-07-29). "Acquisition sends thousands of Whistle pet trackers to IoT graveyard". Ars Technica. Retrieved 2025-08-12.
  18. ↑ "Whistle question : r/tractivegps". reddit. 2025-07-29. Retrieved 2025-08-12.
  19. ↑ "Whistle pet trackers are shutting down next month". Engadget. 2025-07-30. Retrieved 2025-08-12.
  20. ↑ "Electronic Waste Graveyard". US PIRG Education Fund. Retrieved 2025-08-12.
  21. ↑ Scharon Harding (2025-07-29). "Acquisition sends thousands of Whistle pet trackers to IoT graveyard". Ars Technica. Retrieved 2025-08-12.
  22. ↑ "Why Nest's Revolv hubs won't be the last IoT devices knocked offline". PCWorld. 2016-04-06. Retrieved 2025-08-12.
  23. ↑ "Wink Tells Users: Pay $5 a Month or We'll Disable Your Smart Home Hub". Consumer Reports. 2020-05-06. Retrieved 2025-08-12.
  24. ↑ "Best Buy Is Dumbing Down Its Smart Home Devices". Tom's Guide. 2019-11-05. Retrieved 2025-08-12.


Add a category with the same name as the product, service, website, software, product line or company that this article is about.

The "Incidents" category is not needed.

Add your text below this box. Once this section is complete, delete this box by clicking on it and pressing backspace.


Retrieved from "https://consumerrights.wiki/index.php?title=Whistle_pet_tracker_shutdown_IoT_fail&oldid=18524"