Microsoft offers refunds for Band users, kills Health Dashboard apps and services

Although Microsoft discontinued its Band fitness trackers more than two years ago, it kept the related apps active to support existing users

Microsoft Band and Microsoft Health Dashboard apps and services discontinued (Microsoft)

Microsoft has announced that it is putting to rest its Microsoft Band and Microsoft Health Dashboard apps and services. The services will be defunct on May 31, 2019.

Although Microsoft discontinued its Band fitness trackers more than two years ago, it kept the related apps active to support existing users. On May 31, the backend services will end and the apps will be removed from the Microsoft Store, Google Play, and Apple's App Store, The Verge reported.

If you are an existing Band user, you will be able to export your data before the end of May. Some of the Microsoft Band users will also be eligible for a refund.

Active users who have synced data from a Band tracker to Health Dashboard between December 1st 2018 and March 1st 2019 can apply for a refund on their hardware. A refund of $79.99 will be available for Band 1 owners, and $175 for Band 2 owners.

New Microsoft Excel feature

Data copying and entering will no longer be a nightmare as Microsoft has introduced a new feature for the app that will allow you to simply click and add data to an Excel sheet.

In order to add data to Excel directly from a photo, simply take a picture of the printed data table. The new image recognition functionality immediately converts the picture into a fully editable table in Excel.

The new capability will prove useful for those who often have to manually copy data from the physical sheets to digital sheets.

Microsoft is rolling out this ability for the Excel app on Android. iOS users will receive the update later.

(With inputs from ANI)