Nike to Shut Down Adapt App for Self-Lacing Shoes—How to Control it Now?

The app that controls Nike's self-lacing shoes, the Adapt app, will soon be shut down and will no longer be available for users to use with their futuristic sneakers. This latest change affects the operations of its automatic laces, from tightening the fit on its owners' feet, the color that the footwear could display, and knowing its battery percentage.

All that would be left for users would be the shoes, and while it has manual operations available via its physical buttons, it is not as intuitive as the app.

Nike to Shut Down Adapt App Affecting Self-Lacing Shoes

A new announcement from Nike's customer support platform reveals that the company is retiring the Adapt app, the dedicated app for self-lacing footwear, particularly the Adapt BB shoes. The app's shutdown would be a massive hit to the said shoes and their owners, as they would lose several functionalities, no longer allowing users to check their batteries and change their colors.

Nike revealed that on August 6, the app would no longer be available to download on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.

For those who have the Adapt app installed, it would still be available, according to Nike. Still, there would no longer be any updates for it, and it may not be compatible with future iOS or Android versions and cannot be transferred to other devices.

How to Control Your Self-Lacing Nike Shoes Now?

Nike revealed that there is still a way to continue using the Adapt BB shoes even without the app, as the app has physical buttons on the shoe for these operations. However, it can only lace up or loosen its fit on one's foot, with color changes, gesture detection, and phone-based lacing no longer available afterward.

Nike and Its Futuristic Self-Lacing Shoes

Nike has had two releases of its self-lacing shoes focused on delivering smart apparel for users, with its first one arriving in 2016, centering on the iconic pop culture shoes worn by Michael J. Fox in Back to the Future. The movie popularized this concept in the 1980s, nearly 30 years before Nike turned it into reality with the HyperAdapt 1.0.

It was the first futuristic technology to be turned into a reality, as the famed hoverboard from the movie is not yet available to the world.

That being said, Nike followed up its futuristic shoe lineup with the Adapt BB in 2019, with these shoes meant to be more practical footwear for basketball players.

It has been almost a decade since Nike released its first self-lacing basketball shoes, but it was only five years ago that Nike introduced the Adapt mobile app, which complements the basketball shoes' use. Now, Nike has announced that it is ending support and shutting down the app, leaving its users high and dry without a dedicated platform to control its multiple functions. Users are still left with manual operations via its buttons.