Google is ending the Fitbit app in 48 hours' time. The Fitbit app is officially rebranding as Google Health and as part of the transition, Google also announced plans to sunset the 12-year-old Google Fit app later this year.
Fitbit users will see an app update on May 19 that rebrands the Fitbit app into Google Health. “The investment we've been making the last few years is literally designed for this one moment,” Rishi Chandra, Google's vice president for health and home, said.
“That tying together of this wearable technology with the coaching experience is what's been missing for the longest time, so candidly, we were waiting for the Coach to be ready before we launch new hardware,” he says. “Now we have the Coach, you should expect to see more hardware coming.”
“We plan to expand that capability over time, but we do think that's an important part of the accountability of health,” he says. “This will be a long-term thing we're going to tackle with our consumers of making sure we're obviously building something that is based on science. We have evals to make sure from safety requirement standpoints in health [that] we're giving safe advice for consumers. It's not perfect by any means, but we've made huge improvements along the way,” Chandra says.
“We're not in the business of diagnosing or replacing a doctor, and our responses are architected to make that clear to users.”
Responding to the change, one user said: "The Fitbit watch and app have steadily gone downhill ever since Google acquired them. All I want is to track my steps, weight, and cardio. I don’t need or want their f***ing AI."
A second said: "Great, yet another Google Fitness move. I loved plain old Google Fit. Fitbit was never any good, at least for me. It was/is bloated and clumsy. Unless you are preparing for the Ironman."
"When I bought my Pixel 4 watch and Pixel 10 Pro XL phone I did everything turn off Fitbit and block it because it messed everything up. Good old Fit worked perfectly, until today when it appears they are moving things to Google Health and now my food tracking app is randomly adding double the steps deductions I can't remove. So the mess begins. Health tracking shouldn't be this hard and Google was once known for being so simple. Why then is their fitness path so complex and messy?"
"Maybe in two years when they decide to drop Fitbit and move to something else, they will get it right. Cause you know how they love to pick up apps and then drop them....messaging apps."
