It’s been more than five years since Google bought Fitbit, which made watches and fitness trackers and sat on a huge database of health data. Google being Google, one could suspect that it was the health data they wanted most, but at the same time you need a large active user base to produce health data.
Google’s plans for Fitbit weren’t crystal clear at the time, and strangely enough, they haven’t become clear over time either. At first it was said that Fitbit’s watches would live on in parallel with Google’s own operating system for watches, Wear OS. There was some logic to that, Wear OS watches need to be charged daily while Fitbit’s watches managed closer to a week between charges, both types of watches have proven to have a market.
But the Fitbit watches disappeared and Google instead launched its own Pixel Watch. Here, Fitbit had a prominent place as the watch’s training hub. Fitbit activity bands kept coming out, until they no longer did, the Fitbit Charge 6 was released in 2023, since then we’ve only seen a kids band.
It’s been more than five years since Google bought Fitbit, which made watches and fitness trackers and sat on a huge database of health data. Google being Google, one could suspect that it was the health data they wanted most, but at the same time you need a large active user base to produce health data.
Google’s plans for Fitbit weren’t crystal clear at the time, and strangely enough, they haven’t become clear over time either. At first it was said that Fitbit’s watches would live on in parallel with Google’s own operating system for watches, Wear OS. There was some logic to that, Wear OS watches need to be charged daily while Fitbit’s watches managed closer to a week between charges, both types of watches have proven to have a market.
But the Fitbit watches disappeared and Google instead launched its own Pixel Watch. Here, Fitbit had a prominent place as the watch’s training hub. Fitbit activity bands kept coming out, until they no longer did, the Fitbit Charge 6 was released in 2023, since then we’ve only seen a kids band.
One could imagine that Google’s strategy here was to make Fitbit a pure software department within Google, and let Wear OS handle the data collection. But here’s a big problem in that the Fitbit app isn’t mandatory on Wear OS watches. Samsung therefore uses its Samsung Health app instead, Xiaomi uses Mi Fit, and you can’t even install the Fitbit app on these watches if you wanted to. In practice, therefore, only the Pixel Watch runs Fitbit today, and it must be considered a niche product. Those who have a Pixel phone are a small fraction of all Android users and those who have a Pixel Watch are probably mainly a minority of them. The user base that Google uses to collect health data should arguably be collapsing.
At the beginning of the year, Google announced that it planned to launch Fitbit products in the spring, which probably raised hopes that the status quo would be preserved among Fitbit followers who are used to the system but are not interested in a watch that needs to be charged daily. What has emerged since then paints a different picture. The leaked Fitbit product is a fabric bracelet without a screen that is meant to collect health data without looking like a tech gadget. It’s an interesting product, and it’s understandable that Google is skeptical about the future of the traditional pedometer, but it doesn’t solve a need for someone who wants a Fitbit as a watch and doesn’t charge it every day.
The other thing we know is that Google is in the process of redesigning the Fitbit app. A public preview version is available, and it is radically different from the current version. The focus is on conversing with Gemini and getting exercise programs and health advice, at the expense of easily accessible and aggregated information. In addition, Google has announced that the app is changing its name to Google Health.
Then the question is whether there is any reason for Google to call the new band Fitbit. The value of that brand must have been eroded away by Google’s inaction, and if the app isn’t even called that, maybe it’s just as well to cut ties completely.
The question is whether the same applies to Fitbit users. If both the app and the gadgets that support it become radically different and alien, one might as well switch to a new supplier, one that makes gadgets that can double as watches, that come in different form factors and that last for weeks before charging. Garmin and Huawei are two examples.
I could be wrong, Google may also be planning traditional pedometers and they may even be called Fitbit. After Google’s developer conference I/O in May, we’ll probably know.