“Extraordinarily disappointed” users reckon with the Google-fication of Fitbit

Since the acquisition closed in 2021, the Google-fication of Fitbit has largely meant a reduction in features and a focus from Google on getting people onto the Fitbit app. Long-time users have flocked to Fitbit—sometimes upon Fitbit's request—to share hundreds of complaints about recent changes. However, Google has been mostly unresponsive to customer feedback.

Web app discontinuation angers users

In June, Google announced it was discontinuing Fitbit.com's online dashboard. After July 8, users seeking similar features that the web app provided have to download the Fitbit mobile app. On Fitbit’s Community forum, a company representative confirmed that users’ “details and logging for activities, nutrition, sleep, and weight” would remain available via the app. However, the change inconvenienced users who preferred or needed to access such data on a bigger screen than a phone's. Worse, the app lacks some of the features of the online dashboard, such as food logging.

Despite these obvious user drawbacks, the need to Googlize Fitbit seemed to drive the change. Announcing the news on the Community forum, a Fitbit company rep said:

Combined with Google’s decades of being the best at making sense of data, it’s our mission to be one combined Fitbit and Google team. Consolidating the Fitbit.com dashboard into the Fitbit app is a part of that mission, and will allow us to focus on features that provide even more valuable insights to our users.

Google has invested in the Fitbit app, which includes plans to let premium subscribers test experimental generative AI Fitbit features soon. Google is also developing a large language model for new features for the Fitbit app that users are being forced onto. Google has been pushing users to the Fitbit app for a while; in 2022, Fitbit devices lost the ability to sync with computers.

It's worth mentioning that users disgruntled with Fitbit are more likely to complain online. However, it's notable that Fitbit’s announcement has been met with 1,523 (as of this writing) mostly negative replies, with new responses still coming in. Another thread on Fitbit's forum that requests to keep the web dashboard currently has 601 upvotes. You can find outraged users on Reddit, too.

The most common complaints are around losing previously available features.

"Change is fine. Removing key features is not," Community member Seymourh86 wrote in June. "Unless you want people to go to competitors ..."

Comments from this week show that users are not over the change. DebL555, for example, said today that they're "extremely disappointed and frustrated I cannot access my Dashboard on my PC." Yesterday, NessWeb dubbed the change "an incredibly bad decision," adding:

It's particularly awful for anyone with a visual disability or a finger dexterity issue. It's still bad for everyone else because you just can't see as much on a 3" screen as you can see on a real computer ...

 

Bring back the web interface!!

As has been the case every time there have been problems with Fitbit post-acquisition, theories that Google is making Fitbit worse to push people toward the Pixel Watch run rampant. Others on the Community forum were upset because they felt like Google was ignoring feedback from long-time Fitbit customers.

In June, a user going by jessicabilasano wrote:

I just hope Fitbit does not end up like any other Google purchase that turns into a nightmare product/company. Google, instead of removing things that users love about Fitbit features, why not improve them? Listen to your customers/consumers.

However, a lack of response to public, negative customer feedback has become commonplace for the Fitbit brand lately.

Snoozing on sleeping experience feedback

In April, Google updated the sleep experience in the Fitbit app, and people have been complaining online ever since. In this case, a Fitbit representative prompted feedback on the Community forum, saying, “What do you think? Let us know!” However, 1,604 mostly negative replies have not led to a public response. (The prominent complaints on Reddit are here, here, and here.)

Frequent complaints about the sleep update include the inability to view the screen horizontally and problems with visibility. Statements like the one below from Community forum user Jacjoy in April are common online:

I hate it. It's much harder to read without the distinct colour lines previously available. I'm a great believer in "if it ain't broke, don't fix it. I think this was a change for changes sake. Please put it back to how it was. Very displeased user.

Google thinks its updates and ongoing app development will lead to more actionable insight and the ability for the Fitbit app to serve as an AI-fueled personalized coach. But users like Community member josekreif think the sleep update is "an absolute mess of a change."

Fitbit’s reputation is tanking

Google was also pretty quiet when complaints about the Fitbit Charge 5 flooded the web. Many users claimed seeing their device's battery drain abnormally fast after installing a firmware update. Problems were so bad that PC World declared Fitbit devices “a 1-year purchase in the US.”

In January, Google said it was still investigating the issue, yet claimed to know for sure that the problems weren't related to the new firmware. But we haven't heard from the tech giant on the problem since.

Amid pages and pages of public user complaints on several topics, Google has provided minimal or no response. Countless users have lamented a perceived lack of care from Google and the feeling that their input has become less valued since Google bought Fitbit.

A Fitbit Community forum member named Nawtykitty, who is upset with the sleep experience changes, said: "It's horrible. So much so, that I'm looking for a new device with no connection to Google. They have ignored the pleas of thousands of faithful Fitbit users to give us back the format that was actually useful."

Various members have discussed alternatives with each other, and the forums show a general lack of hope for Fitbit's future. Per forum user Senseiande:

We are all wasting our breath. If Google cared they would answer directly. ... The truth
is Google wants what they want and they don't care what their customers want. Therefore the only answer is a mass exodus.

Google didn't respond to Ars Technica's request for comment.

Fitbit, a Google product

Google has gutted other Fitbit capabilities, like social features and Pandora and Dezzer support, and users were already forced to Google accounts. If it's not obvious by now: Fitbit is a Google brand— that has implications.

We all know how quickly Google kills products. As Google looks to capitalize on the recurring revenue opportunity from monthly subscriptions versus less frequent hardware sales, it's unclear how much room there is in the market for both Google Pixel Watches and Google Fitbits. Google's changes to Fitbit have resulted in predictions that Google is turning Fitbit into a Pixel Watch app. Google, of course, hasn't said as much, but it's clear that it has an app-driven vision for Fitbit.

For now, though, the Google-fication of Fitbit means that Google will keep shaping the brand in its image. And currently, that image is one hyped on software and AI. If that doesn't sound like the type of fitness tracker you're into, then, like many online, it's time to consider alternatives; Google doesn't appear to be backing down.