Fitbit data privacy - can I delete my data?

[SunsetRunner]

I have a Versa 1 and love it, but am concerned about possible acquisition of Fitbit by Alphabet/Google. Worried about Google getting all my private biometric data and being able to monitor my location (maybe there would be a privacy policy saying they wouldn't do that, but those policies aren't very credible and can be changed at any time, nor does the government help enforce privacy). If I delete my Fitbit account, does Fitbit scrub all my personal data from their servers, or is it still there for exploitation by an acquiring company? Of course I would also have to stop using my Versa, that would be a shame.

[SunsetRunner · Accepted solution]

Contact Customer Support.

[SunsetRunner]

Yup, done, and got a helpful response saying yes I can delete my account to delete my data. Hoping not to have to do that, Versa is a great smartwatch.

[t.parker]

About deleting account all I can say is that after doing so long time ago I keep receiving email notifications with friend requests to the email address I used back then. There is no way to stop them coming as the account doesn't exist anymore (or at least it shouldn't but somehow I am still visible to other users). So I don't believe deleting account deletes any data. It just invalidates login credentials.

[t.parker]

@SunsetRunner I don't want to disappoint you but I deleted my account in July. After 7 days it should be frozen and impossible to recover. For sure I couldn't log in to it neither from the app nor the dashboard. Now, once you posted this topic I tried to log in to that account. To my surprise I did it. It's not all. All the data, that should be gone by now is still there. Nothing has been removed. I think somehow my account got "unfrozen" revealing my account to other users hence I started receiving friends requests. Nothing has been deleted. Probably, with all the changes implemented recently somehow deletes accounts got "unfrozen". No surprise that all is preserved. Data is money for Fitbit. Now I am thinking what to do about it.

[SunsetRunner]

Ouch! Bad news indeed.

Get Outlook for iOS

[Rich_Laue]

The only way to keep Google from knowing almost everything about your habits is to get rid of your android phone and stay off of the Internet. Google has a presence on just about every web page. 

[tuck229]

I'm fairly new to Fitbit.  Now that they are owned by Google, I will be switching to Garmin when it is time for a new device.  Maybe sooner. 

The government should not allow Google access to ANY user data collected prior to their date of acquisition. Unless they pay us for it.  But of course we know better. If our personal data is part of the acquisition, then we should be getting a portion of that money. 

Another reason I'm voting Andrew Yang... 

[Rich_Laue]

@tuck229 fitbit is for from being owned by Google. Only the first step has been taken. There are still two sets of stockholders that have to approve and has to be submitted to the go tenement regulatory agency, etc. 

[afolarin]

Apparently if you delete your account then your data will also be deleted (if confirmation is made after 7 days).

https://help.fitbit.com/articles/en_US/Help_article/1285?q=delete+data&l=en_US&fs=Search&pn=1

HOW LONG WILL IT TAKE TO DELETE MY FITBIT ACCOUNT?

First 7 days: If you change your mind after you confirm your request to have your account deleted, you have 7 days to recover it—log in to your account to restore access to your Fitbit data.
After 7 days: Your account is frozen and can’t be recovered.
Within 30-90 days: Most of your personal account info is deleted within 30 days of when you confirm your deletion request. This includes any subscriptions you have, like for Fitbit Coach. It may take up to 90 days to delete all of your personal info, like the data recorded by your Fitbit device and other data stored in our backup systems. This is due to the size and complexity of the systems we use to store data.

[t.parker]

@afolarin I wish it was true. My deleted account came back magically to life after 4 months from deletion with all data in. I found it out because somebody sent me a friend request. Apparently, the data is too valuable to delete it for real.

[afolarin]

The accepted answer suggesting contacting customer support is not really an answer... The question is if the data will be deleted or not -- and based on the instructions in Fitbit suggest if the account is deleted then the data should also be deleted after the period indicated. If that is not the case it should not be a question for contacting customer support it really is a yes/no answer required.

[t.parker]

@afolarin unfortunately, simple "yes" and "no" are not an option in any of Fitbit's scripted responses.

[Rich_Laue]

Since this is a community of fitbit users, at best we can only give a yes/no answer based on the help docs. 

For a specific answer from fitbit one will need to ask Fitbit, not the fitbit users. 

Sorry but as users we really do not know what goes on at fitbit.