Fitbit Studio is shutting down

[Dopovo]

https://9to5google.com/2023/02/17/fitbit-studio/

when will the entire SDK follow the same fate?

[Guy_ · Accepted solution]

Txs @Dopovo  - that pretty much means the end of Fitbit.

Fitbit studio was probably it's best feature allowing people to very easily develop their own clocks and apps and share them with others.

Instead of driving people to a Pixel watch it will send them to more advanced environments with all features and great battery life like Garmin who must be ramping up production!

[Chamcham]

I will definitely be switching to Samsung or another watch company for sure. This decision is a bad move for fitbit overall since the watch prices have been rising for a while now so there is an expectation that you get more features, such as customization, with that price. Now, without the fitbit studio, the watches will no longer hold up to the price and their competitors will win out. 

[TylerK289]

Very sad indeed. I only just started making apps a few months ago, publishing my clockface Full Metrics which I was very proud of. I was starting other products geared toward games but with Versa 4 and Sense 2 not getting SDK support and Fitbit Studio getting shutdown, I might just stop making these apps all together. A disappointing turn for such a fun development kit. 🫡

[TKCMuzzer]

So, in a world where making things simpler and more accessible to help create, Fitbit (let's be honest, Google) decide to go in the other direction. This is a massive inconvenience for those like myself who have faces in the gallery. I use studio exclusively. I don't have the time to go through computer software to make any alterations or updates. This affects consumers as well as casual developers. This is poor form from both Fitbit and Google. Let's be honest. we all new it was coming as soon as Google got their hands on Fitbit, their track record is there for all to see. 

I do suggest looking at Samsung, they have some good watch face tools, not sure about Garmin though.

[asiayeah]

Will fitbit open source the fitbit studio and let others run the services?

[Chamcham]

Very much doubt that. They claim that shutting down fitbit studio is benefiting developers because we can use our own preferred software. However, this option has been around for a while and yet people still largely preferred to use the studio. It is clear that they don't care about the more casual developers and prefer to only have developers that are willing to devote insane amounts of time figuring out how to work around it or are professional developers who have that setup already. This move by Fitbit(lets be real...Google) is clearly aimed to stop third party developers.

[Dopovo]

@Chamcham There is no doubt about that. The most recent Versa 4 / Sense 2 doesn't support app development so I don't see any reason why Fitbit should keep supporting the SDK for devices that are not sold any longer.

What I don't understand is why Fitbit doesn't have the bravery to shutdown the entire SDK now, we all know this is going to happen soon.

[Chamcham]

I'm sure it has to do with some stupid PR person saying that it would be more beneficial to the company to slowly rip the bandaid off instead of being upfront with the end-goal. These companies really think we are stupid and can't see that they are killing fitbit slowly.

[KatheleenFSayle]

That is very sad to hear that.

[thecrawsome]

I was a happy Versa 1 user until it died suddenly. I departed the ecosystem for a few years, and came back shocked to see that it has joined the Google Graveyard. I'm returning my new fitbit now in response.