The redesigned iOS Fitbit app is rolling out!

[LizzyFitbit]

Hello everyone!

I would like to announce that the redesigned Fitbit app starts rolling out today! This new app will help you reach your goals, and bring the health and wellness information right on hand.

Check out our latest blog for how to get the most out of the new app. 

Note: Please be patient if you don't see the update right away, as it will take some time to roll out completely.

Happy stepping!

[Kate2024]

I was so excited for a while tonight. While browsing on my iPad, the old familiar colour bands of our beloved Fit bit app appeared on my screen for two minutes. It made me realize all over again, how incredibly boring and unmotivating the new interface is to the customer.

I am convinced that my work outs would be far more intense and worthwhile if I had access to the old version and information again.

its a shame that Google don’t care about Fit bit customers.

[SMH-MRH]

The new Version of the app and features are a TOTAL failure! Why why why did you feel that you needed to change what was working great. I have read other reviews and it seems pretty clear that it is a poor quality and version. So many things wrong with it. Can’t change the workouts, hard to read and understand, sleep version is a pain to try and figure on, and the whole reason for this watch was the heart rate feature that is so messed up now. I will not be purchasing another Fitbit!

[MelvinL]

https://www.techradar.com/opinion/fitbit-as-we-know-it-is-already-dead-thanks-to-google

https://www.androidcentral.com/wearables/google-confining-fitbit-makes-financial-sense-but-missed-op...

https://support.google.com/product-documentation/answer/13823068?hl=en

I think this says it all. Fitbit is no longer sold in quite a number of countries around the world. Since Google has bought over Fitbit, we existing users have stuck to it (I even bought a new Fitbit last year when my old one died), even though bit by bit, some features are being removed. Initially those features that were removed are not core features for a fitness tracker, and many of us don't really need them. Maybe it was a transition period for better things to come for Fitbit, since Google is a very smart company. But the time has come, and core features are now being removed and Fitbit is not longer sold worldwide. It is pretty obvious that Google is slowly killing off Fitbit.

Google has 2 options with Fitbit, grow Fitbit by incorporating Google's tech, or use Fitbit's tech for Google's own product line and then phase out Fitbit. Google has likely chosen the latter and sadly, there is nothing much we can do about it. In this case, I don't think Google made a wise choice. Why kill off an existing market, and go about the difficult task of creating a new market later on? Maybe Google hopes that users will transition over to Pixel or something, but that something by Google don't exist yet.

What don't quite make much sense is why spend $2.1 billion USD on Fitbit, only to kill it off. But I think what Google wants is Fitbit's technology, customer base, and the vast amounts of valuable data collected by Fitbit. After which, these technologies will probably go into Google's own product lines such as the Pixel Watch (which is not the same as current Fitbit and not great for now), and then Fitbit will be killed off. It certainly does not look like Google is planning to build-up and grow Fitbit.

With that, we probably can give up hope that things will change for the better for Fitbit, and these lost functionalities are likely not coming back. Using my Fitbit used to be a joy, but it is now a chore to manage and maintain proper data and records. I have waited long enough, it is time to look elsewhere. (Maybe until Google expands its own line of Fitness trackers and watches under its own name, and incorporates everything great about what makes Fitbit great in the first place. But this will not happen anytime soon if it ever happens.)

(Shoutout to Fitbit, Google, Alphabet. Not sure if this post is going to be deleted, but if what I am saying is wrong, then release a statement to let users know of your roadmap for Fitbit. Be open and transparent.)

[mattarosa]

I wonder how much of Fitbit’s customer base Google will get? if they developed the best tracker in the world I wouldn’t touch it with a bargepole after the way they have disrespected us. I can’t be the only one.

[SunsetRunner]

I have now turned off automatic updates on my apps which is a pain because I have to manually update everything else. But hopefully I can keep what functionality I have left until I replace my watch with a different make. It definitely won’t be a google product after the way they have treated FitBit! 

[kerrieBBOZ]

@SunsetRunner Same. I’ve been carrying on as normal with the old app and doing manual app updates on my iPhone (updating all other apps but NOT the Fitbit app) and have not updated my Charge 5 firmware either (which was bricking many charge 5 devices). I did lose onboard GPS when the whole Charge5 firmware update started with one of the preparatory old app updates, but I can still track walks using the phone gps device setting. And I’m synching with Strava so I don’t lose access to all my tracked routes, some of which are sentimental, such as those done on holiday or longer bushwalks, in preparation for when eventually I’m forced to upgrade the Fitbit app. At that point I’m going anywhere BUT Google.

MelvinL speculates that Google spent so much money on a platform they were otherwise going to kill off, partly to buy Fitbit’s user base. Well if they thought that process was going to force us all onto Google by showing so little respect for customer loyalty they were kidding themselves. After demonstrating such sheer disregard for their customers you would be very foolish to entrust them with any further investment of your own hard earned money and effort.

[kerrieBBOZ]

@Gatisa18 if you lack motivation, try the Conquerer Challenges. Search for it on any non-google search engine. (Google’s behaviour with Fitbit has encouraged me to move to DuckDuckGo!!) You do pay to join each challenge but they are SO motivating. So far I have virtually walked the Flower Route on Netherlands, virtually swum the English Channel, virtually walked the Ring of Kerry in Ireland, the Nakasendo Trail in Japan, the West Coast trail in Canada, Angkor Wat in Cambodia and I’m 3/4 of the way around the Ring Road in Iceland, and along the way I’ve been checking out local tourist attractions on Google Street View to be a bit more immersive of my virtual travels. And I have a growing collection of beautiful, well made medals which get posted to you when you complete each challenge, which is a bit of fun, and I’ve lost more than 9kg on the process. I am a bit of an evangelist for them now!! They have a very positive and encouraging Facebook group as well, but I don’t really participate in that side of it. You can synch your Fitbit to them, but they also synch to a variety of other apps and platforms and you can manually update your steps or distances as well. They give you a running tally of how far ahead or behind your goal you are, which really encourages me to go out when I’m feeling a bit lazy, and if life happens and you get sick or something, you can adjust your goal so you don’t get too discouraged falling behind. They also plant real trees or collect real ocean plastic on your behalf when you pass certain milestones. 

Anyway, for those who miss the motivational aspects of the old Fitbit app, I think you should look into it. I regard the cost of the challenges as an investment in my own health, and I try and pick the longer walks to get my moneys worth, but you should probably do a short one first to see if it works for you.

[mcw53]

Well, that confirms what many of us have suspected (or known) for some time.

Notable quotes from the 1st article:

"It’s a familiar story: a successful company is bought by a huge conglomerate and run into the ground, while the conglomerate takes the smaller company's best ideas and products and incorporates them into its brand."

"Alphabet has shut down the facility for developers to create third-party apps for Fitbit OS, preventing new content from being created for the platform."

"...it’s sad to see the best Fitbits slowly being stripped of some of the features that made them great."

"The end result is that customers who made their purchases based on those features now own a device that's fundamentally different from the one they originally bought; and to get those features back they must upgrade to the Pixel Watch, or buy a device from another brand."

"Fitbit will probably stick around in some form for a few years yet, but it’s already as good as dead. Rather than being a picture of health, Fitbit is on life support, waiting for Google and Alphabet to finally pull the plug and harvest what's left of its vital organs."

[kerrieBBOZ]

@mcw53  Re “while the conglomerate takes the smaller company's best ideas and products and incorporates them into its brand”

If only that were true and the Google app was improved to resemble the formerly brilliant and easy to navigate, yet data-packed old Fitbit app, they would find it slightly easier to retain some of the Fitbit client base that they have done such a good job of alienating through their indifferent behaviour.

[luvcasey99]

My Fitbit screen no longrt works although it still works to show stats on
the app .

What is a good equivalent of i want to see steps and sleeping

Ellen

[MissMyData]

@Semvn Thanks for sharing this. I hadn’t heard about Oura ring before reading your post but having checked it out it’s certainly interesting especially if you’re regularly tracking those kind of health metrics.

[Deedot1913]

It's been 5 months since the "revised"  bugger-green Fitbit app was rolled out! Over 2,300 comments on this community board, and yet no response from Google, to the many comments and requests to revert back to the original Fitbit app. Very sad. I have lost my motivation to even open the app! Has anyone else lost their mojo, due to the revised Fitbit app?

[MissMyData]

In the App Store v4.11 for IOS is now available. the description says Bug Fixes and Performance Improvements. Has anyone installed it yet? Please say if it’s a rollback to the much loved previous v3!!!! 

[Pineapple88]

I agree!

[Pineapple88]

This is the worst interface I have ever seen. I say this as a User Experience Designer myself. You have made it really difficult to read the data points, and removed data points that users what to see. Yes clean design is important, but removing data users want makes the app less helpful and making everything look exactly the same makes it hard to find what we are looking for. Fire your UX designers. 

[aaronse]

Releasing an update without dark mode shows an impressive amount of arrogance and/or ignorance.

Listen to your Customers while you still have them.

Hate the new charts, I want numbers and line charts. 

The app is for people that want to track their metrics.  Understand your Customers, give them what they want. 

You pissed me off enough to buy a Wyze watch.

Slap the idiot(s) who placed the three buttons at bottom of the screen in the same location that Android system icons are.  UX/Dev obviously didn't test their stuff.  

[Pineapple88]

You may be right there. The design lead may have directed these horrible changes. Or they at least signed off on them. 

[Utopianmovement]

Definitely wasn’t product improvement
Sent from my iPhone

[mcw53]

Hey @Bikeracer 

It was definitely a data grab. And, all that data and much more is now linked to you. From the apple app store ...

[Quicksilver74]

Can we switch back to the previous version of the app?   I do not like how every time I open the the app or switch to a previous day the step counter counts up.  It drives me nuts!