Google confirms urgent Fitbit deadline and fans | Tech News

Fitbit trackers and smartwatches are extremely popular devices that permit you to monitor your steps, distance, energy burned, coronary heart fee, sleep and more just by sporting them day and night time. It’s a model synonymous with fitness, although some could also be unaware Fitbit was acquired by Google back in 2021.

In 2023, Google introduced that every one Fitbit customers would, by 2025, should migrate their information from their Fitbit account over to a Google account in the event that they wished to keep their legacy Fitbit information. Users would additionally should ultimately use a Google account to make use of their Fitbit, even when they didn’t need to migrate their previous information.

Google has now introduced you may have a little longer to make the swap. As noticed by The Verge, Google has despatched out emails to some Fitbit customers, presumably those that haven’t but made the swap, informing them they now have till February 2026 to take action.

“As we have previously shared, Fitbit is now a part of Google, and Fitbit Account holders will need to transition to Google Accounts to continue using Fitbit,” Google reportedly states within the electronic mail. “If you want to keep using Fitbit, you must move to a Google Account by February 2, 2026.”

If for any cause you don’t need to transfer your Fitbit information onto Google’s servers, the e-mail says that should you do nothing, “your historical data will not be retained beyond February 2, 2026 (except as needed to comply with laws), and your account and data will be deleted.”

Google added that should you don’t need to migrate your account, you possibly can obtain and delete your legacy Fitbit information any time earlier than the deadline. Though the date has been pushed out, giving customers longer to resolve what to do, the face reams of historic information can be deleted should you do not act provides a sense of urgency to the deadline.

Fitbit fans took to social media to complain regardless of the deadline extension.

“They have me because I don’t want to lose my period tracking data,” one consumer stated on Reddit. “It truly sucks that good companies with great products get sold to inferior large companies and they proceed to wreck what they bought.”

“100% agree,” one other replied. “Fitbit was such a great company before Google bought them. It’s been mostly downhill since then. I can’t say that I’ve seen one improvement that Google has made since they took over.”

Other customers stated they didn’t need Google to have their information and could be buying merchandise from Garmin and different manufacturers as an alternative. But it’s price noting that, reportedly, the phrases of Google’s acquisition of Fitbit states that Fitbit information can’t be used to focus on you with adverts.

If you’re nonetheless utilizing your Fitbit account and haven’t but linked it to Google, it in all probability means you’ve had your tracker for some time, or have had a few however signed up to Fitbit years in the past. Even although Google has pushed the deadline for information migration to 2026, should you buy a Fitbit branded tracker or smartwatch immediately, or a Google Pixel Watch that makes use of the Fitbit app to trace health information, you need to register utilizing a Google account to activate the gadget.

It’s not clear why Google has delayed the need for information migration but it surely could possibly be good if you’re planning to maneuver away from the Fitbit platform. Google acquired the model however has slowed the release of new {hardware} to the purpose the firm admitted final yr there is not going to be any new Fitbit branded smartwatches sooner or later.

Instead, Google has taken the Fitbit model and technology and focused on building it into its Pixel Watch smartwatches. The final Fitbit to be launched was the Fitbit Charge 6 in 2023, which continues to get software program updates alongside different latest-generation gadgets such because the Inspire 3, Versa 4 and Sense 2.

Some of these gadgets have been up to date to assist Google apps corresponding to Google Maps and Google Wallet, although Google ditched third social gathering app assist for the Versa and Sense traces, to the ire of the Fitbit trustworthy.