If you’re a proud and longtime Fitbit user, you’ll notice something different about the Fitbit app later this year. Starting this summer, Google will now allow Fitbit users to migrate their existing Fitbit account to a Google account.
Google initially announced plans to do this last September, but it provided full details on the transition in a blog post on April 11. It’ll work a little differently depending on who you are, but the gist is that Google is ready to start killing old Fitbit accounts and transition them to Google ones.
If you buy a Fitbit and start using the Fitbit app for the first time this summer, you’ll be required to sign up for the Fitbit app using a Google account. You can still create a Fitbit account today, but when Google begins this migration in the summertime, no new Fitbit accounts will be allowed at all.
What if you’re an existing Fitbit user? Google says you’ll have the option to turn your Fitbit account into a Google account, though you won’t be forced to do so … at least for a couple more years. By 2025, Google will require anyone with a Fitbit account to move it over to a Google one.
With this change, there are a few things to keep in mind. You’ll have access to the same security/privacy settings that all Google accounts have, with Google noting that you’ll be able to manage your Fitbit data through the Google Privacy Center Additionally, Google assures that any health/wellness data from your Fitbit app “won’t be used for Google Ads, and it will continue to be kept separate from Google Ads data.”
Google further notes that the actual Fitbit app experience isn’t changing — just the way you log into it. Per Google, “You will have the same Fitbit experience with all your historical health and wellness data still available.”
Is any of this that big of a deal? That all depends on you.
If you already have a Google account (which you most likely do), this should make managing your Fitbit account a bit easier. It’ll be one less password to remember, and the additional privacy tools are better than what current Fitbit accounts have access to today.
Still, there are likely people who aren’t thrilled with today’s news. Like most tech giants, Google doesn’t have the squeakiest privacy reputation, so being required to give the company your health and wellness data may not be something you’re willing to do.
Thankfully, there are ample Fitbit alternatives available if you can’t stomach having a Google account for your Fitbit.
The OnePlus Buds Clip are a new pair of open-ear earbuds built around a simple convenience. They join Sony’s LinkBuds Clip in the growing ear-cuff category, but either OnePlus bud can go on either ear.
Sensors recognize how the earbuds are being worn and route the audio channels accordingly. There’s no label to check before putting them on, and the feature also works when only one bud is used.
We buy fitness bands and activity trackers to keep tabs on our exercise, but it is easy to forget to start tracking or switch modes when moving between different activities. For Fitbit and Pixel Watch users, that could soon become a lot less annoying, as Google is rolling out a major upgrade to automatic activity tracking that can recognize more than 100 types of exercise, up from just 10 before.
Google first showed off the improved tracking earlier this month alongside the Fitbit Edge. It is now coming to Fitbit Air and the Pixel Watch 3, 4, and 5, and Google claims the added context behind the system makes workout detection nearly twice as accurate while cutting missed activities by more than half. Fitbit Edge will support it too.