Google's Fitbit Fitness Tracker Will Remove Long-Beloved Social Features, Losing Earned Trophies And Badges
On March 27, 2023,
Open groups, Challenges, and Adventures will no lo... - Fitbit Community
https://community.fitbit.com/t5/Fitbit-Challenges-Adventures/Open-groups-Challenges-and-Adventures-will-no-longer-be-available-as-of/td-p/5335863
Google is killing most of Fitbit's social features today | Ars Technica
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/03/google-is-killing-most-of-fitbits-social-features-today/
On March 27, 2023, the social functions 'Open Group', 'Challenge' and 'Adventure' installed in the Fitbit official app were deleted. An open group is a group that any Fitbit user can send a request to join, helping users find friends and motivate them to exercise. Open groups will not be available in the future, but you can create an invitation-only private group.
Challenges were introduced in 2014 as a way to compete with friends for the number of steps, and it was possible to earn badges by completing specific tasks or win trophies by winning the competition. However, due to this decision, the challenge function will be abolished, and badges and trophies will also be removed.
Adventure is a feature that allows you to explore virtual national parks and landmarks according to your steps, and was introduced in 2017 . In addition to being able to walk at their own pace, users were also able to participate in 'adventure races' to compete with other users.
Regarding the removal of social features, Fitbit said, 'We've been working hard behind the scenes to enhance the Fitbit app with Google technology this year. Social features will be removed on Android and iOS with .
Since Google announced on February 17th that these social features will be discontinued, there has been a backlash from users. On Fitbit's official forums , one commented , 'I am completely baffled by the removal of some of Fitbit's great features,' while others wrote, 'This decision is absolutely terrible! A friend and my group of Workweek Hustle and Get Fit Bingo for several years.Fitbit and Google please reconsider!' Comment , 'I am disappointed with this decision. Group challenges are one of the reasons I haven't switched to another device. There are comments such as 'It is.
Also, on March 26th, the Fitbit official Twitter account celebrated the company's founding anniversary, and many users replied, ``Please don't delete the challenge function.''
Please don't get rid of the step challenges. Literally non of your customers want these to go away. The challenges are my favorite part of Fitbit.
—Mario (@Super_Mario5) March 26, 2023
Fitbit! Why would you remove the challenges? My new Fitbit is being delivered today, I love joining the challenges with my friends. the Apple Watch, like my husband suggested.
—Jess (@MayneJ22) March 27, 2023
The decision to remove a long-loved feature is believed to be due to the intention of its parent company, Google. Google announced in 2019 that it would acquire Fitbit, which sells fitness trackers and smartwatches, and completed the acquisition in 2021 after receiving regulatory approval.
Google completes acquisition of fitness tracker 'Fitbit' - GIGAZINE
In a blog post announcing the acquisition of Fitbit, Google said , ``We believe there is an opportunity to further invest in Wear OS and bring Google wearable devices to the market.'' and did not mention continuing to support the service.
Tech media outlet Ars Technica said Google plans to merge Fitbit accounts with Google accounts , remove the ability to sync music with a PC and transfer music to Fitbit , and shut down the web-based Fitbit Studio that develops Fitbit apps. He points out that he has decided to 'So far, we haven't seen anything to dispel the initial impression that Fitbit is slowly being killed by Google.' I don't think you can get a lot of repeat customers by removing all of them.'
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