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The past year hasn’t been great for Fitbit users. Constant outages, feature removals, and some weird Google behavior are slowly eroding Fitbit’s reputation. Unfortunately, it looks like the unimpressive and expensive Pixel Watch is Google’s priority right now.
On February 6th, Fitbit’s services suffered a blackout that prevented users from syncing (or even looking at) their data. This outage continued for two days and many users lost health and fitness data that was not synced correctly. Another (much shorter) outage occurred on February 23, leaving customers wondering how often this will happen.
What’s worse, Fitbit plans to ditch many of its social features, including adventures and challenges. These features have always been a selling point for Fitbit, as they encourage friends and family to meet exercise goals together. as pointed out the edgemany customers are thinking of leaving Fitbit because from the removal of this feature: the r/Fitbit subreddit is like a funeral service right now!
But here’s the weirdest thing; Google refuses to bring new apps to the Fitbit Versa 4 and Sense 2, its premium “smart watches.” Third party app development for these devices is “for watch faces only”. It’s stupid behavior; What’s the point of selling an expensive “smartwatch” if you’re going to treat it like a much cheaper fitness tracker?
Many Fitbit customers are coming to an interesting conclusion: They think Google is forcing the Pixel Watch down their throats. And if that’s the case, then Google needs to do some thinking. The Pixel Watch isn’t an amazing product, and it’s not a replacement for a fitness tracker. While a Fitbit is affordable, simple, and has a week-long battery life, the Pixel Watch is expensive, somewhat fiddly, and lasts less than 24 hours on a charge.
We hope Google doesn’t waste the Fitbit brand. But Google has been known to neglect its products, so perhaps this is unavoidable.
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