Fitbit

This is the least important part of Fitbit’s absorption into Google — seriously, where is the dark theme — but I hope its logo and brand identity survives. I’m specifically referring to the arrow logo comprised of dots, lowercase “fitbit” wordmark, and soothing green/teal color palette.  

Google has been working on the Fitbit Ace LTE for the past two-three years, and it shows. In my brief usage of the Fitbit-branded device powered by Wear OS, what strikes me the most — as someone outside the intended kid/parent audience — is how much of an end-to-end experience it provides.

The Fitbit Ace LTE is Google’s newest wearable powered by Wear OS and meant to encourage kids (ages 7+) to be healthy through games, while also serving as a parent-child communication and real-time location device. A monthly or annual Fitbit Ace Pass subscription is required for cellular connectivity, the Fitbit Arcade, and other capabilities.

Fitbit’s integration into Google continues with Google Wallet replacing Fitbit Pay on smartwatches and trackers in July.

Following the “Google Fitbit” branding change last month, the fitbit.com online shop is no more, with the Google Store taking over.

In recent days, the Fitbit Dashboard available on the web has been bugging out — by going blank — amid speculation that Google might be shutting down the site for an app only experience.

Earlier this month Fitbit started rolling out a big redesign to the sleep page and, now that it’s widely available, it seems like everyone hates it. So, what do you think?

The Fitbit app is rolling out a major redesign of its Sleep stats page, which we first spotted last month.

Google Design published an interview with the “Google Fitbit UX team” that provides an interesting look at last year’s Material You redesign of the app, which is still taking shape.

The Google Home app has added a new option to read out your Fitbit stats for the day when using routines on devices with Google Assistant.

Following the announcement at the end of February, Fitbit is slowly rolling out the ability to see stats from Health Connect wearables and services in its Android app.

Fitbit has had a number of back-to-back announcements and changes in recent weeks. I don’t think it was particularly planned to be that away, but the flurry of activity is more promising than not. It starts with a “Google Fitbit” name that cements how the brand is firmly a part of Google, just like “Google Nest.” If Google Fitbit was always the plan, they should have really done that from the start instead of picking a “Fitbit by Google” stopgap that was shown to people for sometime on product packaging and marketing. 

Google has announced that, in a few months, third-party apps and watch faces will be removed from all Fitbit smartwatches used in the European Union.

As part of the March Feature Drop, the original Pixel Watch is getting the new Fitbit Workout UI introduced with the second-generation wearable.

Following the tease at the Pixel Watch 2 launch in October, Google Health provided an update on Fitbit Labs at The Checkup 2024 event.

When the Material You revamp of the Fitbit app rolled out in September, most but not all pages were modernized. We now have a look at a redesign of Fitbit’s Sleep stats page. 

With the Sense 2 and Versa 4 announcement in August of 2022, the “Fitbit by Google” branding emerged. That’s now going away in favor of just “Google Fitbit.”

Google’s assimilation of Fitbit continues with the Google Store now selling Fitbit accessories. This is live in the US, Canada, and Asian-Pacific markets today.

Fitbit is testing a 2-month program/study called “Walkmate” that uses personalized daily notifications to “help you walk more and stay active.”

Samsung’s Galaxy Watch 6 is getting an update in some regions that revamps how users show data from their smartwatch up on their TV, functionality that’s supposed to be coming to Fitbit eventually.

On Monday, Google announced that Health Connect stats can now appear in the Fitbit app, and here’s a bit more about how that integration will work.