Fitbit Users Will Soon Be Required to Have a Google Login, and We Have Questions

With the Pixel Watch looming across the nook, people have been questioning what’s occurring with Fitbit now that Google’s formally acquired the model. According to an up to date support page, it seems there’s account consolidation on the horizon.

Next yr, Google would require a Google account to make use of a few of Fitbit’s options. “We plan to enable use of Fitbit with a Google account sometime in 2023,” explains Google. For now, you’ll nonetheless want a Fitbit account to arrange a brand new gadget.

If you need to hyperlink your Google account when the choice launches subsequent yr, you’ll should consent to switch Fitbit knowledge from one account to the opposite. After that, you possibly can proceed to make use of your current Fitbit account for so long as Google helps it, as much as “at least early 2025.” Regardless, after 2025, that Google login shall be required until you need your watch to be a hunk of junk. Google says it can present extra info nearer to the launch of Google accounts on Fitbit.

The firm cites a number of advantages for this transfer: single login for Fitbit and Google companies, “industry-leading account security,” “centralized privacy controls for Fitbit data,” and “access to additional Google features” on Fitbit. But it doesn’t clarify what customers can anticipate after 2025, solely that “a Google account will be required to use Fitbit.”

Of course, this raises a couple of crimson flags for people who aren’t too eager on linking their health knowledge with Google’s ecosystem. Google guarantees to “protect Fitbit customers’ privacy” in Europe as per a earlier settlement, but it surely’s an open query as to how lengthy it can preserve the info separate after somebody makes the change or if it can use any knowledge it collects for functions aside from promoting whereas it’s nonetheless operating out the clock on its settlement. Its compliance with EU regulations solely extends to 10 years, after which the fee can resolve whether or not to reinstate it.

After that, would customers nonetheless have the separation of health knowledge and the info used to serve adverts to them on the Android platform? And what about present Google and Fitbit accounts within the U.S., which aren’t underneath the identical knowledge protections?

When I reached out to Google to ask for solutions to the above questions, I acquired the identical reply it gave different shops. “Google accounts on Fitbit will remain in full compliance with our commitments to global regulators. After a user signs up for or moves to a Google account, we will continue to keep Fitbit users’ health and wellness data separated from Google Ads data and this data won’t be used for Google Ads.” There’s no point out if it will prolong past the ten-year timeline.

This will doubtless turn out to be a warmer subject as soon as the Pixel Watch formally launches. There are obvious leaks of Fitbit branding on the field, which leads us to imagine it’ll be an enormous a part of this product launch.

I haven’t used Fitbit in years, so I checked out the present login state of affairs. I needed to reset my password to get in. There’s already a Google account immediate on the primary account web page, which differs from Google accounts on Fitbit. This feels akin to how Google made people transfer their Nest accounts over to Google, making a fragmented mess out of Google’s good house ecosystem.

While it won’t be the identical form of fragmentation, it brings to thoughts the facility that Google has to steamroll customers into its system via big-ticket acquisitions. Here’s hoping Google drops the act and is as clear because it guarantees to be when it reveals extra particulars about what’s occurring to Fitbit accounts quickly.