New Fitbit users will be required to sign-up with a Google account, from next year, while it also appears one will be needed to access some of the new features in years to come.
Google has been slowly integrating Fitbit into the fold since buying the company back in November 2019. Indeed, the latest products are now known as “Fitbit by Google”. However, as it currently stands, device owners have been able to maintain separate accounts for Google and Fitbit accounts.
Google has now revealed it is bringing Google Accounts to Fitbit in 2023, enabling a single login for both services. From that point on, all new sign ups will be through Google. Fitbit accounts will only be supported until 2025.
From that point on, a Google account will be the only way to go. To aid the transition, once the introduction of Google accounts begins, it’ll be possible to move existing devices over while maintaining all of the recorded data.
In a post on the Fitbit support pages (via 9to5Google), Google wrote: “We plan to enable use of Fitbit with a Google account sometime in 2023. Google accounts on Fitbit will support a number of benefits for Fitbit users, including a single login for Fitbit and other Google services, industry-leading account security, centralised privacy controls for Fitbit user data, and more features from Google on Fitbit.
“We’ll be transparent with our customers about the timeline for ending Fitbit accounts through notices within the Fitbit app, by email, and in help articles.”
Whether that will be enough to assuage the concerns of the Fitbit user base – who didn’t have a say on whether Google bought their personal fitness data – remains to be seen.
Are you ok with Google taking over Fitbit? Will you be ditching the devices rather than navigating over to a Google account? Let us know @trustedreviews on Twitter.
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
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We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
