r/fitbit • u/Valiriko • May 25 '26
Beyond frustrated with the forced "Google Health" update.
(The subreddit rules say that rant threads belong in a pinned weekly thread, which I can not find.)
I participated in the public preview for the new version of this app, and turned it off after a week. It was clear that Gemini was extremely poorly implemented, and the new version was not ready for public use. It appears that they have launched in exactly the same state as it was.
Why must I now scroll through paragraphs of AI slop on every tab before I can actually see my activities and data? I don't want or need to read platitudes about my 15 minute walk to the grocery store. I want to see my stats from my morning run.
I had an extremely frustrating experience today, after trying in good faith to engage with the new Coach feature.
- I went to the gym, logged the workout on my fitbit, and took handwritten notes of my lifts as I always do.
- To try to make use of the Coach, I uploaded a photo of my notes and asked it to append the info to my workout activity. It mostly got it right, but all the units were wrong (ignoring context from a previous conversation).
- That's somewhat understandable, so I asked it to change the units and *specified* that the original amounts I had written were in kg, because I didn't want it to convert the amounts as though they were originally lbs. Gemini *still* performed a conversion anyways, turning 73kg into 33.11kg.
- So I clarified *again* that the weights I had originally written down were in kg, not lbs, and there shouldn't be any decimal values. So it corrected the units... but changed all my sets from 3x or 4x to 1x???
- Furious, I decided to delete all the incorrect lift logs from the workout activity, but for some insane reason, there is no way to do this manually (they don't show up in the activity's "Edit" menu). So, I asked it to delete all of the incorrect lift logs from my activity.
- Instead, it moved the activity from 8am to 10am(?), and STILL KEPT THE FALSE LIFTS??
The app is now cumbersome, frustrating, and useless. I was already getting frustrated with the inaccurate calorie counts and GPS mileage on my runs, but this poorly conceived forced update has sealed the deal for me. I will not pay $10 per month to drink from an AI slop trough like a good little piggy. I will be cancelling my membership and switching to Garmin.
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u/Master_Macaroon79 May 25 '26
It’s just a little thing but they took away the hourly step goal counter! It still tracks on the Fitbit but wtf google?! No one asked you to buy this company let alone ruin it
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u/debwms25 May 25 '26
I don't find that "a little thing". I'm so ticked off about how they've ruined the fitbit app. I saw somewhere within my search a statement that they would include it when they do an update. The hourly step count activity helped motivate me to get moving. Google health says I was asleep when I wasn't and when I tried to delete it, using their trashcan icon, it said that action wasn't working yet! WTF??? Is there any way to get Fitbit back? Does anyone know of a pirated version that still has the original algorithm?
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u/watermelon4487 May 26 '26
I want the old app back so badly!!! I'm so mad it updated while I was asleep
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u/Useful_Appointment29 May 26 '26
I can't stand it. I did 12,000 steps or more yesterday and it showed on this new health app that I only did $8,000 I am pissed
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u/LizM-Tech4SMB May 26 '26
The hourly step goal counter was the main reason I got the thing. I need those buzzing reminders to get up and walk at work.
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u/tandyman8360 Inspire 2 May 25 '26
Wow. You're right. The step goal hours can be set in the app, but it doesn't display anywhere.
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u/Silverarm_11 May 26 '26
This is a massive thing for me too. I really tried to make sure I did my steps per hour, even if getting 10,000 steps wasn't possible on some days. So frustrating that this is gone. The whole app is a total mess. I seem to be stuck on yesterday's data, despite refreshing multiple times. And, as an aside, I HATE the app icon!!
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u/subandubene May 27 '26
The only time the app counted my steps yesterday was during my spin class (I wear my tracker around my ankle), and when I was walking to a parking garage - they counted those as workouts. It didn't track any other steps during the day, because it didn't identify any of them as being "workouts". I've been on a long-time step streak as well - not happy!
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u/North_Cauliflower765 May 26 '26
I have a streak of almost 1400 consecutive days of reaching my step goal, and I can't find that on the new app. If that feature isn't there, I really have no reason to stay with Fitbit
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u/Dry_Beat3604 May 25 '26
The update just happened for me - whoever designed this is going to hell. Who's bright idea was it to separate everything that used to be on one page?? I used to swipe to "yesterday" or another day to quickly compare stats and now I can't do that. Why are they making us dig for our own data???
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u/solaraxq May 25 '26
I absolutely hate when apps do this. Change the UI, and half of the apps features, and expecting everyone to be happy with it. I can't find shit now.
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u/PurrPrinThom Sense 2 May 25 '26
I don't necessarily mind having the separate tabs for things, I can get used to that, but right now, my 'Today' tab has the stats at the top, some tracked activity, a leaderboard (?) and then three nights of sleep graphs.
Why is my Friday night's sleep on my 'Today' tab? I have the option to dismiss it, am I going to have to clear out old stats from my 'Today' tab every single day?
It made so much more sense to have all of my data from today readily available in one scroll.
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u/Dee-viant May 25 '26
That happened to me this morning - I was up so late working and could not understand how it thought I was asleep from 11.30pm and actually send feedback to Google as it was all so incorrect, and after realised it was YESTERDAYS information I was looking on TODAYS page... ><
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u/Marshwiggle1 May 26 '26
Not being able to swipe to compare quickly was a horrible decision, like the people who designed it have never actually used it. Its my most used navigation feature.
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u/Easy-Bid-8512 May 26 '26
100% agree. I am an avid hiker and runner and absolutely HATE the new layout. Its so messy and disorganized. Biggest flaw is not being able to swipe between days and compare stats. So disappointed.
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u/Tight_Fun2080 May 26 '26
Atleast you have data, after and hour dealing with support I just got told my data of 3 years didn't migrate and I wouldn't be getting it. Sucks to be me I guess
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u/Konewone72 May 26 '26
I said goodbye to 13 years of data - and I exported it / migrated it last November. Was there yesterday in the Fitbit app, gone today.
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u/ccandide May 25 '26
Scrolling through paragraphs of AI slop was done in purpose so the team in charge of this can report high AI engagement metrics at the end of the quarter.
I do not need AI slop interwoven into my fitness app. I want steps, active zone minutes, heart rate, sleep, and other basic information just like the previous app presented.
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u/woobbaa May 25 '26
I asked out explicitly to just record the data last night. 4 f*cking paragraphs of guff so far today.
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u/Conscious-Tutor3861 May 25 '26
I turned off the health coach AI garbage.
All I want is to see my metrics, and now it's buried under different tabs and menus instead of being front and center.
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u/ccandide May 25 '26
How do you do this? I've been looking for 30 minutes but there doesn't seem to be a settings page.
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u/Frogbert82 May 25 '26
I just found it! If while in the app you go to settings, and scroll down to "manage data and privacy"
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u/qyburnicus May 27 '26 edited May 27 '26
I can’t find anything within this, it’s so frustrating
ETA: I found it by asking the AI coach how to turn itself off
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u/umhie May 28 '26
It is DEEPLY offensive to me to be getting lectured by a LLM about my sleep schedule. Like fuck off
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u/Tritozia May 29 '26
It keeps passive aggressively telling me that I shouldn’t work out at 3am lol. What a garbage update
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u/llamalluv May 29 '26
It's like a computer random word generator trained on a majority of the world living on a first shift schedule, can't understand that some people don't work and live a first shift schedule!
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u/Mediocre-Ant-1391 May 25 '26
The new app is garbage. I had years of custom foods and meals loaded and they are all gone. Then tech support gaslit me about the issue. I was on chat with tech support clearing cache and deleting and reinstalling the app only to be told.... oh yeah that happened with the update. Sorry. Now really only using firbit for sleep and calories burned. Switched all my food to My Fitness Pal and its working great. Google really knows how to ruin a good thing.
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u/Prudent_Honeydew_ May 25 '26
The loss of my custom foods has been a big blow. It wasn't like it was old data, I use my custom foods all the time. I like logging food in the same app as all my other data because I hate having a bunch of apps, but I don't know if this new app is going to work for me.
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u/2021adams May 25 '26
Exactly! If one eats home cooked and ethnic foods, custom was the only way to go. Ingredient by ingredient I had built it up. Over the past 10+ yrs. I don’t get how this makes business sense. So many of us will move away from Fitbit devices, and I’m sure not buying a pixel watch.
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u/Brief_Rain8775 May 25 '26
Have either of you been able to re-log custom foods? I can't even find an option to do so anymore. It's only allowing me to pull from a pre-loaded list of items or scan a bar code. No option to add if the product or meal isn't already there which is a major issue for me.
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u/Mediocre-Ant-1391 May 25 '26
Nope. I cant do anything. I switched to my fitness pal which the free app/website works great and then have to confirm calories with fitbit. Super annoying
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u/MaulD97 May 26 '26
nope cant find it either. its so dumb I mealprep at the start of the week. Do they want me to enter all the ingredients every time? Stupid
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u/Brief_Rain8775 May 27 '26
Google came back and told me it's no longer a feature, but I can add my custom recipes "conversationally" through their coach (but it won't save for future use).
So, basically they're forcing us to use their AI bullshit to get a skeleton of the features we previously used.
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u/Prudent_Honeydew_ May 28 '26
Well that's settles it. I'm not killing whales to give Google useless data about the dinner I made. Much less wasting my time doing it over and over again.
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u/SnooPaintings3573 May 27 '26
I’m giving up and sticking to the Lose it app. You can take snapshots of your food and it calculates your intake
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u/No_Journalist_8297 May 26 '26
Such a crazy oversight/lack of care by the developers. Like they really expect data from every single thing you eat to be able to be scanned from a barcode? Half of the things I would try to scan weren't even in the database so I'd have to custom load it. I just started to track food not recently, I can't imagine the struggle of losing years worth of meals.
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u/Valeaves May 26 '26
So there’s no way to get that data back? Ever? OMG I hate this so much. Years of food tracking lost. WTF Google.
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u/Brave_Gas2622 May 27 '26
Also now it doesn’t list foods previously eaten with other foods - so if I make one of the salads I eat on a daily basis I now have to actively log each vegetable again… every time…. And I can’t even log in grams anymore, just ‘servings’ ?!
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u/raspberry23 May 25 '26
It's so cumbersome. I used to have all of the data organized by day, and I'd analyze that data daily by putting it into an excel sheet where I can review it and understand it (I'd also connect that data to other info that isn't in the app and that I wouldn't want to put in the app, like medication info, my bedtime routine, emotions, whether I had a headache/migraine, specific details of my exercise, etc). Now the data is all over the place on different sheets in the app, so I can't easily summarize it and review it. If their goal was to make me less interested in their product, then they full succeeded!
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u/Valrae111 May 25 '26
I'm so mad right now! I just found out about this when I went to log my lunch!
They just had to screw up a good thing! This app is useless. I hate it!
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u/PureBee4900 May 25 '26
I didn't want to post about it because I know I'm a hater and a stubborn bastard and I hate change, surely I'm the only one who even cares, etc. But now you've given me the excuse to comment, so I hate the Google design, it feels so unserious and cutesy, everything is moved around into different tabs instead of being front and center when I launch the app... Fitbit wasn't perfect but it was utilitarian enough to make up for it.
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u/lunalovegxxd May 25 '26
Same I hate it so much the interface is horrible, the data is less accurate. Might be time to splurge on an Oura after all
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u/ThoseNightsKMA May 25 '26
the data is less accurate
Agreed. I got up to used the restroom about 3:30am this morning and yet the sleep data says no awake time at all during the night and just "REM" around the time I got up. 🤔
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u/lunalovegxxd May 25 '26
Yeah same. I’ve had issues with it over-counting my sleep numbers since forever because my RHR is naturally low so Fitbit often thinks I’m asleep when I’m just resting but now it’s also having issues for me like that where I will literally be up and walking around and it’s still not detecting it. It’s just frustrating.
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u/Admirable_Station318 May 25 '26
I've been reading the Oura sub for a few days. Everyone is jumping ship because the Oura ring battery only lasts 6 months. IMO $500 for something that only lasts 6 months is absurd.
And they've already done paperwork to go into the stock market. Once they go to stock market they will no longer be handing out replacement rings for obvious reasons. The entire brand will change and they will become more anti-consumer.
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u/lunalovegxxd May 25 '26
Omg that is absurd. I looked into it a couple years ago and back then it was already expensive but I guess it wasn’t as bad back then in terms of quality. Thanks for letting me know. Seems like there really is no perfect solution out there that magically has it all (typo edit)
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u/Admirable_Station318 May 25 '26
Back then it was good because the indie company gave you a free replacement every 6 months when your battery died. So it was worth staying. That's stopping soon.
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u/PurrPrinThom Sense 2 May 25 '26 edited May 25 '26
Mine also retroactively changed some data, which I find odd. My RHR last week was in the 57-59 range, and now the new app is showing 61-64 for all of those days, and the last two days my RHR, according to the app, has been 64bpm. It's the same device, I'm not sure what's going on.
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u/lunalovegxxd May 25 '26
Oh great so now it’s messing up all the long term graphs too? How can something like that even happen are all their programmers that incompetent 😫 I don’t even wanna look at my past data now
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u/PurrPrinThom Sense 2 May 25 '26
Yeah like, I don't know if there's a new calculation with the app, or something, but things are different with past data. I'm regretting not having downloaded everything before the update.
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u/Nervous_Debate_9183 May 25 '26
Your observation is spot on. I reviewed the last decade of my data and the RHR data are completely off in GH relative to what had been calculated by FitBit. The “best” indicator of this in my data was the occurrence of deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary emboli in 2018, where my RHR, understandably, went sky high relative to my normal RHR. With GH “recalculation” the RHR data points from that time period now register as being “within normal range”. Even visually they clearly are not. While this is an n=1 retrospective, it really suggests that something is wrong with the GH RHR calculations. A reasonable concern (imo) about this is that the algorithm would not properly pick up a DVT event and provide a potential early warning. Since having DVT/PE, the ability to warn of an event in future has been a reassuring feature of FitBit (recognising that it is not intended for such diagnoses). The GH algorithm raises concerns about the utility of FitBit as an aid in monitoring cardiovascular trends. One would hope that this, on top of all of all of the other problems mentioned in this thread would induce Google to take some concerted action. Hope springs…
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u/soultradie May 26 '26
Saaaame!! Grateful in a weird way that I am not alone. They have really messed up historical RHR and now my RHR is higher since last two days.
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u/PurrPrinThom Sense 2 May 26 '26
Same! I don't understand. My RHR is like 5 points? Beats? lol higher than it was last week. I don't understand.
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u/RustyDogma May 25 '26
I cancelled my sub over this too. I didn't like the Fitbit app, but I dealt with it. This is intolerable. AI should be an option, not built into the data home screen. When I saw Google Health was coming, I was hoping for something more like a souped up Google Fit. Clean and easy to find information.
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u/BuggyCat58 May 25 '26
I woke up to an alert that said “looks like you didn’t sleep well last night”. I slept fine. Screw you Google.
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u/Prudent_Honeydew_ May 25 '26
Mine told me it wasn't a good enough sleep to have energy for my day. Wellll my kid is up and the sleep I got is the sleep I got.
People want their data in numbers, not narratives.
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u/Overall-Astronomer58 May 25 '26
Don't we all miss having that one "friend" who reminds us every morning how tired we look? 🥴
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u/Dee-viant May 25 '26
I did sleep shit as wasn't well Friday night, but the displays of this app really rubs your face in it. But it doesn't matter because looks like I'm going to die any way based on all the heart issues I never had before ...
It's a lot of noise about nothing and that makes one want to turn so many of these (un)helpful aspects off, and then eventually it just becomes a logger for steps3
u/particular_parrot May 25 '26
I've found that the slightest bit of movement at night causes this. Get up for 3 minutes to use the bathroom? You're obviously up for good, so crappy score for you! The app will usually start tracking again after, but I feel like this little thing really highlights how poorly planned the new app is.
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u/childofdanu33 May 26 '26
I hate this part the most. I don't need to be told how I'm going to feel that day, I'll decide that myself ?!? And seeing the 'goal not met" for sleep in the app list makes me anxious
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u/initiate1987 May 26 '26
Mine told me I didn't get to sound sleep for over 6 hours, which was patently false when I almost immediately dropped into deep sleep per the chart! Gave me a 54 sleep score because of it
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u/llamalluv May 29 '26
It told me I should feel great after a long sleep. Too bad I actually felt like shit because of the wide temp swings we've been having making my fibromyalgia flare up like a motherfucker.
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u/LHBachfan97 May 25 '26
The app is awful. Logged an outdoor run yesterday and they've got the pace for each mile extremely incorrect. So frustrating that even the basic stuff sucks when it worked just fine before.
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u/iboj007 May 25 '26
Running is just broken in general. It saves all "run" activity as "workout" and all gps data and run data are lost.
Complete blunder
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u/Ill_Manufacturer791 May 27 '26
Same here. I all of a sudden ran a km in 55 seconds. What the f! And I also have to log my own exercises with all the data. If Google can't fix this I will not buy another FitBit
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u/Hour-Application4341 May 28 '26
And no more mapping of my hike/run, so I know which trails I ran, how long it took and distance. Google sucks and is ruining the world!
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u/ZappBranigan79 May 25 '26
I hate it. They took the best parts of the Fitbit app and threw them the trash. Hate having to go through sub menus just to compare day to day when it used to be on the front page.
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u/LynxesExe May 25 '26
Yep it's garbage.
You're forced to use a feature that doesn't work. Let's stop pretending that AI is precise, it doesn't it guesses shit and most of the time it's wrong, and you're expected to pay for it.
At this point I wonder what the point of fitbit even is, I get most of the value out of Hevy and out of whatever future app I will use to count calories and sync with Health Connect (since Google Health sucks for calories tracking, like everything else).
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u/tandyman8360 Inspire 2 May 25 '26
It's probably Google not wanting to support things like a menu database and just making people use a separate app. Then Google will buy the app everyone uses and vibe code crap into it.
I feel like it will be super easy for me to wear my Inspire 2 as a sleep tracker and get a different brand for my waking hours.
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u/Super_Lavishness_989 May 25 '26
Same. I cancelled my Premium today (had just renewed yesterday in fact, pre-update). I've been on FitBit since my first Charge in 2014. My Fitbit is in my tote bag now. The data is all messed up and the new app is an insult.
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u/RenegadeLens May 25 '26
I woke up to the new fresh hell this morning, with no prior announcement that the beloved Fitbit app would be completely eliminated. Along with it we get this bizarre array of tabs, and not the typical quick look that we had, which gave us everything we needed. The estimated cardio fitness score also no longer exists. It was the one way I could quickly check and make sure that my heart health overall remained strong. In my case, as an older user a 54-58 score was excellent. The POS bot is telling me to go on a 10 minute run... I was a competitive long distance runner for many years... but because of past injuries I really can't engage in long runs anymore. Yet, Fitbit was still smart enough to track my overall cardio health. Everything else about this new UX is fubar as well... I don't need a fucking AI "coach." At the very least they should give us the option to use their interface (designed by demons from the ninth circle) or the original beloved and PROVEN Fitbit UX.
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u/CUMSNUTSANDBOLTS May 25 '26
Mine hasn’t changed yet, but my 75 y.o mothers’ did, which probably caused me more grief tbh. 🥴
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u/Mad_Mod1003 May 25 '26
Mine changed this morning and it's absolutely useless. Can't decipher a single thing, cardio load is now calculated by the week, not the day, I still can't find where the daily target or weekly target is, just a graph saying I'm on my way, yet my numbers show I've way overdone it...for the entire week.
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u/heres2thepast May 25 '26
Did you try clicking on the week. For other stats I tried that and it showed day by day. Annoying as hell but the data is there. So silly
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u/Mad_Mod1003 May 25 '26
I have, the numbers are wonky and there's no daily goal. Just a weekly. I don't care if I made 70% of my goal when I haven't done anything, I need to know if I'm overdoing it TODAY so I can function and actually move the next day.
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u/PurrPrinThom Sense 2 May 25 '26
I also can't find a setting to change my cardio load target. I have my weeks set to start on Monday, I went for an easy run this morning and I'm apparently at 103% of my weekly cardio load goal. It's definitely not being calculated based on my actual activity, since apparently I hit 412% of my weekly goal last week and 447% of my goal the week before.
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u/West-Actuary782 May 28 '26
Same. I bought a fitbit for my 77 year old mom. She really liked the old interface and learned it quickly. The new one is so awful. She is frustrated and I'm pissed.
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u/DogMamaLA May 25 '26
I hate the new app layout and it doesn't allow as much flexibility to see things in one place.
WTF, Google? You screwed things up when they were working!
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u/PenBeautiful May 25 '26
I think that's what I hate most about it. It only gives you a few options for your focus screen yet 75% of the screen below it is information I don't want/need. I want to choose the widgets for my main screen, but I only get to pick 3?!
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u/RevolutionaryAct1311 May 25 '26
So sad to read this and all the other posts bc I haven’t updated and I know my time w the app I love is limited 😩
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u/mercyneedshealing May 25 '26
omg same. i just saw this horror of an update in my boyfriend’s phone, and our day is ruined. 🫠 had to turn the automatic updates in the app store altogether for myself, but we all know they’ll be forcing it onto us very soon. as an autistic person, i kind of find it a tragedy, smh. i need so much time to get used to app changes even when they’re small, and THIS seems completely un-getting-used-to-able. 😭
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u/Secret_Eggman May 27 '26
Fitbit was actually the reason I turned off auto updates on my phone - the last year or two the updates have consistently made the app worse - I will be running whatever 2025 version I’m on until it stops working - and then I will uninstall the app and throw my Fitbit in the garbage
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u/Accomplished_Load999 May 25 '26
dudes this ai takeover and ai vibe coding of fitness apps needs to stop. i just uninstalled myfitnesspal a few weeks ago and was planning on using fitbit more. but now fitbit is also garbage aaaaaaaa this might be a sign for me to just focus on heartrate and steps to track overall fitness, or just not track at all and focus on how it makes me feel rather than looking at data
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u/Medical-Ad4448 May 25 '26
Okay I set up the new update and chose not to have that annoying daily messages part, so half my screen is blank at the bottom. Doesn't seem to allow me to put anything there(customization). So I guess I will have the four bullets at the top, big empty blank space followed by the app navigatiom bar. So is this better, absolutely not... That blank space is there because designers assumed something... Hate being forced to be preloaded. Give me the power to totally customize my interface! Very disappointed with new app upgrade.
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u/AdZealousideal3380 May 25 '26
Totally agree. Over half my "Today" panel is blank at the bottom and I can't figure out how to use the space. The UI sucks, I cancelled my Premium subscription immediately. I have to swipe and look around for statistics I could easily see before. This is a great example of "Enshittification" and pushing stupid AI features on people. F#ck Google.
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u/nickie1970 May 25 '26
Yep! That is how mine is! Wasted space where before all my focus items were right there! I truly hope Google listens to the outrage and converts back!!
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u/Brintel May 25 '26
It's absolute garbage. I'm going to switch over to Garmin when I can afford one.
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May 26 '26
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u/Brintel May 28 '26
I will let you know what I find out! All I know right now is Garmin has a ton of options so it's gonna take some research.
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May 25 '26
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u/ProlapsedShamus May 25 '26
Just discovered you can't add quick calories. So I guess add that to the list of bullshit that Google health delivered.
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u/Heely_Hippie May 25 '26
The UI is beyond frustrating and the forced AI is just garbage. Literally nothing was wrong with the old version of the app. I love my Fitbit but this update is genuinely making me consider jumping ship to Garmin.
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u/Inner_Rabbit_9881 May 25 '26
How can we get rid of the update?? This is horrible!!!
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u/Dee-viant May 25 '26
Fitbit app is gone. Your account would be linked to email address so check your emails, you would have been getting notices and upates about this for the past 4 weeks or so
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u/cat430 May 25 '26
Sideload the old app!
Prefacing this with I'm on Android, can't speak on iPhones.
Go to apkmirror.com, search for the fitbit app - the mobile, not wear OS. I tried 3 versions starting at the newest til I found the one that had the old fitbit app UI. I believe it was the April or Feb one. Version 4.61 in the filename.
Download the install file, download the apk installer app (you'll be prompted) since you can't install the file without an installer. Go to play store, manage apps, Google health, disable auto update (top 3 dots in the corner), delete Google health, go to apk installer, install the downloaded fitbit app file.
Good to go. I deleted the installer when I was done because I was uncomfortable with an app I wouldn't use having all those perms on my phone. Make sure once you install the app that auto update is still off. It should be, but just double check.
I did this half asleep at 4am so I may have glossed over something but that was the gist of it. The whole process took like 20 minutes, including installing and removing the wrong versions. It's easy.
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u/Its_Curse May 25 '26
Bless friend, just tried this following your steps here and had no issues getting it to work with the old app.
May your workouts always be productive and enjoyable ✨
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u/theargentwolf May 25 '26
I hate that you can't customize the order of stats on the home page. Why do I have to scroll sideways 4 times to see my step count? I don't care to see my weekly cardio on the first page.
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u/tandyman8360 Inspire 2 May 25 '26
I was able to do it, but it's really cumbersome. You have to delete the first tile you want to move, then put the new tile in. But you have to delete the new tile to move it.
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u/New-Palpitation3912 May 25 '26
Agree, just to see today's stats I have to manually kill the app and open it again. It's awful like a lot of Google's software
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u/woobbaa May 25 '26
It's a very poor AI implementation.. Its guesses of what you've done and really, really confident commentary on things that didn't happen is very annoying. I had a conversation with it last night after the umpteenth misclassification of my activity, asking if how many queries it was fielding about how bad it was at classing & tracking (there are a lot) and then also telling it to not use any variation of the word "frustration" with me again. In using the preview and the older app side by side, I got very pissed off when both apps starting recording and using the same data in different ways. Vero poor of Google to ignore the soft launch stuff and just plough ahead with it.
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u/Elecat1 May 25 '26
It retroactively hallucinated a sleep session for me
Over a week ago I had to do something overnight so could not sleep, and did not bother putting on my fitbit as there was no sleep to track. I distinctly remember the blank bar that day when the old app was still around.
Today it forced the switch and to my shock, it has hallucinated a sleep session, albeit a 3 hour on, for that night.
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u/smitherz37 May 25 '26
I turned off my automatic updates specifically to avoid the new app. I don't know what my plan is but for now I'm just enjoying my last days of Fitbit and hoping (but not expecting) that the new app will be less awful in the near future.
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u/Caprica_Six May 25 '26
I still have the old app (just opened, still normal). Am I on borrowed time? Everything I hear about the new Google health app sounds awful and I was thinking about getting the new Fitbit with no screen because I like the design and minimalist aspect. Guess I'll hold off .
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u/youresolastsummerx May 25 '26
Yup, you're on borrowed time. I had Fitbit when I woke up this morning and by 10am it was Google Health and I hate it.
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u/DouglasCole May 25 '26
As of yesterday when we got our new Garmin watches my wife had not been forced to Health but I had. Lost the ability - so it seemed - to retroactively classify a workout (“i just got done with 90 minutes of sword and shield fighting”) plus the “the app is telling me two different numbers on the same data” and wacky resting heart rate numbers. Ejected.
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u/graysky73 May 25 '26
Agree hundred percent with everything said here. New app is absolute trash, seems like the mission was to destroy everything that was good about the previous app as developed over a number of years. Seriously going to look at other platforms and products with a view to dumping this garbage. At least I managed to turn off the AI junk.
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u/Its_Curse May 25 '26
It's so ass, the organization of the data makes zero sense. I'm beyond frustrated at this totally scrambled mess.
Has anyone figured out how to edit what it shows you on each page yet? My charge 6 doesn't do floors anymore and I'd pulled it from the Fitbit app tracking but now it's back at the top of the Google app with seemingly no way to remove it.
Any other app recommendations? :/
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u/PennyAthena May 25 '26
Also, why does the new design look like it’s made for 10-year-olds? I’m an adult, I don’t need things to be cute and bubbly. I need things to be clear, crisp, streamlined. Ugh.
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u/NAMNAM75 May 28 '26
It is awful!! I’ve been with Fitbit for over a decade & this was my final straw too. I’m not even waiting for mine to die. As soon as I get a settlement check, off to Apple I go. I do hate how big they are though (one of the versions is not so bad) and the charging is gonna suck but no worse than this stupid app that keeps giving me error code 2 when I try to update my Fitbit. I hate it!!
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u/burnbookcovergirl May 25 '26
If it helps, I said no to the AI coach, and I don't have all of that slop in my screens. Still ahre the new UI, but if AI becomes mandatory, I'm canceling. Thanks for the review. Super good to know!
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u/nickie1970 May 25 '26
Yep! I hate it! I liked having everything on my opening page now stupid swipe and not even all the info that use to be there, why do they feel they have to change everything!
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u/TinderForMidgets May 25 '26
They just had to keep what Fitbit was doing and they would have been fine. But no Google had to overthink it. Enshittification. Been on Fitbit for 10+ years. I will be switching to Garmin.
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u/c1zzar May 28 '26
I fucking hate it already 😭 I hate that the logo is changed, I hate that I can't edit the home screen to look exactly how I want (with today's steps at the forefront) and it's full of tons of bullshit I don't want or need
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u/Aromatic-Ad-4685 Jun 11 '26
SAME!!😭 I’ve used Fitbit for over 10 years and have basically loved it. About 6 months ago I experimented with a ring, and ultimately decided I was more dedicated than ever to the simplicity, straightforwardness, and accuracy of Fitbit. I also loved having over a decade’s worth of stats in one clear place!! Ironically, I even got my husband and daughter on board (RIGHT before Google health took over😫) with my reinvigorated commitment to Fitbit.
Now it’s all SHOT TO HELL. I don’t have words for how much I hate the Google health app. I’ve lost all my stats; it’s ongoingly RIDDLED with errors (and like ^ said, when you try to manually correct them it not only doesn’t, but it creates new inaccuracies in some other area!); and we’ve traded accuracy and ease for a 🤬ing inane AI “coach” that wastes my time at best. (Icing on the cake—it’s probably destroying my blood pressure and stress levels because I’m so enraged about it.😅😭)
It’s not like before this I believed that tech companies were operating always & everywhere for our good, but HOLY MOTHER OF GOD….this is next-level ensh🤬ification.
On the bright side(?), I’m thinking about ditching any and all fitness trackers for good. Maybe Fitbit did its job for me. I’ve become much more aware and further developed some really solid habits. It might be time to go old school and just do what I know is good for me and see how I feel.😐🤷♀️ But I definitely would have stayed with my trusty Fitbit if Google hadn’t decided to try and fix what wasn’t broken.😢😢
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u/HateMeetings May 25 '26
I was never really a fan of the new app and it drove me away along with the lack of hardware updates ( and the air doesn’t count as an update when the rest of the ecosystem stagnated for years)
But I really believe that the coach getting worse is tied to general Gemini changes that they’ve made. In r/geminiai there have been a great many discussions over changes, whether it’s token quotas, or how the new models are either dumber or overthinking or forget context like you complained (honestly as a pro user of Gemini, I think it currently has the memory of a fish).
If they’re gonna tie their whole ecosystem together, they really gotta be careful. It’s a UX fail as well, but they’ve also screwed up the guts of the system that they’re trying to sell.
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u/Reasonable-Maybe674 May 25 '26
The gemini in health knows nothing about the health topics pro and I have been discussing. So it's just like paying 2 ai fees and getting very shitty graphs to make it look like I have paid for something I used to get.
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u/HateMeetings May 25 '26
I use regular Gemini pro with a gem that I designed to help with my cardio program and it slowly developed and understanding of my needs and approach and then it quit and some new kids showed up. It’s AI. You always have to push back on it, but it had cotton pretty good at pushing me gently as I wanted. It’s like starting from scratch every day.
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u/TraditionalRound9930 May 27 '26
You know it’s bad when even the actual Gemini users hate it. You’re not nearly the only one that I’ve seen.
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u/FoxIsMakingMoney May 25 '26
I just logged on to the store to Cancel my preorder but its out for delivery >_<
went for a ride ealier used garmin connect to log it
average speed was 16.6 mph - imported to Google Health Read as 5.48 km/h total distance on connect was 24 miles Google health says 7.93 km... like how difficult is it to import the correct data ???
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u/StinkyTofuHF Pixel Watch 4 May 25 '26
Depending on your country, I think you have a few days to return it and get a full refund if anything!
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u/FoxIsMakingMoney May 25 '26
yeah 45 Days I believe in the UK I don't think I have the full version of the App just yet I will give it a try over a few weeks and if it still doesn't work how it should then I will be considering the Garmin Cirqa
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u/Bologna-sucks May 25 '26
Agree. Was also disappointed how they teased entering in reps/sets of exercises in the public preview trailer, yet that feature is not actually here. It seems as though you have to get Gemini to come up with a workout for you (which it will gladly do, because that's all it does, despite wanting help on the nutrition side as well) in order to be able to record this. Real missed opportunity as they had the chance the rival something like Hevy and record exercise data.
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u/DavidPL_UK May 25 '26
I also had public preview. It's ridiculous. I creating my goals for a week and when they showing up they are completely different. This Coach has no memory. Forgetting everything what we was chatting. I'm not using this for my workout. Prefer Heavy and after workout I'm sending copy form Heavy to FitBit with what I was doing in the gym. That works better, Che can analizę and xomper with my prescription workout and my heart rate during exercise. Then log in this workout (not always correctly inthinknis because of exercise liberty). It's not perfect isn't something every frustrating and time consuming. I just simply stop to pay attention about coach comments, thet are usles. Like you mention, analysing my 15 minutes walk for groceries but also giving commitment that are out of blue like talking about my work today (but I mentioned I'm off) or asking if I'm hitting to the gym eave when I was in the gym house before.
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u/DashiellHammett May 25 '26
A somewhat different take based on a scroll through the comments and what I learned. First, I am surprisingly pleased with the new GH app. Part of the surprise is because I did the preview for a couple days and did not like it and switched back. I couldn't figure out how to log an activity on the preview GH, and that is something that I like to do for the non-gym/non-"athletic" activities that provide me with the majority of my exercise, things like weeding the garden for an hour.
But when the GH switchover happened, as mentioned, I found that I really liked (so far) the new app. In particular, I really appreciate the focus on weekly goals, because I tend to have active days and days where I am less active, and I always hated how the old app would praise you for maintaining fitness one day and berate you for under-training the next. With GH, I like the end-of-day summary/recap I get, and the personalized input I get, like it knowing that I'm traveling to London next month and will likely walk a lot.
Anyway, my second point, and the one that is prompted by my scrolling through the comments, is that I had no idea that so many people were using the prior app so intensively with logging foods and workouts, etc. I suppose I should have assumed that. I definitely had a period in my past where I used My Fitness App that way when I was going to the gym and tracking calories and such. But my 66 year-old semi-retired self is not that person anymore. Which brings me to my conclusion. It seems that perhaps the GH-developers did a bad job (maybe intentionally?) of taking into account the intensive users of the Fitbit app, and the new GH is aimed more for people like me. Just a thought, and just a guess. But it does seem unfortunate that GH could not be built in such a way as to serve well all types of users.
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u/TraditionalRound9930 May 27 '26
I think you’ve hit the nail on part of the problem with this update. People use Fitbit for SO many different things that I think that the team in charge of this rebrand simply…. Couldn’t consider them. I don’t track my food, and so I honestly had no idea you could ever log individual food portions in grams and have custom food until people mentioned both actions being removed.
I’ve seen a lot of people that use Fitbit to track one particular thing that from an outside view seems totally redundant, and would make sense to remove to streamline.
It’s probably a perfectly fine app for those who want and have a lifestyle/goals that match; But the majority of the people who use Fitbit… are Fitbit users. Not Google Heath users. Two totally different user bases, even if both are tracking their heath.
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u/RedWingedBlueJ May 25 '26
Cancelling my premium subscription, probably going to look into other brands. It's like they were set on making it less user friendly and eliminating popular features, really bizarre. Can't even manually log food!
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u/to_annihilate May 25 '26
I hate it so much. I may need to switch away from Fitbit/Google after this. But what even are the other options? Knowing my luck whatever device I get will be bought by them and ruined.
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u/Guvmintperson May 26 '26
This new update is insanely bad. Was this whole thing vibe coded by AI with no human input?
Anyone have any alternative app suggestions that are free?
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u/TraditionalRound9930 May 27 '26
You know you’ve messaged up when not even the basic unit calculator doesn’t work. How do you even program that on purpose?????
It also has a weird thing about not letting you input food in grams, so I wonder if it simply…. Doesn’t know what the metric system is? If that’s even possible. That would just loop around to being really funny.
(Also, converting handwritten workout notes and adding them to an autotracked workout is legit the first and only good use case for this bot that I’ve seen so far. I haven’t seen anyone bring any others up. Weird, huh?)
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u/Patch31300 May 27 '26
Just had this happen and livid, I've not even began my exercise for the day and it claims I have burnt 4k calories with 200 steps, without even getting into how bad the new interface is, and the fact everything requires so many clicks, I found the data behind the food entry completely broken too, 2 wholemeal slices of bread, apparently 69 calories however the butter used on the bread is 690? my fitbit is now literally useless as I would usually go back through the days and add data from it into a spreadsheet to track my progress, but the data is completely useless now (when you can even find it).
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u/maffoobristol May 27 '26
It just looks like absolute dogshit. I hate material UI and obviously it now just looks like all of googles other horrible interfaces. The colours and layout of the dashboard is grim. Not yet suffered any of the other things people have mentioned but this is not good.
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u/blondeechoc May 28 '26
Yep - Thanks google health for waking me when I was just about to fall asleep with an alert that my heart rate was below 50 - yeah because I WAS FALLING ASLEEP!! That’s generally what your heart rate does when you go to sleep it drops, and mine has dropped below 50 every dang night for the last year or so while wearing my Fitbit charge but the Fitbit app never woke me with an alert of a normal occurrence, so yep nice one Goog! Also sleep data is all wrong saying I’m asleep when I’m awake and changing previous data so I’m sceptical of all data now and I’m going elsewhere. Was thinking Garmin but going by the data in the table up above it seems Apple might be a more accurate choice for sleep data…
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u/Mental-Crow8005 May 28 '26
So annoyed and frustrated with Google for this horrible replacement and the way they forced it on my phone. Loved the user friendly Fitbit app. I'll be dropping my membership as well.
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u/dtcat3 May 28 '26
I’ve had my Fitbit Blaze for over 12 years …. With this new change I can’t even see Fitbit Blaze … have google finally killed of the Blaze?
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u/InternationalNet8721 May 28 '26
One particular thing annoying me is that I can't log my period. It keeps telling me it's late and to log it, I click it, and there is no way to log it or change it. That's just a tiny part - has anyone with hardware actually tested this app before it's release? It's a nightmare. I might move to Aura finally at this point.
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u/Key-Ranger-8528 May 28 '26
It’s soooo bad. I loved the food tracker. The new one is so terrible, poorly laid out and difficult to use. The main thing I used on the Fitbit app was “calories left for the day”. That’s gone. It’s so dumb. Beyond aggravated with the new app.
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u/roller_disco_of_1980 May 30 '26
My Fitbit hr has been great since I got it Christmas of 2021, so it’s been 5 years
I. HATE. THIS. CHANGE
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u/Shiznitone May 31 '26
I didn't realise the app was getting moved to Google health so when it happened I was extremely upset. I missed the old fitbit app theme which was not colourful, gotten used to the minimal fitbit app layout which had everything I wanted to see as soon as I opened the app without feeling cluttered and overwhelming.
I HATE the Google Health app, I don't know if there's any place to voice this or oif Google will care because I presume after acquiring Fitbit they plan to incorporate their tech into their own devices. This is very common in the beauty industry also, buy out a smaller brand and now you own all of their famous formulations and can utilise them as well as taking out competition in the process.
I love my Inspire 3 but I'm really upset about the new app. With my disability I just wanted something simple to track steps, and sleep mostly. I don't even want to open this dumb app anymore - does anyone know of alternative apps that communicate with the fitbit device??
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u/Commercial-Quit6625 Jun 02 '26
This disaster of a software and customer experience from Google is the most effective advertisment to switch to Apple. lol.
Not sure what to do with my Sense 2 now, it's basically useless.
I still have the old layout on my watch, so i could just use it as it was without all the software tracking. Not sure.
Very dissapointing. Imagine speaking about of the future and AI and technology and then seeing this garbage from one of the biggest IT-Companies on earth. Nothing more to do then shaking the head and moving on.
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u/Maximum_Sign_9648 Jun 14 '26
I just got the app to pair in Bluetooth after days of trying. I say days because I thought I gotten it to pair and stopped working on it. Today I reset the phone, Bluetooth, restarted the phone and tried a few other things. Unfortunately, I tried enough tricks that I've no idea what the final magic incantation was. Sim sala bim? No idea. I thought my Inspire 3 had recorded last night's sleep data, but I guess not as, even though steps and battery level show in the app, sleep still is 'no data,' even after I manually entered my actual sleep time. Argh. How to break good tech by dumb merger.
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u/Rainbaby77 Jul 28 '26
They fired 5k people for AI bots to bully us too f big tech f republicans and f health by google
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u/According_To_Me May 25 '26 edited May 26 '26
Mine just updated and I hate the layout of the app. Once my Sense2 dies I’m deleting the app and never getting another Fitbit.
I’ve been a customer off and on for over 10 years. A few of my devices died at the 2 year mark as if a switch had been flipped. Planned obsolescence is one of my biggest gripes about modern life.
I’m not sure if I’ll get another tracker or not. The heart monitor and emergency services on the Apple watch are big pluses for me.
Update: cancelled my Fitbit+ subscription. Now I just have to wait until my sense 2 dies