The Slow Dissolution of Fitbit

The End of an Era: Google Absorbs Fitbit, Phasing Out Iconic Fitness Brand

In a significant moment for the wearable technology industry, Fitbit, once synonymous with fitness trackers and health wearables, is set to disappear as a standalone brand. This follows its acquisition by Google, which was officially finalized in early 2021. As part of Google’s strategic integration, Fitbit’s identity has faded into the wider ecosystem of Google’s tech products, marking the end of a brand that defined the health and fitness tech market for over a decade.

Fitbit’s Rise to Fitness Fame

Founded in 2007, Fitbit quickly gained traction by pioneering the wearable fitness tracker market. Its products provided users with an easy way to monitor daily activity, calories burned, heart rate, and sleep patterns—offering fitness enthusiasts and casual users alike a valuable tool for maintaining a healthier lifestyle. The company’s focus on user-friendly devices, paired with strong software for tracking and analyzing data, made Fitbit a household name by the mid-2010s.

At its peak, Fitbit controlled nearly a third of the wearable tech market. It was lauded for its innovation, especially in merging fitness with tech in a way that appealed to the masses. The company released several successful devices, including the Fitbit Charge, Fitbit Versa, and Fitbit Inspire, all of which evolved into fully-fledged smartwatches and fitness trackers.

However, as other manufacturers entered the wearables space with more advanced, feature-rich smartwatches, Fitbit struggled to maintain its dominance. Its market share began to dwindle, leading the company to seek out new partnerships and potential acquirers.

The Google Acquisition

In November 2019, Google announced its plan to acquire Fitbit for $2.1 billion. The deal, finalized in January 2021, was seen as a move for Google to bolster its own wearable technology offerings, specifically to enhance its Wear OS platform and compete more aggressively with Apple’s industry-leading Apple Watch.

Google’s interest in Fitbit went beyond its hardware. Fitbit had amassed vast amounts of health and fitness data over the years—valuable information for Google, whose ambitions in the health tech space were growing. Fitbit’s user base, estimated to be over 29 million active users at the time of the acquisition, represented a treasure trove of data that could help Google refine its health and wellness-related products.

The Slow Dissolution of Fitbit

Since the acquisition, Google has slowly integrated Fitbit’s technology into its broader ecosystem, particularly into its Wear OS software. The Google Pixel Watch, launched in October 2022, marked the beginning of this transition. Powered by Wear OS, the watch integrated Fitbit’s health and fitness tracking capabilities, effectively signaling the beginning of the end for Fitbit-branded devices.

Throughout 2023 and 2024, Google has been gradually sunsetting the Fitbit brand. While Fitbit’s software and fitness tracking algorithms continue to exist within the Pixel Watch and other Google devices, new Fitbit-branded wearables have stopped being developed. Google has shifted its focus to consolidating its smartwatch and fitness offerings under the Google Pixel umbrella, which includes upcoming Pixel Watch releases that will feature further enhancements from Fitbit’s legacy technology.

Fitbit’s online presence, support, and community have also been rebranded or merged into Google’s services. Users are now directed to Google Fit and Google’s support infrastructure for troubleshooting, while Fitbit’s mobile app and platform have been retooled to reflect Google’s branding and vision.

What Does This Mean for Fitbit Users Running Healthcare Projects or Research Studies?

The slow dissolution of Fitbit is a major challenge for organisations that have been utilising Fitbit hardware for their research studies and healthcare use cases. On the one hand, concerns are raised on how Google is handling the highly sensitive data collected by its newly acquired devices and on the other hand it is expected that technical support and innovations will end soon making the devices useless for long-term utilisation.

Organisations that have been relying on Fitbit hardware need to seek alternatives asap. 

What Are Alternatives to Fitbit Devices for Research Studies?

The immediate alternative to Fitbit can be Google itself. The Google Pixel Watch is a large and significant product on the market, incorporates Fitbit technology and provides advanced health tracking functionality. 

A few pros/cons of the Google Pixel Watch are: 

✅ vast amount of health data types

⚠️ missing model variety

⚠️ high cost as cheap entry model is not available

⚠️ requires all users to be equipped with Android phones

⚠️ data handling strategy relies on Google as all data is routed via their servers

Another alternative could be Apple. The Apple Watch is also a large and significant product on the market and provides advanced health tracking functionality, too.

The Apple Watch pros/cons are quite similar to the Google Pixel Watch: 

✅ vast amount of health data types

⚠️ missing model variety

⚠️ high cost as cheap entry model is not available

⚠️ requires all users to be equipped with iPhones

⚠️ data handling strategy relies on Apple as all data is routed via their servers

The next alternative to look into is Oura. The Oura ring has been become famous for its sleep tracking and it has been continuously adding further health tracking functionality.

The Oura Ring pros/cons are: 

✅ large amount of health data types

⚠️ missing model variety

⚠️ high cost as cheap entry model is not available and full data access requires additional subscription

⚠️ each ring has a custom size making it difficult to reuse for future projects and studies

⚠️ data handling strategy relies on Oura as all data is routed via their servers

Another alternative is Garmin. Garmin is a large and significant player on the market and its devices provide advanced health tracking functionality.

Compared to Google, Apple and Oura, Garmin dissolves all of their challenges. Utilising Garmin devices in healthcare and research studies come with a variety of benefits such as:

✅ vast amount of health data types

✅ large model variety

✅ low cost as cheap entry models are available

✅ users can use their own phones (BYOD – bring your own device), either Android or iOS

✅ data handling strategy can freely be defined as Garmin devices can be synced exclusively via Fitrockr without using any Garmin servers

✅ data and device utilisation is backed by a massive 1,000+ research study database at Garmin

Further alternatives such as Polar, Suunto, Samsung and Whoop have not been specifically assessed due to their small footprint in the healthcare and research study utilisation.