New Fitbit users will be required to sign up with a Google account, starting next year, while it also looks like one will be needed to access some of the new features in the coming years.
Google has been slowly integrating Fitbit into the fold since buying it back in November 2019. Indeed, the latest product is now known as “Fitbit by Google.” However, as is currently the case, device owners have been able to maintain separate accounts for their Google and Fitbit accounts.
Google has now revealed that it will bring Google Accounts to Fitbit in 2023, allowing a single sign-on for both services. From this point on, all new signups 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 help with the transition, once you start offering Google accounts, it will be possible to transfer existing devices while keeping all the registered data.
In a post on Fitbit support pages (via 9to5Google), Google wrote: “We plan to enable Fitbit use with a Google account sometime in 2023. Google Accounts on Fitbit will support a number of benefits for Fitbit users, including a single sign-on for Fitbit and Google services Other features, industry-leading account security, centralized privacy controls for Fitbit user data, and more features from Google on Fitbit.
“We will be transparent with our customers about the schedule for termination of Fitbit accounts through notifications within the Fitbit app, by email, and in help articles.”
Whether that will be enough to allay the concerns of Fitbit’s user base – who had no say in whether Google bought their personal fitness data – remains to be seen.
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