Google's deal to buy fitness tracker maker Fitbit closed in early 2021, and now the company is gearing up to migrate Fitbit user accounts.
Google's support page says, "We plan to enable Fitbit use with a Google account sometime in 2023" and that point, "certain uses of Fitbit will require a Google account, including to register or activate newly released devices. ".
Google also says that support for Fitbit accounts will continue until at least early 2025. After support ends, users will need a Google account. Customers will begin receiving relevant notifications in the Fitbit app, email, and help articles.
When the credentials are migrated, Google will receive the health data of Fitbit users. In doing so, the company states that “consent will be required to share Fitbit user data with Google” and that “the company will then provide services in accordance with Fitbit’s Terms of Service, Privacy Policy, and Fitbit’s commitments.”
In August 2020, EU antitrust regulators suspended the sale of Fitbit. Regulators feared that Google would use data about Fitbit users for their own purposes, including personalized advertising. At the end of December, the European Commission approved the deal on the condition that Google would not use user data for advertising. The commission noted that Fitbit owns only 5% of the European market, which already has larger competitors, including Apple, Garmin and Samsung. Google is now committed to not using Fitbit users' health and wellness data for Google Ads.
The company notes that after the migration, users will get single sign-on for Fitbit and other Google services, "industry-leading account security, centralized privacy controls for Fitbit, and other features from Google."
It is possible that Google Fit will become a new application for Fitbit devices, and it will probably be necessary to switch to a Google API like the Google Fit API. As a result, some functions of Fitbit devices may be preserved, but others will be completely lost.
bbabo.Net