Fitbit is a company that produces a range of popular fitness trackers. In fact, those trackers are so popular that Google decided to buy the company in 2019. There’s big money to be made from fitness wearables, with Apple, Samsung, and Garmin all offering fitness tracking devices, so it’s no real surprise that Google wanted to get a bigger piece of the action.
The acquisition does have one important consequence for current Fitbit users; by 2025, your Fitbit devices will stop working with original Fitbit accounts. You’ll need to move your Fitbit account over to a Google account instead. If you’re a Fitbit user, here’s how to move your Fitbit account to Google.
Why do I need to move my Fitbit account to Google?
It’s the way of the world; big companies buy smaller companies and get even bigger. Meta now owns Instagram, WhatsApp, and Oculus, Apple owns Beats and Shazam, and Google owns Nest and YouTube. Then, in 2019, Google announced its $2.1 billion acquisition of popular fitness wearable company Fitbit.
As with all of these acquisitions, there are some benefits for consumers, and some downsides. One of the downsides with the Fitbit acquisition is that if you already have a Fitbit account, you’ll need to migrate to a Google account. The good news is that there isn’t a huge rush to do so; Google has said that the legacy Fitbit accounts will keep working until at least 2025. You’re going to have to do it at some point, however, so you may want to get ahead of the game.
How to move your Fitbit account to Google
When you open the Fitbit app, you may see a prompt explaining that you’ll need to move your Fitbit account to your Google account. You can choose to follow these instructions immediately or dismiss the prompt and carry on with your Fitbit account. If you do decide to move your account to Google, you can’t reverse the decision once it’s completed.
If you want to make the move when you see the prompt, here’s what to do.
- Open the Fitbit app.
- When the prompt to move your account to Google appears, tap Get Started.
- Tap Step 1: Choose your Google Account.
- Select your Google account from the list or tap Add another account if the account you want to use isn’t listed. If you don’t already have a Google account, you’ll need to follow the on-screen instructions to create one.
- Tap Step 2: Review and confirm your Fitbit setup.
- Edit your profile information, health and wellness data if necessary and tap Continue.
- Review or edit your connected Fitbit devices and tap Continue.
- Review or edit the apps currently connected to Fitbit and tap Continue.
- Check your email and notification preferences and tap Continue.
- Review your Fitbit Premium scores and assessments and tap Continue.
- Tap Step 3: Review how Google uses Fitbit data and agree to move.
- Review how Google handles your data, and if you’re happy, tap the boxes to grant your consent.
- Tap Agree & move.
- Decide if you want to share your health data with Google and whether you want to sync your data to Google’s Health Connect.
- Tap Done and your account is now migrated from Fitbit to your chosen Google account.
- You can return to the main app and use it as usual.
How to move your Fitbit account if you dismissed the prompt
If you selected Maybe later when you first saw the prompt in the app asking if you wanted to move Fitbit to your Google account, then you can find the option to migrate in your Fitbit settings.
- Open the Fitbit app.
- In the Today tab, tap the Settings icon.
- Select Move Account.
- Follow the steps in the section above to migrate your account.
Do I have to move my Fitbit account to Google?
In the short term, you don’t need to move your Fitbit account to Google, as legacy Fitbit accounts will still keep working until at least 2025. However, at some point, the Fitbit accounts will stop working, and you’ll only be able to use your Fitbit devices with a Google Account. If you’re not a fan of Google or the company’s use of your data, then you’ve got plenty of time to get yourself a fitness tracker from another company that you find more palatable.
