I Think FitBit Should Be Improved!

I’ve been daily driving the Google Pixel Watch since the new year and I think it’s a brilliant watch, not only does it work extremely well but Google’s WearOS experience feels great in terms of usability.

But here’s the thing, I like to use my smartwatches to track my health and fitness and I think that Google needs to do better when it comes to Fitbit integration.

Before we get any further, I wanted to mention that Fitbit integration was a feature I was really looking forward to, especially since the last Fitbit I owned happened to be the Fitbit Blaze, which I remember being a huge fan of.

Now, I don’t want to make this article seem like a rant or that I’m complaining, because that’s not where I’m going with this and I hope that Google is still working hard to modernise and improve Fitbit so that it fits in even better in the Google ecosystem.

I wanted to start by saying that I haven’t really had any issues with Fitbit on the Pixel Watch and if I compare the results from activities to other smartwatches, they seem correct. 

Something that I can’t about Samsung Health on the Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 was tracking fake steps every time I went for a cycle ride. That’s something that shouldn’t happen and I hope that it’s fixed by now!

The watch even unexpectedly performed well over my expectations during the test I unexpectedly performed last week!

What I think needs to improve

When it comes to product improvements, I tend to happily share my feedback with developers as well as manufacturers, it’s what makes their products and services better.

Put it this way, back in January I wrote an article about how I believe Google could improve their ecosystem and while not everything I wanted to improve was improved as of yet, they certainly have released a much better Find My Device app, which is a huge improvement compared to the app I featured in that article.  

When it comes to Google and their smartwatches (including fitness trackers), they are still in the process of integrating Fitbit into the Google ecosystem. Now I don’t truly know what their future plans are for Fitbit, but one thing’s for certain, we need to trust that Google knows what they are doing and supports them by providing feedback.

With that being said, there are things that I think need to be improved…

Their subscription model

One of the first surprises I got when setting up Fitbit for the first time in several years was the fact that they have moved to a paid subscription model which in all fairness I don’t think is a bad thing, especially since they are offering a free tier, but what I do think should be changed is the price.

At the time of writing this article, Fitbit premium costs £7.99 per month or £79.99 annually in the UK. Personally, I think that that’s a little on the expensive side, especially as Google has started removing some of the features from the app, but we’ll talk about that later.

Fitbit Premium gives you access to some pretty impressive features such as your Daily Readiness Score, Sleep Profile, wellness report, mindfulness sessions, video workouts and many other features.

So you’re probably thinking, why is this guy complaining, you’re getting quite a lot of useful features here!

Well, the reason that I’m complaining is that I feel that Google should bring in more tiers to suit a wider audience. For example, throughout the trial I received with the Pixel Watch, I enjoyed the Daily Readiness Score as well as the advanced sleep tracking but I don’t find any of the other features useful to me, nor do I ever use them!

I mean if we compare what Fitbit is doing to other competing manufacturers, you tend to have similar features free of charge!

But, at the end of the day, you may not even need or use the premium features that Fitbit has to offer.

The removal of features

I was very upset to see the social features being removed from the app especially since it’s something I used a lot for competing against friends and family who also own a Fitbit device.

I think that doing challenges and earning points and trophies along the way is a great way of keeping people motivated to live a healthier active lifestyle. I mean Samsung has perfected this really well with their board game step game.

Not only did I find it strangely addictive, but I also enjoyed moving up the board for doing more steps. Thankfully with the help of Health Connect, I can still do the board game by syncing my Fitbit data.

In case you’re wondering what I’m talking about, I’ve actually written an article about Samsung Health and why I think it’s brilliant. You can check it out here.

I seriously hope that Google brings back that social and competitive element into the app as I think it was a brilliant feature. Personally, I’m hoping that they removed it while they work on integrating it further into their ecosystem.

The Verdict

I still think that the Google Pixel Watch is my favourite WearOS smartwatch, but there certainly are areas where Google could make the watch even better, and Fitbit is one of them. I will definitely write an article about my hopes for future editions of the watch, but that’s a story for another day.

In terms of the improvements I mentioned in this article, they definitely aren’t deal breakers if you are thinking about buying this watch. I mean the watch is really good!

Overall, I think that Google has created a great product here, a product that I’m ashamed to admit I doubted initially without even seeing it for myself. Whilst there is room for improvement, we’ve got to remember that this is their first smartwatch and I’m certain they will improve this watch as well as any other watches they release in the future.