Editor’s take: When Google was a lowly upstart, its motto was “Do not be evil.” It even listed the phrase prominently in its company code of conduct. After the Alphabet restructuring in 2015, it was modified to the tamer-sounding “Do the proper factor.” It is telling that by 2018, Google now not had a motto and had eliminated each phrases from the corporate CoC. It is smart, contemplating the corporate now not lives by both creed.
As of 10 days in the past, Fitbit customers now not have an internet dashboard to trace their health targets. The web site is now an commercial for the Fitbit cell app for iOS and Android. The discontinuance was not sudden or surprising. Fitbit introduced in June that the utility was going away, however customers nonetheless aren’t pleased about it.
One downside customers are fussing about is that they’ll now not monitor their health targets on a pleasant full-screen dashboard on their laptop. As a substitute, they’re relegated to a comparatively tiny telephone display screen that may’t show a number of metrics concurrently as the net dashboard did.
“It is significantly terrible for anybody with a visible incapacity or a finger dexterity challenge,” stated one annoyed consumer within the Fitbit boards. “It is nonetheless unhealthy for everybody else since you simply cannot see as a lot on a 3-inch display screen as you’ll be able to see on an actual laptop … Deliver again the net interface!!”
Moreover, the app is lacking a number of the options that the net interface had, resembling meals logging.
Fitbit tried upselling the change by promising that customers would not lose their knowledge throughout the transition (except for meals logging, I suppose). Nonetheless, that was little comfort for customers who most well-liked the extra in depth internet interface. It additionally did not assist that the Fitbit consultant got here throughout as a loyal Google subsidiary (learn: lapdog) as an alternative of being there for the shopper.
“Mixed with Google’s many years of being the very best at making sense of knowledge, it is our mission to be one mixed Fitbit and Google group,” the Fitbit spokesperson continued within the discussion board. “Consolidating the Fitbit.com dashboard into the Fitbit app is part of that mission, and can enable us to concentrate on options that present much more useful insights to our customers.”
Google’s Fitbit acquisition in 2021 was contentious proper out of the gate. Customers, privateness watchdogs, and home and worldwide regulators had considerations that the purchase was an try to extend Alphabet’s promoting revenues by amassing and promoting customers’ well being knowledge.
Google quelled these fears with guarantees to not conduct such data harvesting, and finally, regulators authorised the deal. This promise turned out to be a lie, as evidenced by the truth that customers signing as much as a Fitbit account nonetheless must comply with Google providers’ umbrella coverage, which incorporates sharing your “anonymized” well being knowledge with advertisers. Fitbit account setup says:
“I consent to Google utilizing my well being and wellness knowledge to supply Fitbit services, primarily based on my Fitbit setup, and within the methods described above [privacy policies]. I perceive that I can cease utilizing Fitbit at any time, and delete knowledge in my Google Account.”
Since then, Alphabet’s dealing with of the corporate and its major product–the Fitbit wearable–has shifted from a device-focused philosophy to an app-centric one. Google has repeatedly diminished {hardware} options, together with the power to sync with computer systems, and has primarily pushed clients to make use of the app, which defeats the purpose of the system.
With the AI gold rush in full swing, Google has large plans for the system and the app. Quickly, Fitbit subscribers may have experimental AI options on the watch that they did not ask for, and all customers will get a custom-designed LLM built-in into the app. As we have now seen with the latest AI-powered Search Overviews, Google will probably allow these options by default with a troublesome to non-existent approach to opt-out.
In fact, none of that is new. Google has been mismanaging the Fitbit model in customers’ eyes since its takeover. It has virtually completely ignored buyer suggestions at each juncture, and the few occasions it has had one thing to say about a problem, it has been to disclaim the issue exists.
For instance, Ars Technica factors out that when Fitbit Cost 5 customers complained about extremely speedy battery drain after a firmware replace, Google claimed it was trying into the problem whereas including that it knew for certain that it wasn’t a problem with the firmware. It made that declaration in January, and the bug nonetheless hasn’t been mounted regardless of PC World criticizing Fitbit gadgets, saying they’re “a one-year buy within the US.”
