The Fitbit brand was once one of the biggest players in the health and fitness tracker market, but Google’s acquisition seems to have limited the brand’s ambitions instead of propelling it even higher. A series of poorly received products and strange service decisions, such as the need for a monthly subscription to access certain features that are offered for free by other manufacturers, make these models difficult to desire. It seems that new data privacy requirements from the EU are making the purchase of Fitbit smartwatches even harder to justify: removing third-party apps and watch faces.
Fitbit Versa, Ionic and Sense models are getting less ‘smart’
According to Google, new EU regulations will lead to the disappearance of two important features from Fitbit’s Versa, Ionic and Sense series watches. It’s about the ability to install apps made by third-party companies from the mobile app, but also about downloading watch faces that aren’t developed directly by Google. Basically, these “smart” watches become much less “smart” with this update.
Only features built into Fitbit’s OS that come pre-installed will remain active on devices in Europe, while the limited selection of watch “faces” remains the default. Users using “custom” apps or designs for the main display will still be able to use them after access to them is gone, but won’t be able to reinstall them after we enter June 2024.
If you have a Fitbit watch, Google’s advice is to install everything you need from the faces and app store now. Unfortunately, Google has not provided details about the law that forces the company to do this, nor whether such capabilities will return in the future as a result of software changes.
List of affected Fitbit watches
What we do have is a list of affected models. If you have one of the watches below, it’s important to note that starting in June, they will no longer be able to install new non-Google apps and watch faces from within the Fitbit app. Those already installed remain functional indefinitely. If you were planning to buy such a watch starting in June, it won’t have access to these features at all:
- Fitbit Sense 2, Fitbit Sense
- Fitbit Versa 4, Fitbit Versa 3, Fitbit Versa 2, Fitbit Versa Lite, Fitbit Versa
- Fitbit Ionic
Tags: Fitbit watches lose access custom apps watch faces Europe
