Google Is Killing Fitbit Adventures, Challenges, and Open Groups

Google’s service slaughterhouse is busy again this week, as the company just announced that starting March 27, all Fitbit Adventures, Challenges, and Open Groups will be removed from the app. Fitbit’s social aspect was one of its most endearing qualities, and before being acquired by Google, this was also something that the company was quite proud of.

But its not all doom and gloom for everyone who liked challenging their friends because even after March 27th, Fitbit users will still be able to create private closed groups with friends. And they will also be able to interact with other users via the Leaderboard and Community Feed posts in the app.

With that being said, the trophies that users earn are going the way of Google Stadia, and Fitbit is removing its Fitbit Studio for developers as well. Fitbit Studio allowed developers to create clockfaces and third-party apps for the platform, but the company is now pushing its command-line software development kit (SDK) instead. So community development isn’t going away, it is just going through a lateral shift. According to Fitbit, the community features had “limited use” and the company could not confirm the specific numbers of active users to justify keeping it active.

Google Is Killing Fitbit Adventures, Challenges, and Open Groups

This move is reportedly part of a larger plan to better integrate Google’s technology into Fitbit devices. While the timing of the removal of these features is curious, it is unrelated to a recent multiday server outage suffered by the Fitbit app (maybe). The decision to remove these features, which had been part of the Fitbit platform for over 10 years, is a striking move given that they were once considered a major strength of the fitness-tracking platform. And even now, many users will find this change to be a negative one that diminishes the social aspect of their Fitbit devices.

The challenges and open groups, which had millions of members, have been copied by nearly every other smartwatch and fitness-tracking platform, and rightfully so. The move raises questions about the future of Fitbit’s user base, as the company continues to shift its focus towards integrating with Google’s technology, even if it means making questionable decisions.