Google has officially pulled the plug on the Fitbit app, replacing it entirely with the new Google Health platform. The transition, which had been announced earlier this year, finally took effect alongside the launch of the Fitbit Air, a new wearable device. But instead of celebrating the upgrade, a significant portion of the user base is expressing disappointment, confusion, and outright anger over the radical redesign. Social media platforms, especially Reddit, and Google's own help center are flooded with complaints about the loss of familiar functionality and the heavy-handed introduction of an AI health coach.
What changed?
At the core of the grievances is the overhauled user interface. The main "Today" screen in Google Health now features a small stats bar at the top showing steps, heart rate, and a few other metrics. Below that, a large portion of the screen is permanently reserved for recent activity updates and conversational prompts from Google's AI assistant, dubbed the "health coach." Users report that they can no longer simply scroll down to see a comprehensive list of their day's data, as was possible in the old Fitbit app. Instead, they must swipe horizontally within the small top box or navigate to a separate "Health" tab to find detailed information.
One Reddit user succinctly captured the frustration: "I can’t even completely fill up my home screen. They only have 2 large tiles available and I can’t just scroll down to see everything." Another commented, "This graphic UI looks like something an 8 year old would make," while a third said, "Why must I now scroll through paragraphs of AI slop on every tab before I can actually see my activities and data? I don’t want or need to read platitudes about my 15 minute walk to the grocery store. I want to see my stats from my morning run."
The AI health coach: love it or hate it
The AI health coach is the centerpiece of Google's new vision for fitness tracking. It proactively starts conversations about the user's day, offers motivational messages, and can even help log missed workouts or sleep sessions via natural language chat. For some users, this is a welcome addition. One person shared, "When I ask it to design a moderate workout using my office gym equipment, circuit style, I usually end up feeling great afterwards." Another called it "quite a helpful feature," describing how they used the chatbot to update a missed sleep log.
However, the majority of early feedback is negative. Many find the AI intrusive, verbose, and a waste of screen real estate. A comment on Google's help center read, "This app is a huge disappointment and a total time drain to get minimal results. How can I get back to using what worked?!" Another user lamented, "It’s no longer a genuine fitness app." The AI can be disabled via the app's Feature Privacy Controls, but that doesn't free up the space it occupies on the main screen. There is currently no way to remove the "Ask Coach" window or the activity feed that pushes vital statistics down.
Loss of familiar navigation
Beyond the AI, the navigation structure has changed significantly. Previously, users could access all their logged exercises, sleep history, and heart rate trends by scrolling down on the Fitbit app's Today page. In Google Health, that consolidated view is gone. To find logs for rowing workouts stored in the old app, a user now has to go to the "Health" tab, then into the "Fitness" section under "Focus areas," and then scroll to "Exercise days." The simplicity of the old layout is gone, replaced by a multi-step process that feels like a step backward for users who relied on quick glanceability.
This is especially frustrating for users of third-party wearables. According to a Google support page, the app will display two additional tabs—Fitness and Sleep—only when a supported wearable is connected. At launch, only the Fitbit Air and select Google Pixel Watch models are supported. The article's author, using a Nothing Watch Pro 3, found that those tabs were unavailable. Google has stated that support for third-party wearables will come eventually, but no timeline has been provided.
Background on the Google-Fitbit saga
Google acquired Fitbit in 2021 for $2.1 billion, a move that immediately raised privacy concerns among the fitness community. For years, Fitbit operated largely independently, maintaining its own app ecosystem. Slowly, Google began integrating its services, requiring Fitbit accounts to be migrated to Google accounts and introducing features like Google Sign-In. The transition to Google Health represents the culmination of that integration—a complete rebranding and reimagining of the fitness tracking experience under Google's banner.
The decision to replace the Fitbit app wasn't made in a vacuum. Google has been investing heavily in artificial intelligence, and its health initiatives are no exception. The AI health coach is part of a broader strategy to make the app more than just a data dashboard; Google envisions it as a proactive wellness companion that can coach users throughout the day. However, the execution has proven divisive. The AI's verbose responses and persistent suggestions clash with the lean, data-first approach that made Fitbit popular among power users.
Furthermore, the launch of the Fitbit Air—a sleek, lightweight wearable designed to compete with devices like the Oura Ring and Whoop band—signals Google's intent to capture the high-end health tracking market. Yet the app experience is falling short. Reviewers and early adopters note that the hardware is impressive, but the software is a letdown. The Fitbit Air itself offers accurate sleep tracking, continuous heart rate monitoring, and advanced stress measurement, but accessing that data requires navigating through the cluttered Google Health interface.
Market context and competitive landscape
Google Health enters a crowded field of fitness apps and platforms. Apple Health, Samsung Health, and dedicated services like Strava and MyFitnessPal all offer robust tracking with varying degrees of AI integration. Apple, for example, has been gradually adding machine learning insights to its Health app, but without a persistent chatbot that takes over the home screen. Samsung Health has also moved toward a more AI-driven experience, but allows users to customize their home screen extensively.
The backlash against Google Health echoes earlier controversies in the tech industry when companies forcibly redesign popular apps. The most notable parallel is the switch from Google Play Music to YouTube Music, which left many users frustrated with feature gaps and a confusing interface. Similarly, the transition from Fitbit to Google Health feels rushed and poorly executed, according to many users. The complaints are not just about aesthetics—they are about functionality and trust. Users who meticulously built health data histories in Fitbit now feel those histories are buried or less accessible.
One user on Google's help forum wrote, "I have years of data in Fitbit. I trusted the platform. Now I feel like I have to start over, or worse, I can't find my old logs at all." While Google has assured that data is not deleted, the reorganization makes it harder to spot trends. For example, to see a weekly step count comparison, users must navigate to the Health tab, select a specific metric, and then choose a time range—a process that took two taps in the old app.
What Google could do better
Critics have pointed out several easy fixes that could alleviate user frustration. The most obvious is giving users the ability to customize the Today screen layout. Currently, the AI module is fixed at the top, and only two large tiles are available for additional stats. Allowing users to pin their preferred metrics—such as step count, sleep score, heart rate variability, and active minutes—as tiles would restore the at-a-glance utility that Fitbit was known for.
Another simple improvement would be to let users hide the AI coach entirely. While the coach can be disabled in Privacy Controls, that doesn't remove the empty space where it used to be. Instead, the app should either shrink that section or allow users to swipe it away. Google could also learn from competitors by offering a "classic" view that mimics the old Fitbit layout as an optional setting.
Finally, expanding third-party wearable support must be a priority. The whole point of Google Health is to be a cross-platform health hub, yet at launch it only works neatly with Google's own hardware. Users with Garmin, Coros, or even older Fitbit devices are left with a subpar experience. Google's Rishi Chandra stated earlier this month that third-party support is coming, but users want a timeline, not just promises.
Despite the backlash, it's worth noting that Google Health is in its infancy. The company has a history of iterating quickly based on user feedback. The Fitbit app itself went through many updates over the years. If Google listens, the app could evolve into something that combines the best of both worlds: powerful AI coaching and a clean, customizable dashboard for data-driven users.
For now, though, the launch of Google Health has sparked a conversation about how much AI intervention people want in their fitness routines. The answer, based on early reactions, is not as much as Google thinks. Users want tools, not chats, and they want control, not a coach that decides what they should see.
Source: The Verge News