When shit like this happens, companies should be required by law to provide an easy way to use your device with another provider, or they should provide root access so the FOSS community has the opportunity to provide an alternative backend. Google is a big company. If they want to keep customers, they can do it by providing them value rather than locking them in.

This is exactly how they worded warnings for my Nest Thermostat before one day killing the service and trying to upsell me a newer, more expensive model.

It’s time to say goodbye to Fitbit before Fitbit says goodbye to you.

Google kills every service it touches.

This tracker site also goes further back but around 2019 I suspect it was also . . . Killed by Google.

I mean, when google bought fitbit they already had you under their control. You were already part of their ecosystem and using a fitbit account didn't mean anything really for your privacy. Now this feels more like an organizational cleanup. Trying to get rid slowly of the brand and make it more google centric, maybe force people to tie their data into their old google accounts to remove user duplication but really, the watches were already connected to phones with you google account most likely.

Either way, I'd recommend anyone interested in these devices to check the pebble brand. They got quite big back in the day, too big actually and they crashed. But they are coming back with really nice devices now (very long battery life too, screens always on that consume very little, and other features equally nice) and they have been open sourcing all their apps, os for the watch, and everything. Far more trust worthy than any other brand in my opinion. I've had a few of their watches and was heartbroken when I had to abandon them after their batteries were failing and had some issues. The thing is I got them in around 2015 and I was using them daily until 2 years ago and one is still going strong but the battery only lasts a few days ("only", compared to the over 10 days I used to get). The garmin watch I got 2 years ago is started to get issues with the battery, lasts around 5 days now when it used to last around 12 at the beginning. The watch is nice but a bit disappointing in a few aspects like battery and clunkiness and the fact it is trying to be more than I need it to be (I don't want GPS in the watch, maybe for some sportier people that like to go far without phones but not for my use).

I bought a Garmin watch over Fitbit because it works with Gadgetbridge.

If you're interested in tinkering, or you just want a watch you can completely own, Pebble has returned.

A coworker and I both bought Fitbits and it was when we bought our second one that we realized both lasted approx 2 years before dying. I switched to Garmin after that, she went with a no name. It was just as well because after Google bought Fitbit they changed so I had to pay for Fitbit to tell me how well I slept last night?

Hah, neat. Manager bought me a fitbit for Christmas. Guess now I won't use it anymore and now get a dumb flip phone as planned.

What do these things do that requires accounts with anyone, google or fitbit themselves? Or even internet for that matter? I thought they were for tracking fitness or health related statistics of the wearer, something that can only be done with local sensors on the thing itself, does the analysis of the data those sensors collect require so much complexity it can only be done on remote hardware?

Mine died literally 1 week ago, and I've been trying to figure out what to do ever since. I used it for basic notifications (SMS/Calls), my morning alarm, and for calendar/medication reminders. I'd already decided I wouldn't get another fitbit, but having it was central to my routines. I'm tossing up between an Amazfit which seems to be based in NL which would be a plus (in addition to Gadgetbridge support), but I've also just been given an (older) iPhone, so a refurbished Apple Watch has some appeal. It comes at the same time my S10+ has decided to slowly grow a spicy pillow, and as much as I would like to get a 2nd hand Pixel(for Graphene), I just don't have money for one. I'm not a huge Apple fan, but I dislike them less than I dislike Google at this point.

Simple solution...stop using health trackers or anthing that requires an app. Be brave, be bold and realistic. Does this crap really improve your little wage slave life. Just like Nancy Reagan "Just say no" betas

I had a fitbit for 4.5 years until it just died. It was useful, but once google bought them I'm glad it did. I have a Huawei watch, it's so advanced it feels futuristic, so many great features. I only wish the interface was a little bit more customizable, but the amount of info it gives me about my health is great, helps keep me motivated and is like less than half the cost of an Apple watch. Highly recommended.