The Fitbit app is no more. With the launch of the new Fitbit Air (which you can expect a full review of once you spend more time with it), Google has officially replaced it with Google Health, as previously announced, and many of the reactions we’ve seen so far have been full of confusion, frustration, and requests to get the old app back.
A post on Reddit explains a common problem, saying, “I can’t even fill my home screen completely. They only have 2 big tiles available and I can’t scroll down to see everything.” The landing page has a small section at the top showing steps and some other basic stats, but part of the app’s main page is now reserved for recent activity updates and chat notes from Google’s AI health coach.
The AI didn’t have much to say to me, but for my senior editor, Richard Lawler, it started a conversation about plans for today with chatbots that he wasn’t quite prepared for.
Screenshot: Richard Lawler/Google
Although not everyone is angry with the AI bot, one person commented, “When I ask it to design a moderate workout using my office gym equipment, circuit style, I usually feel much better afterward.” Another person called it “quite a useful feature”, showing how they were able to update their sleep log with missed sessions by chatting with the AI bot.
Another user said, “This graphic UI looks like something an 8-year-old could draw,” while someone else complained, “Why do I now have to scroll through paragraphs of AI slop on every tab before actually seeing my activities and data? I don’t want or need to read trivial things about my 15-minute walk to the grocery store. I want to see stats on my morning run.”
A post on Google’s Help Center states, “This app is a huge disappointment and a total waste of time to get minimal results. How can I go back to using what works?” Many others agreed, with one reply saying, “This isn’t a real fitness app anymore.”
On Google’s blog post, its sample image shows a version of the Today screen with all notifications and an AI chat that we couldn’t get to show, but did appear for some users. There doesn’t appear to be a way to remove the Ask Coach/Activity window that takes up too much of the screen, but the bot can be disabled from within the new app’s feature privacy controls.
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Even though I knew Google Health was going to be switched, I was still confused for the first several minutes after opening the app this morning.
If you want to see more of your stats and health tracking data, you’ll either have to swipe left in the small top box on the “Today” page or tab to the “Health” page. To find the logs for my rowing workouts, which I had stored in the old Fitbit app, I had to go to “Health,” then to the “Fitness” section in “Focus Areas,” where my logs could be seen under “Exercise Days.” In the old Fitbit app, I could see the “Exercise Days” block by scrolling down to the main “Today” page of the app.
According to a support page, if you have a supported wearable connected, Google Health shows two additional tabs for fitness and sleep that will make things easier, but I didn’t need them before the redesign. Google’s Rishi Chandra said The Verge Despite announcing earlier this month that Google Health will finally support third-party wearable devices, my Nothing Watch Pro 3 currently isn’t big enough to unlock those two extra tabs.
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