Google is continuing its protracted Fitbit brand cull with the news that the Fitbit.com website will be gone by October.
While Google has been keen to deny that it’s fully assimilating the fitness tracker brand that it bought in 2021, a new snippet of information will come as a further blow to Fitbit fanatics.
9to5Google has picked up on the fact that when you head over to the official Fitbit website, there’s a new banner at the top that reads “On 10/1 the Fitbit store is moving”, followed by a link to “Shop Fitbit on Google Store”.
In other words, the classic Fitbit website has just days to live, and its function will be fully replaced by the Google Store from the beginning of October.
Clicking on the aforementioned link takes you to the Watches & Trackers tab on the Google Store, where you’ll find Fitbit fitness trackers mixed in with Google’s own Pixel Watch smartwatch range.
You’ll also received the following message: “You made it! Google Store is your new home for all things Fitbit. Start shopping below or get help with your Fitbit account here.”
This migration process has been under way for some time, in truth. The Fitbit website’s help section transferred over to Google’s support pages back in January, while the online shop element of Fitbit.com followed suit in April.
What next for the Fitbit brand? Last month Google felt compelled to deny that it was planning to cease development of Fitbit-branded hardware altogether following comments that “Pixel Watches are our next iteration of smartwatch for Fitbit.”
In a follow-up statement, Google insisted that “We are very committed to Fitbit, and even more importantly to the customers that use and depend on those products and technology”.
It also pointed to the number of Fitbit-sourced features in the recently announced Pixel Watch 3, before insisting that “you’ll continue to see new products and innovation from Fitbit.”
Whether that means we’ve seen the last Fitbit smartwatch like the Sense and Versa is another matter, of course.