Fitbits Owners Are Losing A Key Smart Feature
In the latest story of Fitbit's decline, Google Assistant support is being wound down in the company's wearables.
Users on Reddit report their Fitbit watches are displaying a message notifying them Assistant support is due to end.
'Google Assistant on Fitbit watches is being turned down, this feature will stop working in the coming weeks,' the message reads.
If you own a Fitbit watch, you may be wondering where this feature is in the first place. It only ever launched on the Fitbit Sense and Versa 3, which were introduced in 2020.
This feature discontinuation might be seen as part of Google's shift away from Assistant, towards using Gemini as an umbrella under which its smart features sit. But Versa 3 and Sense owners don't get access to a Gemini assistant, they only lose the original.
As noted by 9to5Google, this change was actually signalled by Google last year, when it announced voice control for the Versa 3 and Sense were due to be discontinued.
The newer Fitbit Sense 2 and Versa 4 never had any smart assistant features, despite being sold in as an upgrade to the original Sense and Versa 3.
'In regards to the voice assistant, let me share currently there are no plans to deploy Google Assistant on Sense 2 or Versa 4. I understand how much you'd like to have this feature available and we look forward to bringing this feature to future devices,' a Fitbit moderator wrote on the Fitbit community forum shortly after the watches' launch in 2022.
These watches were released after Google's acquisition of Fitbit was completed, and dimming down the Versa and Sense lines smarts may have been seen as a way to avoid in-house competition with the Pixel Watch family.
In August 2024, Google denied having discontinued Fitbit watches, following news production of new Sense 2 and Versa 4 models had ceased. You'll no longer find either on the Google Store, just the Fitbit Charge 6 and Inspire 3.
Google's Gemini assistant is expected to come to Wear OS watches, including the Pixel Watch 3, in the next major software update.
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