Google Health app sparks backlash as Fitbit users demand their old app back

Google Health is here, but a lot of people want their Fitbit app back instead

The Fitbit app is no more. Along with the launch of the new Fitbit Air (which you can expect a full review of once we've spent more time with it), Google has officially replaced it with Google Health, as previously announced, and many of the responses we've seen so far are full of confusion, frustration, and requests to get the old app back. One post on Reddit calls out a common issue, saying, "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." The landing page has a small section up top showing steps and some other basic stats, but part of the app's main page is now reserved for recent activity updates and chatty 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 today's plans that he wasn't quite ready to have with a chatbot. Not everyone is annoyed by the AI bot however, with one person commenting, "When I ask it to design a moderate workout using my office gym equipment, circuit style, I usually end up feeling great afterwards." Another person called it "quite a helpful feature," showing how they were able to update their sleep log with a missed session by chatting with the AI bot. Another user said, "This graphic UI looks like something an 8 year old would make," while someone else complained, "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." One post on Google's help center sums things up, saying, "This app is a huge disappointment and a total time drain to get minimal results. How can I get back to using what worked?!" Many others were in agreement, with one reply saying, "it's no longer a genuine fitness app." On Google's blog post, its sample image shows a version of the Today screen with all of the information and an AI chat that we couldn't get to show up, but did appear for some users. There doesn't seem to be any way to remove the Ask Coach / activity window that takes up so much of the screen, but the bot can be disabled from within the new app's Feature Privacy Controls. Even though I knew the switch to Google Health was coming, I was still disoriented 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 have to either swipe left in the small top box on the "Today" page or tab over to the "Health" page. To find logs for my rowing workouts that I had stored in the old Fitbit app, I had to go into "Health," then down to the "Fitness" section in "Focus areas", where my logs were viewable under "Exercise days." In the old Fitbit app, I could see the "Exercise days" block by just scrolling down on the app's main "Today" page. According to a support page, if you have a supported wearable connected, Google Health shows two additional tabs for Fitness and Sleep that would make things easier, but before the redesign I didn't need those. While Google's Rishi Chandra told The Verge earlier this month that Google Health will eventually support third-party wearables, my Nothing Watch Pro 3 currently isn't enough to unlock those two extra tabs.

Survey reveals 50% of users don't like the new Google Health app

It's been over a week since the Fitbit app transitioned into the new Google Health app, bringing with it a complete design revamp and the possibility of more integrations and a more centralized health experience that ties together Fitbit, Google Fit, and Health Connect. But, having used the app for a week, my personal opinion of it was very mitigated. Yes, the new design looks more alive and is more interesting, but the user experience has taken a huge step back in the name of AI and Google's fascination with throwing a wall of text at what could be a simple graph with a small explanation. Not to mention that all the stats and graphs are now unsortable, inconsistently placed inside the app, and downright obfuscated in a few cases. It's so bad that I said I hate the Google Health app and asked you how you felt about it. Did you love it? The result is very, very telling. When asked about the Google Health app, over 1,500 Android Authority readers voted, and slightly more than half of them are very clearly annoyed by the new app. They said it looks good, but they don't like using it, which exactly echoes my sentiment. Conversely, only 5% said they love how it works, but don't like the look. Meanwhile, only 23% of voters think the app is gorgeous and works well -- that's less than a quarter! The rest of the votes are divided between 13% who are indifferent and 9% who don't have the new app yet. It's not just here on Android Authority that readers have complained about the redesign. Over on Reddit, there's an ongoing thread with over 600 comments about how Google Health ruined Fitbit. This new app design has pushed many Redditors on that thread to take the steps to move to other platforms, or at least contemplate it. Garmin is high on the list of exodus destinations. After poring over all the comments and complaints, it's clear to me that this isn't just a simple misstep from Google. Despite the public preview program, the company hasn't avoided the pitfalls of a bad launch -- or at least has stubbornly decided to carry on and ignore feedback. The new Google Health app is objectively worse than the previous Fitbit app in its current state because of all the bugs and missing features, and subjectively harder to use for many of us. Google should really do something quickly to fix this snafu.

Fitbit users complain about forced migration to Google Health app

Fitbit users are upset that Google replace the fitness tracker's companion app with a new Google Health app. Credit: Koshiro K / Shutterstock Google should be celebrating the release of the Fitbit Air this month. The new screen-less fitness tracker gives competitors like Whoop and even aspects of the Apple Watch a run for their money with a number of unique features. Instead, Google is now dealing with backlash from some fo Fitbit's existing user base after the company retired the Fitbit app and replaced it with a new AI-focused Google Health app. On Reddit, not all Fitbit users are happy with the change, to say the least. "Thanks, Google, for ruining Fitbit," reads one post, which has received nearly 2,000 upvotes on the r/fitbit subreddit. "I've been using Fitbit for over 10 years and I canceled my premium membership today. The Google Health [app] is awful. No one asked for this. Google owes us all a refund on these watches." Are you an Apple superfan? Enter Mashable's Big Guessing Game to win prizes. On social media platforms like Reddit, some long-time Fitbit users have shared their dislike for the new Google Health user interface, which they say is less intuitive and customizable than the old Fitbit app. Others are upset that Google appears to have removed data that was previously available, like certain sleep tracking stats and in-app challenges. And then, of course, there are complaints about the AI features. The AI coach wasn't a surprise. In fact, Google rolled out trials of these AI features in the Fitbit app prior to the migration. However, within the old Fitbit app, users had control over the AI features and could turn them off. That's not the case with the new Google Health app. "Beyond frustrated with the forced 'Google Health' update," reads another Reddit post with more than 1,200 upvotes. "I participated in the public preview for the new version of this app, and turned it off after a week. It was clear that Gemini was extremely poorly implemented, and the new version was not ready for public use. It appears that they have launched in exactly the same state as it was." "Why must I now scroll through paragraphs of AI slop on every tab before I can actually see my activities and data?" the Reddit user continued. Since Google Health's release, Fitbit users have also been bombing the app with negative reviews on Google Play. "The overhaul of the original Fitbit app is absolutely terrible," reads one review on the Google Play store. "It forces AI on you at every turn, all the information in the app is AI-based, besides from the raw data collected by your Fitbit device. Awful app, 0/10 CANNOT recommend. Give me back the Fitbit app over this trash any day." "Lacks most of the information that was available on Fitbit, can't track just daily activity, no stress component," reads another. "I guess I will get an Apple Watch." For Google's part, the company does appear to realize the severity of the situation and has already responded with a roadmap to address users' issues with the app. According to Google, it's currently working on a series of improvements and bug fixes for the Google Health app. A list of those changes can be found at the Google support site and will roll out starting this week.

Google Kills Fitbit App And Everyone Hates Its Crappy Replacement

No, you can't get the old app back. You are stuck with Google Health, sorry. Google recently updated the Fitbit health app and replaced it with a new Google Health app. This new version of the app lacks all of the features of the Fitbit app, is reportedly buggy, and is stuffed full of AI features. Unsurprisingly, a lot of people who were happy using the Fitbit app for the last few years are now very mad, and are flooding the app store with negative reviews as Google tries to calm everybody down with a roadmap. On May 26, after months of beta testing and previews, Google officially killed the old version of the popular Fitbit app that let people track and log various health-related stats and data. Technically, this wasn't a sudden, unexpected change. For nearly a year now, Google has been preparing to make this switch. But for a lot of Fitbit users who aren't following Google's plans closely and are just normal people living their lives, when the update went live yesterday and swapped the old Fitbit app with the new, clinical-looking Google Health app, it was a complete shock. Once many users dug into the new app, they hated it, which you can easily see via all the new negative reviews for the updated app on the Google Play Store. Many of the hundreds and hundreds of new 1-star reviews are complaining about inaccurate sleep and workout tracking, two of the most popular features of the old Fitbit app and some of the main reasons people buy wearable tech in the first place. That's no good. Others are complaining about errors, a layout that hides useful info, missing data and features, and of course annoying AI integration. Many reviews call out the fact that the biggest button within the app now is for the AI-powered health coach. "Why is the biggest button on the screen for AI questions? You're a fitness app; the biggest button should be to add an activity. Stay in that lane," said a recent one-star review. Kotaku's own Rebekah Valentine woke up to discover the Google Health app suddenly providing her with unwanted and unasked-for AI sleep summaries. She is now ending her paid subscription and looking to find a replacement app. And she's not alone. Many of the 1-star reviews being posted on the Play Store are suggesting they are done with Google Health/Fitbit and will move on to something else. As of May 27, there is no way to revert to the old app, and Google seems unwilling to provide the original Fitbit app to customers. Congrats, Google, you took a popular and successful brand and, in less than five years, turned it into something people hate and which will never be popular again. Good job? Seemingly in response to all the negative reviews and yelling, Google has posted a roadmap for its new Google Health app and promised to fix a lot of the issues and bugs people are sharing. It's a bit odd that Google didn't try to, uh, fix or listen to people over the last year as they were testing and previewing this new app and are only now seemingly rushing to make things better. But then again, I'm not surprised. This is big tech in 2026. It is no longer about building cool apps, useful devices, or worthwhile services. Instead, all big tech can do is desperately take things that worked and slap new coats of paint on them endlessly while shoving in more AI features, ads, and paywalls in a desperate attempt to convince shareholders that they are making big changes as they do whatever it takes to make that number go up. There was a time when tech companies found success by solving problems or delighting people with new products. Those days are gone. Enjoy your AI slop. And if you don't enjoy it, get fucked, loser! We own everything anyway. Enshittification, baby! Everything gets worse. Nothing gets better.