Google has confirmed there will be no more Fitbit smartwatches, officially ending the steady decline of the brand’s Versa and Sense lineups.
Since becoming part of the Google family in 2021, we’ve seen the Fitbit platform incorporated into devices like the Pixel Watch 3 while app support and community features were wrestled away from existing Fitbit smartwatch owners.
For PULSE by Wareable in early February, I wrote about how the Fitbit we once knew was dead.
But this wasn’t any major hot-take. The writing has been on the wall for years; the departure of Fitbit co-founders Eric Friedman and James Park at the start of 2024 was simply another clear signal of what was coming.
Instead, as suspected, it appears Google will continue to roll out new versions of Fitbit’s fitness trackers – the Luxe, Charge, and Inspire – and, of course, the Fitbit platform will undoubtedly still power Google’s own watch line.
While we were no great fans of the latest Fitbit smartwatches – the Versa 4 and Sense 2 – they served a vital purpose in the lineup, providing fans of the watch form factor and affordable route in. There was also long-ish battery life on these watches – something the new Pixel Watch 3, with its 24-hour battery estimation, still struggles with.
But Google has seen a different path, and, in fairness, we would rather see it offer no Fitbit smartwatches than the nerfed-feeling efforts of the last few years.
And there are, at least, a growing amount of budget smartwatches that can take up the mantle. The CMF by Nothing Watch Pro 2 ($69/£69) is an outstanding pick for those looking for an alternative, and a Wear OS device like the Xiaomi Watch 2 is also a solid device to consider.
