Thursday, December 19, 2024

Google Fit dev APIs shutdown set, fate of Android & Wear OS apps go unannounced

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Since the launch of Health Connect in 2022, Google has been winding down the Google Fit developer APIs. Earlier this week, the company fully detailed how the “Google Fit APIs have been deprecated and will be supported until June 30, 2025.”

Fitness and exercise apps that previously used Google Fit have until the June 2025 deadline to switch to Health Connect, with Google broadly referring to it as the “Android Health platform.”

While we’ve deprecated the Google Fit Android API, we’re aiming to turn down the API no sooner than June 30, 2025. This is to give users enough time to switch to Health Connect and continue their service.

Google’s migration guide for developers lists what they’re supposed to switch to on Android phones and Wear OS. However, there is no replacement for the Goals API that lets Google Fit users set “how many steps and heart points they want to aim for each day.”

Google says it will “share more details about what’s next for Android Health” at I/O later this month.

As of this API shutdown announcement, Google has said nothing about the Google Fit apps on Android, Wear OS, and iOS. They still work to track activity and house your full archive.

That said, the app has not been updated to Material You and has not seen any new features. The last big update was Health Connect support in 2022, while Google introduced camera-powered heart rate and respiratory tracking in 2021.

The Fitbit app has gained the ability to see stats from other Health Connect devices and services, thus obviating Google Fit further. You also need to use it for Sleep Sensing on the 2nd-generation Nest Hub with Soli radar. Google is expected to start charging for that this year.

At this point, it’s clear that Google Fit is not the future. On the Pixel Watch, Fitbit is the default, while Samsung and other Wear OS manufacturers have their own health tracking solutions. 

If Google were to announce a deprecation of the Fit app, having it coincide with the June 2025 developer deadline makes sense.

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