Google is killing off Fitbit adventures, challenges, and open groups

While your Fitbit hardware tracker will continue to count your steps, Fitbit’s new owner Google is discontinuing more features. Starting March 27, 2023, Fitbit announced they will remove the adventures, challenges, and open groups features from the app.

The Fitbit Adventures feature allowed users to count their steps towards “virtual walks” through famous landmarks and earn virtual rewards along the way. The Fitbit Challenges feature allowed Fitbit friends to compete in different competitions, such as the “Weekend Warrior” challenge that would place a virtual crown on who achieved the most steps between Saturday and Sunday.

It seems odd to kill off these features as they were what helped make the FitBit unique and provided some motivation by way of gamification. After the March 27th date, Fitbit users will no longer have access to the virtual trophies they earned through these features.

Is Fitbit being discontinued?

So is Fitbit being discontinued? No, as Google hasn’t officially stated the fate of FitBit yet. While the basic functions, such as counting steps, are still supported, it seems like Google is dismantling the Fitbit system little by little, perhaps to focus their resources on the Google Pixel Watch. The recently released Fitbit Sense 2 and Versa 4 are missing third-party apps which their earlier versions did support, which may be another sign that Google is winding down their Fitbit efforts.

If you’re looking for an alternative to FitBit, check out our guide of the best FItBit alternatives.

How can I save and backup my Fitbit data?

If you want to export all your Fitbit data so you have a backup copy just in case it is discontinued in the future, here are the steps to do so.

1. Go to fitbit.com and sign in.

2. From the fitbit.com dashboard (where you see your steps and activites), click the gear icon in the upper-right corner.

3. Click Settings

4. On the page that loads, click Data Export on the left side.

5. Under “Export Your Account Archive,” click Request Data. (On this page, you’ll also notice a section at the bottom that allows you to save 31 days of data at a time. You could use this to download your data once-a-month going forward to keep your archive up to date.)

6. You’ll receive an email at the address associated with your Fitbit account. Open the email and confirm your data archive request.

7. You’ll receive another email with a link to download your Fitbit account data.

8. Download and save the data file to your computer.

Please note that if you have a large amount of Fitbit data, it can take up to a few days to generate your account data archive. Check the status of your request in your Data Export account settings (steps 1-4 above).

Photo by Adam Birkett on Unsplash