Google's Fitbit Charge 6 straps sensors to your wrist collecting heart rate 24/7, blood oxygen, skin temperature, stress, menstrual cycles, and GPS. Google gets all this for free. Then charges $9.99/month for Fitbit Premium to see "deeper insights" into your own body's data. You are paying Google to collect your most intimate health information, then paying again for them to tell you what it means. Google monetises your heartbeat twice: once as data, once as a subscription. Google told regulators buying Fitbit wouldn't reduce choice and Fitbit would keep its identity. Since then: web dashboard shut down, accounts forcibly migrated, app absorbed into Google, Fitbit as an independent company — gone. What remains is a logo on a Google product. Every assurance Google gave to win approval has been systematically dismantled. Fitbit's 29 million users didn't choose Google. Google was chosen for them, and regulators waved it through.
What they claim: Fitbit Charge 6 collects health data to help users achieve fitness goals, with Premium for deeper insights.
What we found: Continuously collects HR, SpO2, skin temp, sleep, stress, steps, calories, GPS. Premium locks analysis behind $9.99/month. Google monetises the same data twice — collecting it under its ad-adjacent policy, then charging users to see insights from their own data.
What they claim: Google promised EU regulators Fitbit health data won't be used for ads for 10 years.
What we found: Fitbit users forced to migrate to Google accounts by May 2026. Health data under Google's unified policy. The separation is now a checkbox, not a structural barrier. Enforcement relies on Google self-certifying compliance.
What they claim: Google says Fitbit migration provides an enhanced experience with better Google integration.
What we found: Users who don't migrate by May 19, 2026 lose all device access. Miss July 15 and data is permanently deleted. Users who paid $100-300 for hardware are told devices become paperweights. Garmin has seen user influxes from frustrated Fitbit customers.
What they claim: Google assured regulators Fitbit would maintain its identity and user choice would be preserved.
What we found: Since the acquisition: Fitbit web dashboard shut down, accounts forcibly migrated, the app absorbed into Google. Fitbit as an independent company no longer exists. Every assurance given to win regulatory approval has been systematically dismantled. 29 million users didn't choose Google.