The Fitbit app is set to lose Challenges & Adventures and support for Open Groups on March 27 as the integration with Google continues. Those “legacy” features are said to have limited use and no updates in quite some time.
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“Challenges & Adventures” are found in Fitbit’s Discover tab and encompass four sets of social activities that users can participate in:
- Challenges: Find the extra encouragement to move more by competing with friends and family.
- Virtual Premium Challenges: It’s even easier to play! For a limited time, earn bonus active minutes and Active Zone Minutes during challenges.
- Adventure Races: Virtually race against your friends along real life locations.
- Solo Adventures: Virtually explore real life locations.
When Fitbit Adventures were announced in 2017, they were pitched as a way to “get more daily activity by virtually exploring scenic and iconic destinations” in California’s Yosemite National Park. Fitbit mapped your daily steps to landmarks along the Pohono Trail, Valley Loop, and Vernal Falls.
Top comment by Brad Kriss
That's the last straw for me. Google. I think I'll make the switch to Apple. So sick of them buying a company that people brought into and stripping its functionality. They did it with Nest and now Fitbit. Twice I've brought physical products and can no longer use them for the reason I brought them.
Once you virtually arrive by meeting a certain step count, you’d see “exquisite photos.” You can “dynamically adjust when you rotate your phone—allowing you to enjoy the moment as if you were really there!”
In removing Adventures, which never added new locations, earned trophies will no longer be available. You can download data from fitbit.com/settings/data/export before March 27. As an alternative, Fitbit points to the Friends leaderboard and Community Feed.
As part of that journey, Challenges, Adventure Races, and Solo Adventures will be going away. In progress challenges and adventures will automatically end and starting a new challenge or adventure will no longer be available.
The Fitbit app is also losing support for Open Groups, but you can still create private closed groups with friends. Looking ahead, Fitbit says it will “continue to update the Fitbit app and develop new features that create an even better experience over time,” but there are no specifics at this time.
These removals comes as Fitbit is getting ready to add Google Account support this year to support new features.
More on Fitbit:
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- Fitbit removes screenshots showing redesigned Android app
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- Fitbit removing Google sign-in support ahead of account transition
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