Google Buys Fitbit for $2.1B • Hacker News Board

jeremiahlee wrote: post #6

I loved Fitbit for many years, especially for its strong privacy stance. If my data becomes part of Google's surveillance economy, I will be greatly disappointed.

This news says that it will. You should go in and delete your fitbit account if you don't want that.

Re: Google Buys Fitbit for $2.1B

#37

Post by yclept » Fri, Nov 01, 2019, 1:28 PM UTC

Is there any way to pull data from the fitbit device itself offline?

Re: Google Buys Fitbit for $2.1B

#38

Post by roland35 » Fri, Nov 01, 2019, 1:29 PM UTC

I am not sure what to think about this as a Fitbit user! I have been trying to find an easy way to get sleep and exercise data and Fitbit seemed to do the job well enough (I use my phone app during runs to get GPS data). Google's history of killing off successful but stagnant projects (RIP Reader) does worry me a lot! My prediction is that Fitbit merges with Google Fit which I used to work but I had trouble getting any useful data besides daily steps off of it.

Maybe I will have to find a new option for fitness tracking! Nike+ -> Google Fit -> Fitbit -> ???

Re: Google Buys Fitbit for $2.1B

#39

Post by rpmisms » Fri, Nov 01, 2019, 1:30 PM UTC

Wowfunhappy wrote: post #34

rpmisms wrote: post #32

I'll just burn my pebble now.

Please don't, there's a limited number of them in circulation. :) There's also zero chance it will be affected.

I'm joking, I love my pebble. Just sad to see the company who should support them begin to die.

Re: Google Buys Fitbit for $2.1B

#40

Post by ocdtrekkie » Fri, Nov 01, 2019, 1:30 PM UTC

taneq wrote: post #29

Reminder for anyone who used a Pebble: Your data will have been sold to FitBit and so Google now gets it. Yay!

Assuming Google legitimately doesn't try to retain deleted data as they claim, you just need to delete your Fitbit account before the acquisition closes to ensure Google never lays hands on it.