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Google is killing the Google Fit API. The platform originally existed to sync health data from third-party fitness devices to your Google account, but it has now been killed. The API retirement occurred on May 1st, and Google stopped accepting new API registrations. The official shutdown date is June 30, 2025.

The Google Fit API launched in 2014, just a few weeks after Apple announced Healthkit in iOS 8. The goal of both platforms is to be a central repository for health data from various apps and services. Instead of seeing steps in one app and weight in another, it can all be consolidated into a one-stop shop for health metrics. Google had many big-name partners at launch, such as Nike+, Adidas, Withings, Asus, HTC, Intel, LG, and app makers like Runtastic and RunKeeper.

Fast forward to 2024 and we get the familiar story of Google not being able to throw its weight behind a single solution. Today, Google has three competing fitness APIs. There is a “Comparison Guide” on the Android Developer site that details the differences between the Health Connect API, the Fitbit Web API, and the Google Fit REST API.

Besides killing the API, Google Fit overall seems like a dead product. Google’s deal to acquire Fitbit closed in 2021, making Fitbit the shiny new fitness brand and bringing with it the #2 fitness API. New Google products like the Pixel Watch and Pixel phones come with the Fitbit app as a built-in fitness solution instead, Google Fit and the Google Fit app haven’t seen a significant upgrade in a while.

Google’s new fitness API, Health Connect, has had a “beta” app in the Play Store since 2022 that only works with Android 13, and in Android 14 Health Connect was incorporated into the operating system as an open source framework for storing health data. data. That Android 14 launch was only seven months ago, and with Android’s slow update schedule and even slower adoption of developer features, it’s hard to say too much about Health Connect. Google notes that the Play Store version of Health Connect and the Android 14 version of Health Connect are not the same thing (!) and an automatic “migration” screen pops up and restart the device is required to upgrade to Android 14. Google hasn’t said anything about compatibility with Android versions older than Android 14 (or 13?), so even in 2025, Android’s slow update rate means that this will be a low device support API.

One change pointed out by Google’s comparison guide is that while the Fitbit API syncs health data with your Fitbit account (Fitbit accounts are also closing in 2025), the Google Fit API syncs health data with your account at Google, Health Connect doesn’t sync with any cloud provider. The documentation around Health Connect doesn’t talk about the cloud at all. From a platform perspective, the lack of cloud syncing makes Health Connect more of a neutral, non-Google standard for storing health data. Google also touts the lack of cloud storage as a privacy feature. And just as Google and Samsung teamed up for Wear OS (I’m guessing it’s a related project), Samsung has agreed to drop the “Health Platform API” and is a launch partner for Health Connect.

From a user perspective, without cloud sync, what happens to my health data if I switch devices or if my phone breaks? Can I ever easily view my health data on a more capable tablet or web app, or will this not work? For now, all “sharing” conversations are limited to local apps or devices that sync directly to your phone, such as a smartwatch. The Fitbit app can show third-party Health Connect data right now, but it’s unclear if it will sync third-party data to the cloud. Google notes that “Our Android Health API offerings have moved to a device model, so there will be no alternative to the Fit REST API.” (A REST API is by definition over the Internet.)

The company’s migration guide notes that the Google Fit and Health Connect APIs are not compatible, and for now Google recommends supporting both as users and manufacturers migrate from one API to the other. The guide also flatly says, “We don’t recommend migrating to Health Connect if you’re an existing Google Fitbit Web API developer,” and then offers no alternative, so it sounds like the goal is isolated device-only data and any devices that using Web API will stop syncing in 2025.

By the way, although it is the same age, Apple’s Healthkit ecosystem is not shuts down and will continue to work. While Google is starting over, Healthkit will continue to grow its ecosystem and already significant lead, and Apple will continue to build trust with users and developers.