When developers make apps that tie into specific functions or domains of the smartphone experience, such as needing to use maps, social, or health-related functions, they use APIs, which you can think of as a library of code that can easily be used to access certain things in those existing domains.
There's a Google Fit API, so if I was an app dev making a health-related app or device, I might need access to this API so it can integrate with Google Fit. Well, that Google Fit API is now confirmed to be reaching its official end, which will be in 2025.
The Developer API For Google Fit Is Going To Be Dead Next Year
The Google Fit Android API is a major part of making applications that integrate with the Google Fit platform. Without using the API, you simply won't be able to get your app to communicate with Google Fit. Well, for all devs out there, you need to know that this API has a final day to exist, and that's June 30th, 2025, after which it will no longer be supported.
At the moment, the Google Fit API is already deprecated. That means it still works but there is a newer solution that can be used instead. In this case, that new solution is the Health Connect API.
Since the Google Fit API is bound to die by mid-2025, it is important for app developers to switch over to the Health Connect API so that their apps will remain functional by the time the deadline rolls around. There's over a year until June 30th, 2025 comes around, so that's more than enough time for devs to make sure their applications are migrated to the new API.
Google I/O is in less than two weeks now and you can be sure that Google will tell us more about their plans for health devices and apps in their ecosystem.
The Google Fit App Is Likely To Follow Suit, May Be Replaced By Fitbit
The Google Fit API is very different from the Google Fit app itself. You can think of the Google Fit API as being a thing devs care about and the Google Fit app is what users care about (and actually use). If the Google Fit API is going to be put to bed soon, then what is the fate of the application itself?
If I'm to take my best guess, the Google Fit applications on Android and Wear OS are likely going to be put to sleep along with the API — potentially at the same time or some months later. The app is relatively dated and hasn't gotten any major updates since 2022, though that update was to gift it with Health Connect support, so it may still be able to do a little even when its API is killed off.
The Google Fitbit app is likely to take the helm, as it also has Health Connect support and it is even the default health app on Google's Pixel Watch. This likely points to a future where Google sees Fitbit as all it needs when it comes to tracking health metrics, and one in-house solution will certainly make things more streamlined.
