Warning! For Fitbit users now issued by Google.

Fitbit owners in Europe will soon discover that third-party apps and watch faces have been removed from their devices, according to a Google announcement.

Whether you want it to stay or not, third-party material will be deleted from watches in June 2024.This impacts all Versa devices, including the older Fitbit Ionic, as well as the Fitbit Sense and Sense 2. In the first place, lower-end series like Inspire lacked third-party content.

This information was released by Google on its support website, with a reference to “new regulatory requirements” that affect those residing in Europe, or more specifically, the European Economic Area.

Google claims that users in other nations won’t be impacted.It may be a mystery to some of you how third-party material even makes it onto your Fitbit.Fitbit’s popularity stemmed from this aspect of the ecosystem, but after the business was acquired by Google in 2021, a process that started in 2019, it has become less prominent.Although most European users cannot download and use third-party software until June 2024, according to the Google website, this is still the case.

For instance, Fitbit’s Versa 4 and Sense 2 came with no compatibility for third-party apps, even though one such software made an unexpected appearance a year prior.Preloaded apps for third-party services, such as Spotify, were also present in earlier versions, but they have since been removed.For the majority of Fitbit users, therefore, this forced removal of such software won’t have a significant effect.Imagine that the removal of the third-party extras will occur when a Fitbit watch is synchronized with the Fitbit app.

In comparison to smartwatches, Fitbit watches these days seem a bit more like vehicles for Fitbit Premium, a $9.99 membership service that offers some more sophisticated analytics, video workouts, and dietary recommendations.