Can you use Google Fit on Pixel Watch?

The Google Fit Pixel Watch experience is limited

For years, Google Fit was the default option for Wear OS watch owners or Android phone users; you could track health data directly or export data from other apps to Google Fit. Now that Google has made Fitbit the default for the Pixel Watch, Google Fit has lost one of its key features. 

The Fitbit app now has exclusive access to continuous background HRM on the Pixel Watch, as a way to encourage users to subscribe to Fitbit Premium. So by necessity, the Google Fit app can’t track your heart rate all day, nor your blood oxygen levels. Instead, you can take a manual HR reading, or receive heart rate data during a workout to measure effort, but will need the Fitbit app for all-day health data.

On other Wear OS 3 watches, you can still export data from your free companion app to Google Fit. With the Pixel Watch, you can use the Fitbit watch to track heart rate without a subscription. But exporting data from Fitbit to Google Fit is a bit tedious, as you have to manually select historical periods, download CSV files, and import them into Google Fit; you can’t just send that data automatically.  

The easier option for Pixel Watch owners is to go to Google Takeout (opens in new tab) and export your Google Fit data so that you can import it into Fitbit instead. That way, you have all of your workout data in one place and get access to all of the Pixel Watch health tracking features you want.

It’s possible that Google could choose to merge Fit and Fitbit in the future, since Fitbit will have mandatory Google accounts by 2023 and will phase out “Fitbit accounts” by 2025. So it’s possible Fitbit may become Google Fit, which would mean Fit might disappear in its current form in the future. It’s all still up in the air, but at least you can still use the app in a more limited form for now. 

Long-time Google Fit owners may have a better experience exporting from another fitness app to Fit instead. But we consider the Pixel Watch one of the best Android smartwatches available, if you can get past this change.