Google Extends Fitbit Deadline Amid Product Shifts

For millions of users around the globe, Google’s ecosystem of products has become an almost invisible part of daily life—organizing memories, tracking fitness, and powering everything from smart homes to digital payments. But as Google continues to refine its offerings, recent moves have reignited old concerns about the tech giant’s unpredictable approach to its own services. With shifting deadlines for account migrations, persistent gaps in storage management, and a track record of abruptly discontinuing both beloved and obscure products, Google’s evolving product strategy is once again in the spotlight.

In a quiet update that caught many off guard, Google recently extended the deadline for Fitbit users to migrate their accounts to Google Accounts. According to 9to5Google, the cutoff, originally set for February 2, 2026, has now been pushed to May 19, 2026. After that date, users will no longer be able to access Fitbit with their old accounts. As Google’s support page now states, "After May 19, 2026, you can no longer access Fitbit with your Fitbit account. To continue using your account, you’ll need to move your Fitbit account to Google."

This shift is part of a broader push to unify user identities under the Google umbrella. New Fitbit users have already been required to sign in with a Google Account for some time, but existing users have been peppered with reminders to migrate. For those still holding out, the process reportedly takes just a few minutes and, crucially, doesn’t result in any data loss. However, the clock is ticking: users who don’t make the switch by May 19 will lose access to their Fitbit data, though they’ll have until July 15, 2026, to download it before it’s deleted for good.

This latest deadline extension offers a brief reprieve, but it also underscores a broader pattern in Google’s approach to its products—one that has kept users both loyal and on edge. While Google is lauded for its innovation, the company’s willingness to sunset even popular services has become something of a running joke in tech circles.

According to How-To Geek, Google has discontinued approximately 300 apps, services, and hardware products over its 27-year history as of January 31, 2026. Less than 10% of these were physical devices, but some—like Google Clips, a $250 AI-powered camera—were ambitious enough to leave a mark, even if only briefly. Clips, for example, was launched in January 2018 with the promise of automatically capturing candid moments. But after just 22 months, it was pulled from the market, joining the likes of Nexus Q (a $300 set-top orb that was canceled before launch and given away for free), Google Cardboard (the low-tech VR headset discontinued in 2021), and Chromecast Audio (an audio-only version of Chromecast, discontinued after three years).

Other casualties include the Google Daydream View VR headset, shelved in 2019, and the Google Wallet Card, a physical debit card linked to Google accounts that lasted only a year after its 2015 debut. Even large-scale hardware projects like Jamboard—a 55-inch 4K touchscreen whiteboard—couldn’t escape the axe, with the hardware discontinued in 2024. Sometimes, these product endings led to new beginnings: Dropcam’s DNA lives on in Nest cameras, and OnHub routers evolved into Nest WiFi. But for users who invested time, money, and trust in these products, abrupt discontinuations have left a lasting sting.

The pattern extends beyond hardware. Google Photos, for instance, has become an indispensable tool for photo and video management, storing more than a terabyte of memories for many users. As reported by Android Police, the service excels at organizing media with features like face recognition, smart contextual search, shared albums, and annual recaps. Its ability to resurface old memories at just the right moment is, for many, a highlight of the digital year.

Yet, for all its strengths, Google Photos falls short where it matters most for heavy users: storage management. Despite the ever-increasing size of JPEG photos—newer Android phones can produce images between 4MB and 45MB each, especially with high-resolution or motion features—Google Photos offers little more than a basic "Manage Storage" tool. Users can review large photos, blurry shots, screenshots, and unsupported videos, but there’s no option to convert older images into more efficient formats like HEIC, WebP, or AVIF. This is particularly frustrating given that HEIC images from an iPhone 15 Pro Max, for example, typically weigh just 1.5 to 2MB each but look just as good as their much larger JPEG counterparts.

Bulk downgrading motion photos to still images? Not possible. Compressing videos into more efficient formats directly within Google Photos? Also off the table. Instead, users are left to manually download and convert massive files—like years-old GoPro clips—if they want to reclaim storage space. While Google Photos will identify large videos, it won’t provide options for conversion or compression. And while the "Storage saver" quality can downscale videos, it does so by reducing them to 1080p, which isn’t always desirable.

Duplicate photos present another headache. Google Photos can detect and stack similar shots, but it doesn’t allow users to view or delete duplicates en masse. For anyone who takes multiple photos in rapid succession (parents of young children, for instance), this can quickly eat up gigabytes. The lack of a detailed storage breakdown—by album, year, or month—adds to the challenge, making it difficult for users to identify what’s hogging their quota. As Android Police’s review puts it, "Google Photos feels built for accumulation, not sustainability."

Some observers suspect that these limitations are more strategic than technical. By limiting advanced storage management tools, Google may be nudging users toward its paid Google One plans, which offer higher storage options. While this is a common business tactic in the tech industry, it’s a sore point for users who feel their needs are being sidelined in favor of growth and revenue.

All of this feeds into a broader narrative about Google’s product philosophy—a blend of relentless innovation and ruthless pragmatism. On one hand, the company’s willingness to experiment has produced some of the most useful digital tools of our era. On the other, its readiness to shutter services, often with little warning, has left even its most loyal fans wary of investing too deeply in any one product.

As the May 2026 Fitbit migration deadline approaches, and as users continue to grapple with the limitations of Google Photos, one thing is clear: Google’s relationship with its users is a complicated dance of convenience, innovation, and uncertainty. For those who rely on the company’s products to store their memories, manage their health, or power their homes, the lesson is simple—enjoy the ride, but always keep a backup plan.