What should I know about my privacy on Fitbit?
Last updated: September 4, 2023
Welcome to Fitbit by Google. This Help Centre article provides more information about how Google processes data when you use your Google Account to log in to and use Fitbit devices and services.
If you log in to Fitbit with a Fitbit account, go to the Fitbit privacy policy to better understand how Fitbit processes your data.
Information that Google collects
Google’s Privacy Policy applies to Fitbit’s devices and services and explains what information we collect, why we collect it and how you can update, manage, export and delete your information.
Categories of data collected
In addition to the data described in the Privacy Policy, when you use Fitbit devices and services, we save:
- Setup information that is required to register, such as height, weight and sex to calculate your stride length and to estimate distance, basal metabolic rate and calorie burn. You may also choose to provide other types of setup information, such as a profile photo, biography, country information and Community username.
- Health and wellness data like the number of steps that you take, your distance travelled, calories burned, weight, heart rate, sleep stages, active minutes, your manual entry in the Fitbit app and/or services that you've connected to your Fitbit experience, like third-party apps (e.g. Strava). The data collected varies depending on which device you use. Learn more.
- Precise geolocation data for select features, including location from GPS signals, device sensors, Wi-Fi access points and mobile tower IDs. This type of data is collected if you grant access to your location. You can always remove access using your Fitbit device or mobile device settings. The Fitbit service may also derive your approximate location from your IP address. Learn more.
- Usage, network activity information and diagnostics data when you access or use Fitbit. This includes information about your interaction with Fitbit, for example, when you view or search content, install applications or software, log in to Fitbit, pair your Fitbit device to your account or open or interact with an application on your Fitbit device. Data about the devices and computers that you use to access Fitbit are also collected, including IP addresses, browser type, language, operating system, Fitbit or mobile device information (including device and application identifiers), the referring web page, pages visited, location (depending on the permissions that you have granted us) and cookie information.
Additional details about how specific Fitbit devices and services collect data vary by device or service and how you configure your device or service, as described here.
Optional features and data
Fitbit services include optional features (e.g. menstrual health, glucose tracking, irregular rhythm notifications, ECG, snore and noise detection) that you can turn on and turn off at any time. Before you turn on an optional feature, you’re informed about data that it collects and processes and how that data is used.
For example, if you decide to enable glucose tracking, we will collect, store and process the blood glucose levels that you manually log in the Fitbit app or import from a connected app or device to help you track your blood glucose levels over time or against any target range that you set. You can turn this feature off and download or delete your glucose data at any time in Fitbit Settings.
Additionally, for our regulated medical device software, to meet regulatory requirements, we may compile, analyse and share your aggregate and de-identified data with regulatory bodies. None of the data used for these purposes will include your name, email or any other information that directly identifies you.
If you choose to connect your Fitbit account with another third-party app, we may receive information from the other service. For example, if you connect to Strava, Fitbit may receive information like your profile, activity, location, heart rate and weight. You can stop sharing the information from the other service with us by removing our access to that other service.
You may also choose to share certain data from your Fitbit account with third-party apps through Health Connect on Android. You can stop sharing information to other services through Health Connect in your Fitbit app Settings or directly in Health Connect settings.
We may also partner with third-party entities, such as employers and insurance companies, that offer Fitbit devices and services to their employees and customers via a Fitbit Care programme. In such cases, those entities may provide us with your name, email address or similar information (like a telephone number or subscriber ID) so that we can invite you to participate or determine your eligibility for particular benefits, such as discounts or free-of-charge services. Learn more about Fitbit Care.
We offer Google Accounts for children under the age of 13, or applicable age in your country, and allow these children to sign in to Fitbit using their own Google Account. The Privacy Notice for Google Accounts created with Family Link and the Google Privacy Policy describe our privacy practices when your child uses Fitbit with their Google Account.
Remember that when your child is signed in to Fitbit with their Google Account, the information that we collect, including activity-related health and wellness data (e.g. their steps taken, active minutes and sleep duration) will be stored with their Google Account.
Information that you provide us
When you create an account for your child, we’ll ask for personal information about them, like their height and sex. This information is used to calculate metrics like activity stats. You or your child may choose to share certain additional information (like location, birthday) with us.
Information that we collect from your child’s use of our services
Your child’s Fitbit device collects data to track their activity during the day, including their steps, sleep and active minutes. When their Fitbit devices sync with a Fitbit app, data on your child’s Fitbit device will be transferred to our servers and attached to their Google Account. Fitbit does not collect location tracking data from your child.
When your child logs in to the Fitbit app with their Google Account, we automatically collect and store information about account connectivity such as IP addresses, browser type, language, operating system and app and mobile device information (including cookie and application identifiers).
How we use the information that we collect
We use your child’s information: to provide, maintain and improve Fitbit services; to authenticate users’ identities, to track activities and exercise, to measure performance and understand how our services are used and to help improve the safety and reliability of our services.
We also use your child’s information to help them connect with other, guardian-approved Fitbit users. Once a guardian accepts a friend request for your child, your child’s personal info and statistics will be shared based on the child’s privacy settings.
Information that your child can share
Your child’s display name, avatar, About Me information and the date that they joined Fitbit are shared when establishing a friend connection. Average daily step count is also shared with friends. Other personal info and statistics are only shared with approved connections based on the child’s privacy settings.
Information that Google shares
Information that we collect may be shared outside Google in limited circumstances. We do not share personal information with companies, organisations and individuals outside of Fitbit unless one of the following applies:
With consent
We will share personal information outside Google with consent (as applicable).
For external processing
We provide personal information to our affiliates or other trusted businesses or persons to process it for us, based on our instructions and subject to other appropriate confidentiality and security measures.
For legal reasons
We may disclose information to comply with a law, regulation, legal process or governmental request; to assert legal rights or defend against legal claims; or to prevent, detect or investigate illegal activity, fraud, abuse, violations of our terms or threats to the security of the Fitbit service or the physical safety of any person.
How you can access or delete your child’s Fitbit data
You can view some of your child’s Fitbit data by viewing their profile. Note that this process will only allow you to view some of your child’s information. If your child has a Google Account, you can access, update, remove, export and restrict the processing of your child’s information by signing in to their Google Account and going to Fitbit data and privacy settings. If you do not remember your child’s password, you can reset it through the Family Link app or Family Link settings on the web.
You can delete your child’s Fitbit data by navigating to your Google Account and clicking on your child’s profile under Programmes and family. Your child will have the ability to delete their Fitbit data by going to their Fitbit data and privacy settings in their Google Account.
How Google uses data to improve services
Google’s Privacy Policy applies to Fitbit devices and services and explains what information we collect, why we collect it and how you can update, manage, export and delete your information. In addition, read the commitments that we made to global regulators to understand the safeguards that Google applies in handling your Fitbit information.
At Fitbit, our products and services use data from your paired devices and services to help you reach your health and fitness goals. This means providing Google services and experiences related to health and wellness, improving and personalising them and developing new ones and keeping you informed of relevant Google products, services and updates.
Some examples of how we use data to make features and services that help you live healthier:
- Provide and maintain Fitbit services: We need to use your information to provide you with your Fitbit dashboard, which tracks your exercise, activity and other trends. For community features, we may use your information to help you to find and connect with other users and to allow other users to find and connect with you.
- Supporting useful features: You can enable Google Assistant to access your Fitbit sleep and activity data and Assistant can then use this data to answer your sleep- or activity-related questions across your devices that have personal results turned on.
- Personalise features: We may use your information to make inferences and show you more relevant content, e.g. based on your sleep data, we can make inferences about your sleeping patterns and provide you with customised insights to help you to improve your sleep. Or, when you allow us to collect precise location information, we use that information to record where a workout took place or to map an activity.
- Improve existing features: We aggregate data to improve our algorithms or use it to troubleshoot and improve the performance, safety and reliability of our Fitbit devices and services.
- Keeping you informed of Google products, services and updates: We use your information when needed to send you notifications related to your Fitbit devices and services, and some of our promotions will be personalised to you based on your use of Fitbit devices and services. For example, we will let you know when new features are available for your device, when devices are on sale or when new devices are available for pre-order. But we’ll always respect your choice about whether you want to receive promotional emails from Google by going to your Fitbit app Settings or via the 'Unsubscribe' link in the email.
- Promote safety and security: We use the information that we collect to promote the safety and security of Fitbit services, our users and other parties. For example, we may use the information to authenticate users, facilitate secure payments, protect against fraud and abuse, respond to a legal request or claim, conduct audits and enforce our terms and policies.
Privacy is still at the core of the Fitbit experience and Fitbit’s commitment to privacy continues for Google Account users on Fitbit.
Your Fitbit health and wellness data won’t be used for Google Ads and it will continue to be kept separate from Google Ads data.
If you move to Google, your Fitbit data will be associated with your Google Account. Google will handle this data as described in the Google Privacy Policy and these FAQs. You will also be subject to the Google Terms of Service, as supplemented by these Fitbit Additional Terms of Service.
If you’re based in the European Economic Area or Switzerland, unless stated otherwise in any additional terms, Google services (including the Fitbit services if you migrate) are provided by Google Ireland Limited, a company incorporated and operating under the laws of Ireland (registered number 368047) and located at Gordon House, Barrow Street, Dublin 4, Ireland.
If you’re based in the United Kingdom, unless stated otherwise in any additional terms, Google services (including the Fitbit services if you migrate) are provided by Google LLC, a company organised under the laws of the State of Delaware, USA, and operating under the laws of the USA, and located at 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, California 94043, USA.
If you don’t move your Fitbit account to a Google Account, you’ll remain subject to existing terms and privacy policies of Fitbit LLC.
Fitbit and Google are committed to helping everyone, everywhere, be healthier. As part of this mission, we want to understand how the human body works, how to accurately measure health and how to encourage people to lead healthier lives.
You can choose to be an important part of this mission by participating in research and the first step begins during your registration or your Google migration. If you agree to participate, Fitbit and Google will collect and use your data to research and develop new health and wellness products and services. Data that is used for research is de-identified, meaning that it will not include information that directly identifies you (such as your name, email or other information that directly identifies you). This data may include your:
- Health and wellness data, such as steps, heart rate and sleep data
- Data from a device that you connect to Fitbit
The choice to opt in to or out of research is up to you. You can opt in to and out of research at any time. You can review your consent, update your consent status, download or delete your data in your Google Account settings. If you revoke your consent, your data will not be used to research and develop new products and services or to support health research.
You may also have the opportunity to enrol in optional research studies in the Fitbit app. Before enrolling, you will have the opportunity to review and agree to an informed consent document to make an informed decision about participation in the study.
Your data may also be used to generate findings that could be included in publications (such as science journals or Fitbit blog articles) to contribute to general knowledge about health and science. We do not share data that could identify any particular individual without your consent.
Sharing your information
When you use Fitbit’s devices and services, your data may be shared with third parties as explained in the Google Privacy Policy (and in more detail below). We also explain in this section how information is shared across your Fitbit devices and services and among members of your Fitbit family.
The social element of Fitbit known as Fitbit Community includes a number of social features. These include users’ ability to make friend connections and join closed groups, private messaging features, users’ ability to post in closed groups and to comment on or react to other posts in groups they are members of and seven-day step leaderboards in closed groups. Learn more about Fitbit’s social features. In addition, Fitbit users can contribute to Community forums at community.fitbit.co.uk.
How we use the information that we collect
As part of Fitbit Community, we use your information to help you find and connect with other Fitbit users and to allow other users to find and connect with you. For example, your account contact information allows other users to add you as a friend. When another user has your email in their contact list or in their friend network on a connected service, we show that user that you are a user of the Fitbit service.
Information that you can share
Your display name, profile photo and the date that you joined Fitbit are shared when joining a closed group. Similarly, your display name, profile photo, About Me info and the date that you joined Fitbit are shared when establishing a friend connection. Average daily step count is also shared with friends and group leaderboards, unless changed in privacy settings. For certain other information (e.g. birthday, sex and weight), we provide you with privacy preferences in account settings and other tools to control how your information is visible to other users of Fitbit. You may also direct us to disclose your information to others, such as when you use our Community features like the Community forums.
We’re giving existing Fitbit users the option to move their Fitbit experience to a Google Account and new Fitbit users are required to register with a Google Account. Some existing Fitbit users haven’t decided to move their Fitbit experience to a Google Account yet and continue to use a Fitbit account.
Because of this, to make sure that all Fitbit users can still see their friends lists if they use their Fitbit experience with a Google Account or a Fitbit account, Fitbit and Google share limited profile information about their Fitbit users (user name, photo and friends list). This is called 'Joint Processing'. Fitbit users with a Google Account won’t see messages, posts, comments, taunts and cheers from friends or people in their closed group with a Fitbit account until they move their Fitbit experience to a Google Account.
(1) Fitbit International Limited and Google Ireland Limited (for users in the EEA or Switzerland) and (2) Fitbit International Limited and Google LLC (for users in the UK) are joint controllers for this Joint Processing and Fitbit and Google remain responsible for their respective obligations under data protection law.
You can contact Google and our Data Protection Office if you have additional questions or want to exercise your rights in respect of Joint Processing, including your right of objection.
Exporting, deleting and protecting your information
By logging in to the Fitbit app, you can access much of your personal information, including your daily exercise and activity statistics and other health and wellness data. You can also log in to your Fitbit dashboard to see some of the same information.
By accessing your Fitbit data and privacy settings in your Google Account, you can export your data in a commonly used file format, including data about your activities, body, food, sleep and more. Learn more.
You can update name and birthday used in Fitbit by updating your Google Account personal info. Other personal data in Fitbit such as sex, height, weight and display name can be updated in the Fitbit app or through Fitbit Settings. If you change your sex, height, weight and display name, your previous entries are not kept.
You can delete selected health and wellness data history through your Fitbit data and privacy settings or leave Fitbit by deleting the Fitbit service.
Your Fitbit health and wellness data, like exercise, activity, sleep and stress data, are kept until you choose to delete the data or leave Fitbit because Fitbit uses this data to provide you with your personal statistics and other aspects of Fitbit. Your Fitbit profile information, like sex, is also kept for as long as you stay with Fitbit. Other information about you and your use of Fitbit is kept for as long as necessary for our legitimate business interests, for legal reasons and to prevent harm.
In some cases, when you add information for a Fitbit feature, data is deleted after it is no longer needed for the feature. For instance, when you provide your contact list for finding friends, the list is deleted after it is used for adding contacts as friends.
Fitbit uses your information when needed to send you notifications about Fitbit and to respond to you when you contact us.
With your permission, Fitbit also uses your information to promote new features or products that might interest you. You can control marketing communications and most Fitbit notifications by using your notification preferences or via the 'Unsubscribe' link in an email.
Data including health and wellness, credit card and other personal data can be deleted from Fitbit devices. Use the device to delete its data. Learn more.
If you wish to delete additional health and wellness data, you can go to your Fitbit data and privacy settings to review and delete.