How to Delete Your Fitbit’s Health Data Before Google Gets It

Google is buying Fitbit for $2.1 billion. But while the Mountain View tech giant is branding the acquisition primarily as part of its hardware strategy, there’s a good chance that Google is also very interested in private user data.

The company itself seems to know this, with Google SVP Rick Osterloh reassuring concerned users that it’ll never “sell personal information to anyone” and claiming that “Fitbit health and wellness data will not be used for Google ads.”

Of course, those words haven’t reassured everyone. And many Fitbit owners are even threatening to switch to Apple Watch as a result of Google’s acquisition.

Put it this way. Even though Google claims it’ll never sell or use your data for ads, the company could do just about anything else with your Fitbit health and wellness information.

Whether or not you want to delete your Fitbit data before Google takes control is up to you. But if the idea of Google having that information is concerning, you may want to do so sooner than later.

Also keep in mind that many privacy advocates recommend all Fitbit users, current and former, review their data. In other words, if you’ve had a Fitbit device in the past but no longer use it, you may still want to log into your account and delete it before your data is transferred to Google.

Delete Your Data

You can delete your Fitbit data in a couple of ways through the Fitbit.com Dashboard.

Note: If you’d like to save a copy of your data before deleting it, you can do so from the Fitbit Dashboard on a desktop browser. Click the gear icon in the upper-right corner, click Settings and select Data Export.

1. From a computer: Go to the Fitbit settings page. Scroll down to the bottom and click on Delete account. You’ll be prompted to enter a password — from there, you’ll confirm the deletion via email.
2. From the mobile app: Open the Fitbit app and click on Today. Tap on your account icon and scroll down and tap Manage Data. From there, tap on Delete Account and confirm the deletion.

Fitbit says it’ll take anywhere from 30 to 90 days to actually delete your data. Just something to keep in mind.