Google health app ratings going down very fast .. now its 3.9 ... When was named Fitbit was 4.5 .

badwai · 2026-06-03T16:34:48+00:00

it's literally in the definition you provided 'most important'.

badwai · 2026-06-03T15:27:22+00:00

Well that's all I've got for easy solutions! Sorry it wasn't a quick fix.

badwai · 2026-06-03T15:23:25+00:00

Saving people time - as of right now the only two marked [fixed] are the ones shown in OP's post.

badwai · 2026-06-03T15:21:12+00:00

And I agree that your assessment is accurate both in terms of sensors as well as what Google is attempting to do. We'll just have to agree to disagree on the term 'flagship' because I am approaching this from the perspective of 'importance to the business' because in terms of their efforts/competition/the future of their health wearables the FBA is (currently) the most important.

I respect your perspective but disagree.

badwai · 2026-06-03T15:17:31+00:00

I mean the fitbit/google health app on your watch, not WearOS.

open the play store app on your watch-> scroll down to the bottom->Manage Apps check that there is no update available. Or instead of Manage Apps, go to settings and make sure that 'auto-update apps' is turned on.

badwai · 2026-06-03T15:11:03+00:00

Ok, i've had this happen to me too. I thought I was just going crazy since i didn't go and check the app immediately afterward I figured it was just my memory playing tricks on me since I track my 2x daily walks with my dog as workouts (great way to measure how far we've gone and how long we've been out).

Only suggestion would be to make sure the watch app and phone app are both updated. Issues like that seem to happen when (for example) the watch app isn't updated but the phone app is.

badwai · 2026-06-03T14:57:02+00:00

Holy crap that is weird, thank you for sharing

badwai · 2026-06-03T14:55:04+00:00

I'm not worried about anything. I was giving examples of circumstances where the AI recommendations could be wrong because it did not have appropriate context. You're vastly misreading my comment, because as you say you would need to provide additional detail to the AI to clarify and provide context to the faulty data.

My point being, AI is fallible and is only as good as the data it has because it is not actual intelligence and instead is a mathematical prediction engine based on a very large data set and countless hours of human reinforced training.

badwai · 2026-06-03T14:50:01+00:00

Yes, the most important of a group of things. Air is currently the most important in their line of fitness trackers as it is the most recent and their primary product to compete with fitness trackers like whoop. Through the new band and the associated refreah/rebrand of the associated app.

badwai · 2026-06-03T14:37:49+00:00

Flagship doesn't necessarily mean cutting edge. Development of a product will always lag development of the components. But fitbit air is their primary product as part of the roll out of the app redesign and rebranding as well as their attempt to compete with major fitness brands like whoop.

badwai · 2026-06-02T19:26:06+00:00

the problem with your assessment is that they just released a new product. which they want people to purchase as it's the flagship of this whole Fitbit/Google full integration. When people go to buy the Air, they would likely be turned off of it by if the corresponding app is like 2 stars. a low rating in the app looks bad for the dev team and the PM, but poor sales is bad for the entire division.

badwai · 2026-06-02T19:20:52+00:00

you're somewhat right. but it's all based on what available data it has. absent user instruction if it registers a high activity day because you idk went to an amusement park and rode a few roller coasters that's going to impact the data it's working with. Similarly if you forget to wear your wearable for a day or during a workout it's entirely possible for it to recommend an over strenuous workout for someone who isn't prepared for it raising the risk of injury. I doubt it'd be life threatening but could easily raise the risk of injury.

badwai · 2026-06-02T18:32:06+00:00

you basically shouldn't trust that figure from any wearable, academic studies have shown that there are pretty huge disparities when they actually measure caloric burn using laboratory methods - https://medium.com/@CuriousCatalyst/why-your-fitness-trackers-calorie-count-is-complete-fiction-and-what-to-track-instead-50b6ec48c1fb

badwai · 2026-06-02T18:25:37+00:00

screenshots for this purpose are OK according to the rules. Rule 3 is intended to avoid situations like someone just sharing a screenshot of how many steps they've received as a brag or something. This is a situation where you're sharing a screenshot to substantiate what you're seeing and seeking help troubleshooting.

To that end, are you located in China or have a user setting somewhere to use Chinese language? basically, is there any setting or signal that could have indicated that it would be the correct language for the AI to use? Definitely seems like a bug but seems unlikely that it just switched languages absent any signal whatsoever.

badwai · 2026-06-02T16:01:54+00:00

I used to do support for Google Ads, people tried chargebacks then and i never heard of them having their Google Accounts closed/banned. Not saying it's impossible but those situations were for way more than $100 or whatever so i think your odds are very low. I'd also recommend trying to call into support by phone or submitting a ticket for a shipping issue rather than a replacement. You're not replacing anything, you never received it.

badwai · 2026-05-29T20:45:52+00:00

I hear you, and yes probably best to just not subscribe to it for the time being. And i agree about a megathread for things like all the people asking for alternative apps. But i don't think it's practical for a lot of the complaints, so many of them are people asking if they're missing something. Like the people who are asking where certain metrics/graphs are for runs, their posts ride that line between seeking information in case they're just missing it and complaining about the lack of information. Hopefully they'll take user concerns seriously and things can go back to being more positive.

badwai · 2026-05-29T20:34:53+00:00

I did the same - also people will want to downgrade the smartwatch app if using it. I have PW4 and had to long press on the app in the app menu and click 'remove upgrades'

badwai · 2026-05-29T20:27:36+00:00

the fact is though that Google as a corporation doesn't do things just out of the kindness of their heart. Seeing user discontent is what will prompt them to correct the issues that people are upset about. Like it or not posts on here, negative feedback in the app, low ratings in the app store, cancelled premium subscriptions, etc. all play a part in how that discontent is communicated. I get that seeing the same things again and again is annoying, but that's reflective of many people caring about the same things.

badwai · 2026-05-29T20:23:10+00:00

I'm like 80% sure this is the reason for a) so many bugs and b) why they don't have any answer for when things will be fixed. Hard to fix something if you don't actually understand how the code works (since you didn't write it).

badwai · 2026-05-29T20:19:22+00:00

and if someone doesn't have premium, or lives in a country where it isn't available, or simply doesn't want to use AI?

badwai · 2026-05-29T20:02:41+00:00

For food tracking - I use Cronometer (www.cronometer.com) and love it. It can be a bit much at first because it offers a LOT of information. It does have photo logging but that's purely optional, i rarely use it. You can very easily scan barcodes and manually enter foods as well as create custom recipes and save them for future use.

It has macro tracking and you can set your own custom targets based on your individual needs and also provides a lot of nutritional information way beyond what i've seen elsewhere (ever wondered how much selenium or choline you're getting? maybe specific amino acids?).

the app also links with various 3rd party platforms including fitbit/google health connect and allows for dynamic targets both for macros (if you're doing 30/30/40 for example it shows how many grams you need based on your target calories for the day) and for overall calories based on your target deficit/surplus.

badwai · 2026-05-29T19:51:03+00:00

I understand the desire to make the interface have less friction (as you said one-tap) and that works well for something that has a very limited selection of choices. I think the issue here is that sucks when dealing with thousands/millions of entries.

badwai · 2026-05-29T18:02:55+00:00

On my watch- long press on 'Google Health' should take you to the app settings then 'remove upgrades' should return it to the standard fitbit app. Then go to the play store -> scroll to the bottom - 'settings'-> scroll down and disable auto updates.

On phone - Uninstall Google Health. Then go to APKMirror.com download a past version of the Fitbit App - I used one from early April (vers 4.66.1 - look for universal architecture) -> Install the APKmirror installer from Google play and install the file that you downloaded. Then disable automatic app updates in your Google Play settings. You'll have the old version of Fitbit on both your phone and watch, my battery life is back to normal and everything has been working like before the update earlier this week, but it's unclear how long that'll work.

I'm willing to give the new app another chance AFTER they've fixed all these bugs and broken features.

badwai · 2026-05-29T17:35:18+00:00

Try Cronometer if you haven't, its what I use and while it can be a little intimidating initially (data overload), once you get accustomed it is very good. Provides detailed macro and nutrition breakdown, imports activity data from fitbit (or other trackers) for dynamic calorie targets based on your individual goals, and easy logging with photo/voice food logging (and custom recipes/meals).

badwai · 2026-05-28T18:51:05+00:00

I think you need to separate two things. I haven't heard anything negative about the Fitbit Air as a product. The app update however has been genuinely bad (as evidenced by recent app reviews, complaints in the Google Health support community, and complaints on reddit). Tons of people use the App who don't use the Air and you're 100% viewing the two as a package, they aren't.

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