Google Outlines Health App Changes After Fitbit Complaints

Google is rolling out multiple updates to its Health app starting this week after a flood of complaints from users of the service that replaced Fitbit. The company has published a list of changes addressing user feedback on the new interface and features.

One of the primary complaints centered on the Today dashboard, which currently displays users’ chosen health metrics only in the top half of the screen. Google says it will make it easier to customize both the Today and Health dashboards. Users will be able to more easily rearrange metrics within them or add or remove metrics.

The updates also add previously missing capabilities and quality-of-life improvements. These include custom food viewing, creation, and logging that lets users add custom food items to their logs. The Today and Health tabs are gaining charts for hourly step goals. A new 24-hour total sleep overview will show both main sleep and naps.

Google’s AI coach has proven divisive. Some users complained about needing to scroll through paragraphs of AI-generated content before seeing their health data, while others have found the advice and insights useful. The company is adjusting its AI-generated messages in the Today tab in three ways: making messages more concise without sacrificing helpful detail and striking the right balance between positivity and objectivity; including more visuals like charts, maps, and glanceable stats; and tuning which activities warrant a message so users should expect less commentary on brief walks.

Additional changes rolling out this week correct runs that were incorrectly labeled as general workouts for some users. Splits will be added to run summaries. The Coach will also ask for user intent more frequently before responding when more detail would be beneficial.

Google is further addressing a family account migration problem. Heads of families cannot currently migrate their personal account without also migrating or deleting kids’ accounts. The existing process does not make it easy to delete a child account if the user does not want to migrate or graduate the child. In June, users will be able to delete child accounts and unblock their account migration.

The full set of updates focuses on the new UI and tweaks to the AI coach. Some changes arrive this week while the family account fix is scheduled for June.