Re: What can't you do on Android WITHOUT a Google Account set up in the OS?

"R.Wieser" <address@is.invalid> wrote:

Theo,
 

To use a Fitbit, you need a Google account

 
Which is a good reason no to use it.

And what would be the suggested alternative that does not require ANY
account anywhere while still just as robust, or even more robust, in
features?  What is better than Fitbit, but with no account?  Didn't
those extra/premium services require a Fitbit account (now a Google
account)?  Do the better than Fitbit alternatives also have availability
of those extra services, too?

Google acquired Fitbit.  Maybe that's why a Google account later became
required.  Did/does Fitbit not allow storing of historical data to an
online account?

https://www.fitbit.com/global/us/technology/compatible-devices

  A Google Account is required for all new users.

  A Google Account is required to activate new Fitbit devices released
  after the launch of Google Accounts for Fitbit.

  Existing users have the option to use either a Google Account or their
  existing Fitbit account until at least 2025 at which point they will
  be required to use a Google Account for login.
 
So, Fitbit devices had a Fitbit account.  Google acquired Fitbit, and
wanted to leverage their authentication services instead of maintaining
a setup in which they were never involved.  There are premium services
that cost money, so I can see Google wanted payment to be controlled by
Google, not whatever Fitbit used before.

I had a Fitbit 2, and now a Fitbit Luxe.  Doesn't upload anything to any
account.  I never bought any premium services.  I don't need all those
extras for how I use it.  The only "extra" I enabled was to pair the
Fitbit to my smart phone via Bluetooth to transfer data from device to
Android app.  Don't need an online account for that.

Fitbit is a company name that produces several models of mobile devices.
Maybe the Fitbit 2 and Luxe are considered too limited to bother with an
online account (whether it was with Fitbit or now with Google), or I
never upgraded to paid features which would then require an account.

https://support.google.com/fitbit/?visit_id=638713434358117766-3078936505&p=sp_hc_fitbit&rd=1#topic=14236398

From what I saw there, it isn't the device itself that mandates using a
Fitbit/Google account, but the app ran on the smart phone.  However,
Fitbit upped the minimum supported Android version which eliminates my
phone (back on Android 8).  I get "Not compatible" with my phone when I
visit the Play Store page for Fitbit.  So, I cannot test if the app can
be installed, BT paired to the Fitbit Luxe, and not buy any premium
services to see if I'm forced to have a Google account.  I don't recall
ever having a Fitbit account, because I never paid for any extra stuff
nor wanted to.

It looks like after Google's acquisition that new Fitbit devices via the
Android app must get registered.

https://support.google.com/product-documentation/answer/14226283?hl=en#:~:text=A%20Google%20Account%20is%20required%20to%20activate%20new%20Fitbit%20devices,a%20Google%20Account%20for%20login.

There it mentions Android 10 is the minimum, so my old phone is out.

When someone says "Fitbit", I think of the device on my wrist, not of
the app on a phone.  I think "Fitbit" to the OP meant the app.  I'm
still using the Fitbit device without any Fitbit app on my old phone.
The device still works by itself.  I don't need "To make full use of the
Fitbit products and services", because I never used those extras.  And
now their app won't install on my old phone, so the Fitbit device has
nowhere to communicate, anyway.

What are those extra "Fitbit services" that I never needed nor wanted?
When I did have the app, I never had to activate the device.  I just
paired the device to the app, and that was it.