Fitbit has canceled some social features and increased the minimum version of iOS requested from 14 to 15. The impact of both decisions will probably be minimal: already in February, when Fitbit announced the closure of Challenges, Adventures and open Groups, it spoke of a limited diffusion, while iOS 15 is available on all iPhones from the 6s (released in 2015, almost eight years ago) onwards.

Fitbit, which has been owned by Alphabet/Google since 2019, said the removal of features was meant to streamline, simplify and improve the official app. Just for completeness, two short words on each:

• Adventure mode: released in 2016, tried to make training a kind of game with goals and challenges using the real world – for example daily steps in the trail of Yosemite National Park in the USA.
• Challenges: it allowed you to share the total steps of the day with friends with the aim of encouraging them to do the same – or better.
• Open groups: Quite simply, groups that all users could ask to join. It’s worth noting that closed groups are still supported; Fitbit also notes that it is still possible to connect with other users of the platform through the official forum.

However, there are no explanations and information regarding the increase in the minimum version of iOS. It’s not even clear if the change was made right now or happened in the past weeks – it’s certain that as of early March the minimum required version was still 14. It’s interesting to note that the minimum Android version remained unchangedthe 9.