TL;DR
- Google is beginning to block older Fitbit app versions behind a mandatory update screen.
- The move effectively forces remaining Fitbit holdouts to switch to the newer Google Health app.
- Older Fitbit app builds had continued working for months after Google said support would end in July.
Google has been dismantling the old Fitbit experience piece by piece ever since it replaced the app with Google Health earlier this year. Some longtime users resisted the move by clinging to older Fitbit versions, even after Google warned that builds older than version 5.0 would lose support in July. That workaround somehow kept working for months, but the reprieve now appears to be over as Google starts blocking access behind a mandatory update screen.
Reports are emerging from users still running the old Fitbit app that they can no longer get past the prompt without updating. Since installing the latest version means moving onto Google Health, this effectively forces the remaining holdouts to finally make the switch.