While Fitbit's latest smartwatches, the Sense 2 and Versa 4, are great fitness trackers, they lack a crucial feature found on similarly priced smartwatches from smartphone OEMs: music playback support. Due to this, many buyers gravitated towards older models like the original Fitbit Sense and Versa 3, which offered Pandora and Deezer support. In case you recently bought one of these models, we have bad news.

Fitbit has announced that it will remove Pandora and Deezer support from older smartwatches, including the Fitbit Sense, Versa 3, and Versa 2, from March 31, 2023. In an email (via 9to5Google), the company said that users "will no longer be able to download Pandora stations or add Deezer playlists to your device, nor will you be able to play anything that you have previously downloaded," following the deadline.

Once the change goes into effect, all smartwatches in Fitbit's portfolio will lack support for music playback. Fitbit has updated its support page to highlight this change and removed help pages for the streaming services.

While the company doesn't explain why it's removing Pandora and Deezer support from older smartwatches, it seems like Fitbit is pushing users who want smart features, like music playback and third-party app support, toward the more premium Pixel Watch.

The Pixel Watch offers most of the fitness tracking features you get with a Fitbit, along with third-party app support, music playback, camera controls, and more. But it's not the best smartwatch on the market, as it's a bit expensive at $350, and you have to shell out an extra $10 per month to get the features that come with Fitbit Premium. If you're thinking of replacing your old Fitbit smartwatch following this change and aren't completely invested in the Fitbit ecosystem, you'd be better off getting the Galaxy Watch 5 or Watch 5 Pro instead.

Via: 9to5Google