I love my Garmin vivosmart-music watch. I also love the fact that Garmin considers my health/fitness data my own and lets me have control over my data. This was a major factor in buying Garmin watch vs the others.
However, one thing is becoming a problem with Garmin: app integrations.
For example, I started using Chronometer App. This app needs my exercise data. It doesn't have direct integration with Garmin, and probably it's too small for Garmin to worry about which is reasonable. However, like practically everyone else, Chronometer has connection with Google Fit. Now to get my exercise data into Garmin, I need to find a third-party app, or a set of third-party apps that would make a connection. This is not convenient and I may refuse to spend a lot of time to set up these integrations.
Instead of spending hours tinkering with apps, I may just as well buy aFitbit watch next time I need an upgrade. I bought a Fitbit watch for my wife; I don't like it that much but I may decide to go with this brand because it would make my life more convenient.
Garmin, I hope you are you are listening, so please try to talk reason into yourself. I understand that you are a hardware company and don't get this "ecosystem" thing but at the very least, you should listen to thousands of your loyal users who want this little software switch flipped on. Trust me, it is going to be good for your business.
The health/fitness app landscape is changing, new apps appear all the time and you simply cannot make all the necessary integrations happen all by yourself. Google Fit is a hub that facilitates integrations, you should consider it brings you as a result of these integrations. Not using this opportunity is going to hurt your business.
Please reconsider your decision to kill Google Fit integration.
Your loyal user,
-- Alexander
