When Google announced the Fitbit Edge earlier this month, one of the biggest complaints we saw across social media was the lack of Google Wallet support. Or any mobile payments, like most other watches. It turns out Google has a reason for not including NFC on the Fitbit Edge this time around.
That reason is that less than 1% of Fitbit Charge 6 users used NFC. Which means that everyone complaining is the vocal 1% of users. This is similar to what we saw when Samsung removed Bluetooth from the S Pen a few years ago; Samsung said a very small percentage of users used it, but that small percentage was very vocal about it.
Since the Fitbit Edge has no NFC at all, there won’t be a software update that magically enables payments, unfortunately. Maybe Google will bring it back on the Fitbit Edge 2, but I wouldn’t hold my breath.
Here’s what Google said about this to Android Authority:
“Fitbit Edge does not offer NFC for payments. It was not widely used by our Charge 6 users — in fact, less than 1% reported using the feature on Charge 6 — so we prioritized other top features such as adding an altimeter and requested improvements.“
Fitbit Edge is up for pre-order now, shipping next week
The Fitbit Edge is currently available for pre-order, sitting at $179. Pre-orders will ship next week and arrive on October 26. It’s a pretty good little tracker; it’s a solid middle ground for those who want a fitness tracker and can see their stats at a glance without opening the Google Health app, and who don’t want all the functionality a Pixel Watch would provide.
This is part of Google’s revamped Fitbit lineup, though Google hasn’t confirmed it. The lineup includes the Fitbit Air, Fitbit Edge, and the Pixel Watch 5; check out our comparison to see how they stack up.
The post Why Google Left Contactless Payments Off the Fitbit Edge appeared first on Android Headlines.
​Â
