Google’s My Tracks fitness app loses its way and gets cancelled

By Albert Khoury January 29, 2016

google fit 57 app update version 1467190476 — Image used with permission by copyright holder

As objective data begins suggesting that fitness tracking apps and wearables are not as accurate as advertised, some consumer complaints have actually led to class action lawsuits, with Fitbit itself recently being taken to court. Despite this, the technology remains popular and has been expanding. In recent months, however, there have been rumblings that Google’s popular fitness tracking app My Tracks has received waning support from developers. This is likely tied to the recent announcement that the app will no longer be available after April 30, 2016.

This was revealed on the app’s support site, which also offered some consolation for users in the form of instructions on how to export their data after that date:

“We apologize for the inconvenience this might cause My Tracks users,” Google said in the statement. “We’ve made the tough decision to invest our efforts into other, more wide-reaching, mapping projects. Below are some resources to help you manage or export your data and find other apps to continue tracking your activities.”

Your data can be exported to Google Drive or external storage, and saved in a variety of formats, each offering compatibility for various tracking features. Google also offered a list of other apps (including compatible third-party apps) that you can try, such as Google Fit, Strava, Endomondo, Map My Run, Map My Hike, GPD Logger for Android, and GPX Viewer.

My Tracks is an early Google app, dating back to February 2009, according to Ausdroid. The app tracks your path, speed, distance, and elevation during your runs or bike rides, or during any other activity. The app was sometimes used to showcase features such as Android Wear.

The Google Play Store lists My Tracks as having 10-50 million downloads. But of course this number should be compared to other Google apps that have hit the billions, such as YouTube, Gmail, Google Books, Chrome, Hangouts, Messenger, Search, and Google+.

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