During the darkest days of the pandemic, I learned perhaps the biggest lesson about fitness. It wasn't about setting my alarm for 6 a.m. to go to Barry's Boot Camp before work, it was about exercising with a friend.

It's this sense of community that led millions of us to companies like Peloton, which is why we've held virtual fitness classes on Instagram and Zoom, and virtual step count challenges with friends. That's why, as soon as we could, we went out on socially distanced walks, anxious to get the gym back on track.

And it's not just the feeling of connecting with others. Studies have shown that exercising in a group can increase motivation to achieve goals. One study (open in new tab) found that 95% of those who started a weight-loss program with a friend completed it, compared to 76% alone; another study (open in new tab) that examined five years of data from more than one million runners found that exercise is "socially contagious. Another Michigan State University study (opens in new tab) found that doing aerobic exercise with a partner motivates people to exercise longer and harder. Motivation also increased when the partner was virtual.

With this in mind, it is puzzling that since acquiring Fitbit in November 2019, Google has decided to strip Fitbit of one of the things that makes Fitbit Fitbit: community. During Cobid's closure, when I lived 15.2 miles away from my mother, whom I spoke to at least once a day and saw most weekends, we could feel connected by competing in silly step count challenges on our trackers. But after March 27, Fitbit will be removing all adventures, challenges, and open groups from the app.

Challenges among Fitbit users have been the brand's USP for the past decade, and Fitbit talks a lot about its social community and challenges, which have been copied and incorporated into most of the best fitness trackers on the market It's a feature. So why now? In an email to The Verge (opens in new tab), Fitbit states that these features are of "limited use."

Certainly not everyone who buys one of the best Fitbits wants to use the Adventures tool that allows virtual tours of Yosemite National Park. Not everyone wants to join a huge community group that chats about common interests. Not everyone is interested in virtual trophies. But I would argue that the people who use these features were and still are Fitbit's core audience.

After the March 27 cull, Fitbit users will still be able to create private, closed groups with their friends, but they will not be able to participate in challenges and will lose any trophies they have earned. From the looks of it, it seems I'm not the only one puzzled by this move. One user tweeted (opens in new tab). 'Considering I and 30+ friends and family have trackers just to do multiple challenges every week and weekend, I guess I can ditch this tracker and leave the ecosystem. It is literally the only thing that keeps us going"

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Another writes (opens in new tab), "This is very niche but @fitbit just sent me an email saying they will get rid of their challenge on March 27, am I beaten? I have been part of the regular workweek hustle for the past 5+ years and that is the only reason I have never switched to an Apple watch."

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Fitbit promises bigger and better things are coming to keep users motivated, but this feels like a confusing move from the brand. A post-pandemic study (open in new tab) found that high levels of depression and anxiety may be affecting people's motivation to exercise.