Fitbit is present process a significant overhaul, and I’ve spent a month with the preview of the newly redesigned app and private well being coach.
The app could be very AI-centric, which is to be anticipated in 2025 when each firm beneath the solar is searching for methods to leverage AI of their companies. And whereas that won’t attraction to shoppers who’re a bit cautious of AI, the brand new app redesign brings the Fitbit app into the fashionable Android period whereas making it really feel extra like a complete health information than the usual model.
For the time being, there nonetheless isn’t function parity with the usual Fitbit app. However what’s new is moderately fascinating and makes me excited for the total model of the brand new app, which is anticipated to roll out someday in early 2026.
For now, that is what it’s been like to make use of Fitbit’s new private well being coach preview.
Meet me within the center
After switching to the brand new preview for the primary time, organising the brand new well being coach preview was a bit extra concerned than I anticipated. After a fast introduction and tapping by some notices relating to knowledge use, I used to be invited to have a chat with the AI well being coach. The place the earlier app merely had you enter your targets, comparable to day by day steps and sleep, the well being coach turns the method right into a dialog.
Throughout this course of, I talked to it about what I hoped to attain and what I believe works or doesn’t work for me. The coach was about as responsive as I anticipated from a Gemini-powered AI, and it appeared to be making a real effort to get to know me and perceive my targets. I instructed it that I used to be seeking to achieve muscle and lose physique fats whereas additionally hoping to construct sufficient endurance to run my first 5K.
I used to be then directed to have a separate chat to arrange a exercise plan, although that is optionally available. The AI drew on what it knew about me from our earlier dialog and got here up with a plan to assist me obtain it, whereas retaining sure particulars in thoughts, comparable to my bronchial asthma (it prompt lighter runs in consequence).
I didn’t like the primary suggestion it gave me, since I wished to include a few of what I already do, comparable to a day by day morning run and instructor-led yoga, Pilates, and HIIT on Sundays, Mondays, and Tuesdays, respectively. The AI pushed again by primarily telling me I used to be overdoing it (which, admittedly, I used to be).
It made a reasonably convincing argument that I could also be hindering my progress by working too arduous and as a substitute tried to compromise with me, permitting me to proceed in my instructor-led lessons whereas asking which days I most well-liked to run.
After a couple of minutes, a exercise plan was generated, which felt roughly in step with what I wished, with a pleasant mixture of my instructor-led lessons, operating, and lifting.
Your coach at your fingertips
The redesigned Fitbit app follows Google’s Materials 3 Expressive design, with vibrant icons and enormous playing cards all through the As we speak, Health, and Sleep sections for accessible, easy-to-understand knowledge.
The highest of the As we speak tab options customizable focus metrics for a glanceable view of your progress and new Weekly cardio load. Scrolling by the As we speak part reveals playing cards that present a fast have a look at essential metrics, comparable to sleep, readiness, earlier actions, and extra, every with AI-generated insights.
The brand new Sleep and Health tabs make the info very straightforward to know, permitting you to view tendencies and dive into every metric, such because the improved sleep monitoring and targets. The Well being tab is the place all that knowledge comes collectively that will help you get a extra complete view of long-term tendencies.
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AI insights are present in practically each a part of the app, which can appear overwhelming to some, however I truly discover it fairly useful that it is offered to me as a substitute of getting to ask for it. And when you have questions on your metrics, faucet “Say extra about my x” on the backside of every card to begin a dialog with the coach.
It is an method that jogs my memory loads of Oura’s AI advisor, which is out there all through the app and able to speak to you about your stats. Google is clearly flexing its AI chops by leveraging it that will help you higher perceive your physique. That stated, I do really feel like bombarding customers with text-filled playing cards could possibly be off-putting, and it might be useful to current them as expandable playing cards, giving customers the choice to view the insights if they need.
There’s additionally a floating Ask Coach button that is at all times accessible throughout the app, so you may also provoke conversations that method. I do recognize how the AI feels genuinely useful and accommodating. For instance, I used to be going out of city for a trip and knew I would not have the ability to comply with that week’s plan, so I instructed the Coach about it, and it primarily cancelled that week’s plan and had me begin again up as soon as I received again from trip.
And if I miss a day, the coach will recommend consolidating exercises to assist preserve me on monitor “with out overdoing it,” displaying simply how versatile it may be.
However past that, you possibly can simply speak to the coach when you have common questions on your health, like methods to enhance your sleep and even constructing a diet plan for your self. Mainly, you possibly can deal with it roughly like an precise coach, asking it most of the similar questions you’ll if you happen to had an in-person coach. The coach may even “test in” with considerably frequent notifications all through the day.
As somebody who cannot afford a private coach, I discover loads of worth on this.
Lastly, I ought to notice that your Fitbit knowledge stays inside Fitbit, so you possibly can’t go into the Gemini app and ask it about your current exercises. I can see the benefit in retaining the info separate, although I would really like the choice to speak to Gemini about my Fitbit knowledge if I would like.
Work in progress
To date, there’s rather a lot to love in regards to the new Fitbit private well being coach preview, from the brand new design to the insights and conversational AI. However as this can be a preview, I’ve discovered a handful of issues that would (and may) enhance when the total expertise rolls out to everybody.
There are loads of options you will get in the usual app expertise, which Fitbit has already highlighted. I am not too bothered by this, as you possibly can simply change to the usual expertise at any time to get these options, then change again to the preview.
I believe what bothers me most proper now could be how the health plan feels extra like a suggestion than an precise plan. After I choose a session, there is no choice to begin a exercise from the app. As an alternative, I’ve to enter my watch and begin my very own exercise manually. From there, I’ve to manually mark within the app that I’ve completed every set/session, enter my reps, and enter my complete weight.
This differs from Garmin, the place I can arrange a plan, entry it on the watch, and comply with every train from my wrist, which may additionally save my reps and weight with out me needing to the touch my cellphone.
There’s simply an excessive amount of handbook enter, together with having to hyperlink my tracked exercise to the scheduled one. Happily, I can nonetheless ship some really helpful runs to my Pixel Watch 3, which is far more useful for monitoring my run and staying throughout the prompt time/coronary heart price zone.
There are auto-tracked exercises obtainable, and the Fitbit app will verify the exercise on the watch or cellphone app, which is beneficial.
That stated, the best way health monitoring works within the Fitbit app highlights a broader disconnect with the Pixel Watch that I hope Fitbit can tackle with an replace to the Put on OS app. As an illustration, after I get my Morning Transient, it will make sense to indicate my prompt exercise for that day, but it surely simply reveals me what number of days I’ve labored out.
A part of this probably has to do with how Pixel Watches monitor exercises, which aren’t as granular as these on a Garmin watch, for instance. On Garmin, reps are mechanically counted, units mechanically begin and cease, and the watch can pretty precisely decide which workouts you are doing simply by the way you’re shifting. For now, the Pixel Watch can not do any of this.
An thrilling evolution
Regardless of its shortcomings, I believe Google is heading in the right direction with this new Fitbit expertise. It appears unbelievable, feels extra organized, and does an important job of showcasing simply how far its AI has come as a device we will make the most of. Even with its lacking options, the preview feels fairly strong, and I am trying ahead to seeing the way it evolves, hopefully into the health app of my desires.
