The Fitbit Air just got new features and luxury bands
Hot on the heels of unveiling the all-new Fitbit Edge, Google has bestowed its existing, screenless fitness tracker, the Fitbit Air, with a bunch of new features.
The biggest factor of the latest update is Health Guardian, which is an array of tools that are designed to help you better understand long-term trends in your health and fitness. Through this system, subscribers to Google Health Premium will get a report at the start of each month, letting them know which lifestyle adjustments the software recommends in order for them to reach their goals.
For context, this is similar to the Health Report feature available to users of the Whoop Strap, so it makes sense that Google is looking to close the gap between the Fitbit Air and its closest competitor by adapting one of its mainline features.
On top of the Health Guardian, Google has also expanded the scope of the Air’s automatic workout tracking. Previously, the device was capped to only detect 10 workouts without any user input, but now it’s capable of recognising 100 unique exercises automatically.
Part of the way Google has been able to achieve this is through greater contextual reasoning on behalf of the Google Health app, recognising which workouts tend to feature as part of your routine. This also comes with the claim that detection is twice as accurate as before.
The Fitbit Air can now also be connected with a wider array of third-party apps including Flo Health for menstrual cycle tracking, alongside MyFitnessPal for logging meals and nutrition. Users in the US can also connect to Abbott’s Lingo to factor in blood glucose data.
Alongside the update, Google has dropped a new Metal Mesh band for the Fitbit Air, turning the fitness trackers into more of a fashion accessory.
It’s not all good news for Fitbit fans, however, as Google has now done away with the classic Fitbit app for good. Anyone who tries to access the app now will be met with an update prompt, navigating them towards the newer Google Health app.
Although expected, it is the end of an era for the software that helped to put Fitbit on the map as one of the go-to brands amongst the best fitness trackers. It also doesn’t help that the new Fitbit Edge is missing a handful of features previously found on its spiritual predecessor, the Fitbit Charge 6.
