The iconic Fitbit app is dead. Google just announced its Whoop-like screen-less Fitbit Air, and alongside the new device, the Mountain View, California-based tech giant also announced the Fitbit app’s major redesign.
The companion app is now called Google Health, and in addition to a new name, it is receiving a fresh coat of paint as well.
The app now offers a more intuitive layout with a redesigned 4-icon bottom bar. Today, Fitness, Sleep, and Health will now be available to access via any screen via the bottom bar, allowing you to dive deep into your area of interest with fewer taps.
Within the Today tab, you’ll have the option to customize the top-placed dashboard to highlight steps, readiness, sleep, weekly cardio target, and more.
The same goes for the Health tab, giving you quick access to some of your favorite metrics, including heart rate, weight, resting heart rate, heart rate variability, SpO2, BP, and more.
The Fitness tab is the home for your ‘weekly plan’ and workout library, while the Sleep tab, as its name suggests, gives you in-depth information about your sleep score, sleep duration, sleep insights, and more.
Elsewhere, the redesigned app works with “hundreds of your favorite apps and devices,” including Health Connect, Apple Health and even other Google Health APIs. This means that you’ll be able to “see your data in one place like your Peloton workouts or your meals from MyFitnessPal.”
Free users get the essentials
Free Google Health users will get activity tracking, sleep tracking, health tracking, and even health and wellness logging. Google Health Premium users, on the other hand, will have all basic benefits, in addition to access to Google Health Coach, adaptive fitness plans, detailed sleep insights, proactive insights, medical record summaries, workout library, and access to mindfulness sessions.
Google Health Premium is available as a standalone subscription for $9.99 per month or $99.99 annually. It is also available as a perk for Google AI Pro or AI Ultra subscribers.
According to the tech giant, your Fitbit app will automatically update to Google Health once the new app update is available for your account between May 19th and May 26th. Of course, you have the option to manually update if you spot the new build sooner.
It’s worth noting that if you’re still using a Fitbit account, you’ll have to migrate to a Google account to use the new app.
In addition to all the new features, the app redesign is also taking a lot away. I went through the tech giant’s latest support post about the app update, and here’s what I found:
- Connections to Lifescan devices will no longer be supported. However, you can still manually log your Glucose data.
- Badges will no longer be supported. New badges won’t be generated, and your historical badges will be deleted.
- Your Social profile won’t include your sex, height, weight, location, or friends list, and privacy settings related to sharing this information will no longer be supported.
- You will no longer be able to send and receive direct messages and notifications from others.
- Graphs of your stress checks are no longer available in the mobile app.
- Skin Temperature minute-by-minute data will no longer be available. You can still check your daily and weekly Skin Temperature trends.
- Blood glucose tracking will no longer allow you to add symptoms or remind you to check your levels. You can import Blood Glucose data from blood glucose monitors using Health Connect or Apple Health.
- Setting calorie targets with “Food Plans” will no longer be supported. You can still set a personalized calorie target in the Nutrition section of the Health tab.
- For Premium users, recipes are no longer available.
- Fitbit Sense and Versa 3 users only: Snore Detection will no longer be available.
- Estimated Oxygen Variation (EOV) will no longer be available.
- Sleep Profile will no longer be available and you won’t receive monthly sleep animals.
