After months of Public Preview testing, Google is replacing the Fitbit app and launching “Google Health.” It’s meant to bring “together the best of Fitbit’s pioneering spirit with the helpfulness of Google.”
The Fitbit brand remains in use for hardware, but all software will now be under the “Google Health” umbrella to reflect where the company is going. Behind the scenes, the Fitbit app will soon get a Play or App Store update to Google Health.
For the most part, this is the same app available in Public Preview since October. Google Health is organized into four bottom bar tabs:
- Today: Customizable Metrics Dashboard and a feed of Coach messages if you’re a Premium subscriber
- Fitness: Track activities, metrics, and weekly plan
- Sleep: Detailed data and updated sleep score
- Health: Various metrics, medical records, and more
However, there are a number of meaningful updates, starting with a ton of new customizable metrics for the dashboard at the top of the Today and Health tabs. A new “Log” button lets you manually add Activity, Body fat, Food, Glucose, Hydration, Period, Sleep, Temperature, and Weight with a sleeker interface. Finally, friend leaderboards are available again. In addition to steps, you can now see cardio load.
Free users will get activity, health, and sleep tracking with basic logging, as well as the ability to import medical records (in the US).
Google Health Premium (previously Fitbit Premium) subscribers will get the conversational Google Health Coach and adaptive fitness plans. They will also get detailed and proactive insights across sleep, fitness, and health. The Coach will be able to summarize medical records, while the workout library and mindfulness sessions from before are unchanged.
New with this launch is multimodal logging that lets you log via text, voice, or photo. For example, you can take a picture of lunch and have Google perform automatic recognition.
Google Health Premium is now part of Google AI Pro or AI Ultra in 30+ countries. You can also subscribe separately for $9.99 per month or $99.99 annually.
The Google Health Coach is built with Gemini and designed to adapt to metrics in real time, as well as requests you give it. The setup experience involves telling the Coach your preferences, routines, and available equipment. This will help create a personalized fitness plan with daily workout recommendations.
You can ask questions like:
- When was the last time I ran 5 miles?
- What are the warning signs of pre-diabetes?
- I have a sore knee, can you suggest a workout that doesn’t put pressure on it?
On the privacy front, Google remains “committed to not using Fitbit user health and wellness data for Google Ads.”
The Google Health app is available in over 200 countries. This update (including on Pixel Watch) will start rolling out on May 19 and will be fully available ahead of the Fitbit Air hitting store shelves on May 26.
Later this year, Google Fit users will be able to migrate data to the Google Health app.
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
Comments