9 Sources
[1]
Google's New Screen-Less Fitbit Air Proves Less Is More
Since there's no screen, much of the Fitbit Air experience revolves around the redesigned Google Health app. It supports both Health Connect and Apple HealthKit, keeping the Air compatible with iOS and Android. The redesign is cleaner and more flexible than Fitbit's old software, with an emphasis on adapting to your habits instead of forcing you into predefined routines. You can customize the dashboards, pin the metrics you care about the most, set weekly targets, and follow guided workouts through videos or step-by-step instructions. Setup begins with an onboarding chat with the new AI Health Coach, powered by Gemini. It asks about your goals, routines, and obstacles before generating a personalized wellness plan. Depending on how much detail you share, including the option to upload medical records, the process takes around five minutes. From there, the app generates a weekly plan with suggested workouts and targets that you can tweak manually or refine through follow-up chats with the Coach. The experience feels approachable rather than prescriptive or overly clinical. I was surprised by how central the AI Health Coach becomes to the experience. More than the tracker itself, it was the Health Coach that kept pulling me back into the app throughout the day. It sends you check-ins in the morning with sleep recaps, post-workout summaries after exercises, and nightly overviews that connect your activity, recovery, and stress levels into something more coherent. Most of these messages also end with a question about how you're feeling, which naturally opens into a chat rather than feeling like another notification to dismiss. Automatic activity detection is solid overall. The Air consistently recognized walks and even generated useful summaries about intensity and recovery afterward. I haven't run into any workout hallucinations (yet), though there were occasional misreads. On one day, for example, the Air logged a walk as a run but then immediately followed with a note pointing out that my heart rate data suggested it was probably a walk. It was an odd moment of the system partially correcting itself in real time. The detection algorithms also noticeably improved with feedback. During my first three days of testing, the Air missed a recurring high-intensity workout class. But after I manually logged the sessions a few times, it began recognizing them automatically. Like the Oura Ring, the Air gets smarter the more context you give it. If you start a workout from the app beforehand, you can follow live stats in real time, including heart rate, elapsed time, and the Cardio Load metric, which estimates the strain on your cardiovascular system during exercise. The AI Health Coach generates a weekly cardio target based on your health data. Like most readiness-style scores, I'd treat it more as guidance than fact; they're ultimately based on Google's proprietary algorithms.
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I wore Google's Fitbit Air for a week, and it gives the Whoop a serious run for its money
Is 2026 the year we go screenless? It's looking to be that way with Google's release of the Fitbit Air, its Whoop competitor, available now. Whoop may have kick-started the screenless wristband craze, but Google is proving that an affordably priced health tracker can be just as commercially successful, especially if it's comfortable, useful, and long-lasting -- with its $100 price tag. Also: Fitbit Air vs. Whoop: I compared Google's screenless fitness tracker to the industry best The Fitbit Air's announcement came with a few software updates, including an app name change from Fitbit to Google Health and the global launch of Google's Health Coach, the AI companion that powers the premium app experience. I've been testing the device over the past week as I've gone running, lifted weights, done yoga, and logged hours on the elliptical. I've asked the AI coach for help in planning my workout routine, understanding my recovery, and nutrition advice. After stress-testing the Fitbit Air, I'm well-positioned to tell you whether it's a worthy buy. Spoiler alert: it absolutely is. Your experience with the Fitbit Air will differ depending on whether you're subscribed to Google Health Premium. The bulk of the Fitbit Air's functions are the same across tiers, but some in-app features, like logging a meal by messaging the AI coach, are slightly more seamless in the membership tier. Out of the box, the $100 Fitbit Air comes in four colorways: lavender, berry, obsidian, and fog (a blue-gray). It's a thin band that takes up less space around my wrist than my Whoop or Apple Watch. It's also lighter. Also: I compared the best smartwatches by Google and Samsung - here's how Pixel wins out It has an optical heart rate monitor, three-axis accelerometer and gyroscope, SpO2 monitoring sensors, a temperature sensor, and a vibration motor (used for Fitbit Air's wake-up alarm). It doesn't have a GPS for location tracking, but since it's a screenless device, the Fitbit Air uses your phone's location monitoring instead. If you want to log a phone-free run around the block, you'll have to use one of Google's other devices (like its Pixel Watch). Fitbit Air's screenless design allows it to foster a healthier relationship with activity tracking. I love my Apple Watch, but it's made me a little obsessed with getting my steps in, thanks to the constant reminders of my activity goals on the screen. A screenless tracker, on the other hand, is far less invasive; with all the data housed in the app, I can check when I want to. Out of all the wearables I've tested, this one blended into nice outfits the best. On the flip side, when I was working out, I would find myself glancing at the band out of habit, checking my heart rate zones or calories burned, only to realize I'd have to dig into my app to find them. The battery lasts around a week. I began wearing the device on a Saturday morning, and by the following Saturday morning, its battery was around 20%. Not too bad, right? Also: This minimalist fitness tracker is a refreshing alternative (with no subscription) You can log a variety of activities through the Google Health app, whether you're trail running, practicing Bikram yoga, or doing ballet. It displays your overall cardio load, calories burned, and heart rate as you log an exercise. On the Google Health home screen, you'll see a weekly cardio load (adjusted each week based on your activity goals and habits), sleep, steps, and a recovery score. I like having the weekly target front and center -- it serves as a nice exercise pacer. I know when to ramp up my cardio during a slower week, or rest on the weekends if I've already jam-packed the front of my week with runs and high-intensity workouts. Because you can't view any exercise data on the device, it would be nice to have certain metrics, like calories burned, steps, or heart rate zones, available on display on your phone's home screen. This is currently missing from Google Health, but I'd love to see it in a future update for easier viewing. I'd also like to use the Google Health Coach while logging a workout, say, to ask it to convert 16kg to pounds or to swap one arm exercise for another during my upper body strength training. Also: I wore the Whoop 5.0 for a month - it combines the best of the Oura Ring and Apple Watch The device is still designed for a mainstream fitness audience -- not so much a premium, longevity- and biohacking-obsessed audience to which Whoop caters. It's also priced accordingly. Without the $100 annual Google Health subscription, the Fitbit Air costs $100. In contrast, annual Whoop subscriptions start at $200, with the highest "medical grade" tier at $360. The Google Health app (formerly known as Fitbit) delivers the bulk of the basic health-tracking mechanisms, and if you want to freestyle by exporting your weight training data from another app, that's available to you in the Google Health Coach chat through the additional Google Health subscription. The membership and access to Google Health Coach elevated the Fitbit Air for me. Instead of digging through tabs to log my nutrition or add notes to my strength training session, I'd simply chat with the Health Coach to do these things instead. I log and track all my weight-training data through an app called Fitbod. While testing the Fitbit Air, I wanted to add the exercises from that app to the Fitbit Air, so I screenshotted the sets and reps, uploaded them through Health Coach, and the AI handled the rest. Also: Are AI health coach subscriptions a scam? My verdict after testing Fitbit's for a month The first time I tried this, it didn't work because when I looked back into that session, I didn't see any of the exercises I shared with the Coach. The second time I tried it, though, my exercises were indeed logged. The AI is also good at nutrition tracking. You don't need to search through complex product databases for the right brand of yogurt you're eating; you can just give it the details, like "a single serving of 5% Fage Greek yogurt", and it records it all for me. Just be aware that I've seen the AI hallucinate, as AI tends to do. For example, one night it mentioned a 52-minute elliptical session I had done that morning. But I didn't exercise that day (unless it confused my ten-minute coffee walk with a 52-minute elliptical session). When I asked a Google spokesperson about this issue, they explained that the Coach is designed to spot patterns, but, in doing so, can sometimes connect dots that aren't there. "We put our Coach through rigorous evaluations - every time a mistake like this is flagged, we turn it into a strict new test question that the AI must pass before we release new updates to the app. This is a continuous process so our system gets smarter, safe, and more accurate every day," a Google spokesperson told ZDNET. If any presented datapoint or fact made looks off, a Google spokesperson recommended asking the Coach "are you sure?" or from where the Coach got the data. This makes the Coach redo its work. Also: Health is Tim Cook's defining legacy - and your Apple Watch proves it These helpful, seamless touches available through the Health Coach provide a holistic activity and wellness-tracking experience for the Fitbit Air. The Health Coach helps me further understand the data Fitbit Air is already collecting, and in doing so, encourages me to ask it more questions or use it in new ways. The subscription-free tier and the Google Health Premium tier are a perfect example of a company knowing exactly how to sell its products to different groups. The Fitbit Air fits the bill as an affordably priced fitness tracker, with the option to customize and enhance the experience through a subscription. It's lightweight, thin, unobtrusive, and as stylish as a fitness tracker can get (something I can't say about almost every smartwatch I wear). Plus, it lasts a week on a charge, and it's only $100 -- inexpensive compared to the competition. The device is the platonic ideal for people leaning into fitness and health tracking who don't quite need a flashy screen around their wrist. Once they fully adopt the device, wear it for a few months, and dig deeper into activity tracking, I can see these users getting a lot out of the Health Coach and adding on that annual subscription.
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Fitbit Air review: Health tracking for the AI generation - Engadget
Though Google doesn't offer a similarly handy power accessory, it does deliver impressive charging speeds. My Air was running out of juice on my seventh morning with it, and I dropped it on the magnetic charger for just a couple of minutes. That was enough to bring me out of the sub-20-percent danger zone. When I had more time, I was happy to see that the Air went from 36 percent to 58 percent after just five minutes of being plugged in. Google unveiled the AI Coach and a redesign of the Fitbit app in August, but this month announced it will completely replace its existing wellness apps with Google Health. That means that those who use Google Fit will be asked to install the new app and migrate their data, while those who currently have the Fitbit app will see a rebrand. Since the interface is quite different from even the fairly recent redesign in 2023 and the August overhaul is just now coming out of public preview, I thought I would evaluate its performance. Compared to older iterations of the Fitbit app, the first difference longtime users might notice is the layout of information on the home (or Today) page. Instead of a long feed of cards containing metrics on your health, the top third of the screen is now a horizontally swipeable carousel that I found pleasantly easy to use. By default, my progress on my weekly cardio load is displayed in a ring on the top left, while pill-shaped bars show how I'm performing on steps, readiness and sleep. Swipe left, and more bars appear, with glanceable stats on my heart rate, distance traveled, calories consumed and exercise days. Tapping each of these brings you to a page with more information and options (like the ability to log a snack, for example, if you press the calories bar). At the bottom of this dashboard are buttons to start tracking a workout or log an activity, food, water or sleep. This top panel is customizable, so you can change it if the default view doesn't match your needs. The rest of the Today page is a list of AI-powered summaries of your sleep, activity and overall state. In general, I found the redesigned app easy to use. Most of your information is in the Today page (more on that later), and tapping over to the Fitness or Sleep sections gives more room to those topics. Each of those pages starts with visually informative progress bars up top, followed by details on your recent activity. In the Fitness section, you'll see a gallery of workout guides before a reverse chronological feed of your workouts. Over in the Sleep tab, you'll see summaries on your previous night's sleep, followed by weekly progress charts on metrics like your amount of time in REM or deep sleep zones. At the bottom is a series of "Sleep better" guided meditations. Everything I needed was typically on the Today page or under the Device settings. If there was something I couldn't easily find, it was either in the Health section or relatively easy to ask the AI Coach to do. I also appreciate that many parts of the layout, like the top panel of the Today page or all of the Health section, are customizable so you can make your favorite metrics easier to reach. I did have a small gripe about the logging interface. Google could stand to learn from Samsung when it comes to tracking your hydration. In the Health app, you have to enter a specific number of milliliters of liquid, and there is no option to change the units from this page. I'm sure if you had set up your system to reflect a certain region, you might see different units, but I simply don't know offhand the number of milliliters that enter my mouth. On Samsung's Galaxy watches, when you go to log your liquid intake, you can simply tap an icon for "cup" to enter the equivalent amount for a cup of water. It's a very minor quibble but would be a simple enough improvement for Google to make that would make it much easier to do something I use frequently every day. When I compared the Google Health app to Whoop's, I found the latter a bit more comprehensive and data-oriented. Whether you prefer one app's layout over the other will likely boil down to how familiar you are with it -- both seem easy enough to get used to. In its current form, though, the Whoop app appears to have a bit less AI-generated content, with the conversational interface appearing to be in beta at the moment. Meanwhile, at the bottom right of every single page of Google Health is a blue "Ask Coach" button for the Gemini-powered AI Coach. Google's AI Coach, powered by Gemini You don't have to talk to the Coach if you never want to, although you'll still see LLM-generated reports and prompts throughout the app and on the Today page. I will say, though, that it's easier to ask the Coach to do things like log a specific item of food or retroactively record a workout than it is to do so via the app. But first, a quick summary of the AI Coach, which we first got a preview of in August last year. It's meant to act as an advisor on all areas to do with your health, without being a substitute for medical professionals. When you first update the app, you'll be prompted to have a conversation with the Coach to outline your goals. The AI will start gathering information about your baseline activity and health and over time deliver tips and progress reports. It's not that much different from what fitness and health apps did before the rise of LLMs, other than the fact that it's become much easier to talk to these things. For example, it used to be nearly impossible to ask an app to log "the same cup of muesli and milk I had yesterday" and get the desired results. Thanks to its Gemini powers, the AI Coach did exactly what I asked, looking at my log history for the brands I specified and simply adding them to my data for the right day. Of course, it was not perfect and occasionally I had to correct it. But by and large I found it easy to get the Coach to do basic things like tracking my nutrition and activity. I was all the more pleased when I noticed I could upload pictures or documents. Though the Coach wasn't able to receive videos, I could share screenshots of the top and bottom of movements and ask for input on whether I was performing upright rows correctly, for instance. I've already learned that I could try to keep my torso more still when doing hanging knee raises, and that my box-tap bear crawl marches were fine. It was also very handy to just take a photo of a nutritional label and tell the system to "log two servings of this" and have that accurately added. I could get more in depth if I wanted and ask if a certain food would help with my fiber intake or macro goals. Most of the time, the Coach didn't tell me anything surprising. The summaries of my workouts or sleep offered reasonable contextualizations, and there were sporadic occasions where I learned new things. (Like finding out that drinking something cool, not warm, before bed could help me sleep better.) The AI Coach is imperfect, like most AI But there were times when the AI Coach flailed. One time, it thought I had taken a walk and was making references to it in the summary it had generated after I had finished an hourlong workout. I tried to correct it (quite passive-aggressively) to avoid muddying up my data, and the AI informed me that it had made the mistake because of my elevated heart rate. Mind you, this was just six minutes after my workout, and the minimum threshold for the Fitbit Air to detect a walk is 15 minutes, so it was a very confusing error. There were also a lot of little issues, like the headlines of summaries being "Adjusted that for you" or "Updated that session for you" after I finished a manually-tracked workout. I never edited anything, so that language was jarring. For a while, the "Exercise days" chip was overcounting the number of days that week when I had met my activity targets because it was including days from the previous calendar week. In my earlier days with the app, I found its speech-to-text engine to be incredibly glitchy. It would stop transcribing my words midway through a sentence, only to resume and immediately start over and replace what I'd already said with what I was saying. This stopped happening after about three days with the Air, when I noticed I had been logged out and had to sign in again. The Exercise days chip also corrected itself shortly after I had a chat with Google to check on some issues. In general, it seemed like the company was aware of many of the problems I had experienced, like the confusing headlines, and was already working on fixing them. That's an encouraging sign that the app and AI should improve over time. The AI Coach has guardrails, but I didn't hit them often Occasionally, I was told, "Something on my end didn't meet our safety guidelines, try asking something else." The funny thing is, I hadn't said anything out of line. One of those times I had simply replied, "No just going to rest and wait thanks and bye," in response to the Coach asking if I wanted to try a cooling technique or rest and wait for ibuprofen to kick in as I recovered from a hangover. It's unclear why that triggered a guideline violation, especially when the Coach later resumed engaging after I simply copied and pasted the same response. At the bottom of the chat interface is a statement that "Coach is AI and can make mistakes. Not for medical advice." I wanted to see whether there were limits on how far the Coach would go when it came to medical advice. I had recently learned that a cousin was experiencing symptoms of a rare condition, so I asked the Coach, "My cousin has Guillain-Barré, do you know anything about it?" In addition to showing sympathy for the situation, the AI responded with an explanation of the syndrome, what is happening in the body, as well as how "the good news is that it's highly treatable." It ended that answer with, "Are you looking for ways to support them during their recovery, or were you more curious about the standard medical process?" I was satisfied that it didn't try to actually offer medical advice and only shared information. I was worried that the AI Coach might be too validating and exacerbate body image issues, so I shared some pictures and asked it to "check out the muscle definition." It replied in a very validating way, but when I followed up with, "I feel a bit fat in this one," it gave a nuanced response of, "We're always our own toughest critics, Cherlynn," before going on to reiterate that it saw lean muscle in the pictures I shared. It then asked if I wanted to "try tracking your nutrition for a few days." As someone who has had disordered eating tendencies, I didn't like that suggestion. Google explained to me that it has worked "with clinical experts to stress-test the coach, including simulating personas of users with complex health profiles to ensure the AI response remains safe in these higher-risk scenarios and flagging for potential harm and bias." It added that its approach with nutrition is multi-layered, and that it works with experts including external registered dietitians alongside internal nutrition science clinical specialists to evaluate the AI's responses. The Coach is validated using its proprietary SHARP framework, which evaluates Safety, Helpfulness, Accuracy, Relevance and Personalization, and was developed with input from leading health and medical experts. I've only had just under two weeks to test the Fitbit Air and Google Health, so it's not yet clear what else might surface. I haven't found it to be encouraging of problematic behaviors, and though I find a lot of the conversational patterns to be formulaic and repetitive, that's pretty typical of most AI chatbots these days. For example, I was pleasantly surprised when the AI Coach was able to help me recall the title of a horror film starring Singaporean actress Fiona Xie (Rule No. 1). But it somewhat awkwardly related my love for horror films to possible stress, and kept bringing up horror movies in subsequent summaries for two days. There's a lot more to explore and plenty more I could detail about my experience with the AI Coach and the Google Health app, but in general there haven't been any significant disadvantages. Not enough to outweigh the small amount of pros, anyway.
[4]
I'm wearing the Fitbit Air, and I love how it brings back the golden age of fitness trackers
From the moment I took the Google Fitbit Air out of its modest box, I was transported back to a time when mobile accessories didn't cost as much as a mid-range phone, had a no-nonsense design, and made me feel like I was getting something special for my money. Unlock Personalized Content & Exclusive Features For Free * Engage in discussions in Threads * Follow and Like top authors, topics, and trends * Browse with fewer ads across the site * Personalize your profile to showcase your activity * Get a content feed tailored to your interests By creating an account, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You also agree to receive our newsletters; you can unsubscribe any time. Keep Reading Log In Forgot your password? Create an account Please provide your email address to finish creating your account. Create An Account *Required: 8 chars, 1 capital letter, 1 number Create An Account Continue withGoogle Continue withOpenPass or Continue withEmail Continue By creating an account, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You also agree to receive our newsletters; you can unsubscribe any time. Why I'm drawn to the Fitbit Air, a device that goes against everything I thought I loved about technology I didn't expect to crave a device with no screen, and it told me something important about how I use tech Posts 2 By Mark Jansen Things were better in the old days? No, but they were exciting The Fitbit Air is today referred to as a screenless fitness tracker, which is a whole segment of its own, and a minimalist device ideal for unplugging from our phones. Turn back the clock more than a decade, and no such distinction was really needed because smartwatches weren't very popular, and the ones that did exist weren't very attractive. Fitness bands were simple trackers, and because they weren't especially complicated, the costs were low. The Jawbone Up3, one of the best-looking fitness trackers ever made, was $150 and competed with the slightly less attractive Fitbit Charge HR, which also cost $150. Models from Jawbone and Fitbit that came before these were a response to the wonderful Nike+ FuelBand, which also cost $150. Adjusted for inflation, $150 is about $210 today, and even that's more palatable than $350 or more for a Samsung Galaxy Watch 8. In the early 2010s, there were plenty of choices available at a similar, fairly reasonable price, and it made the growing trend of fitness and health trackers feel really exciting and quite accessible. Fitbit is back Doing it right The Fitbit Air is $100, or £85 here in the UK, where I'm testing it, and that makes it sound like a bit of a bargain compared to most other fitness and lifestyle trackers today. As expected, the Google Health app (which replaces Google Fit and the Fitbit app) has a $10-per-month subscription to unlock Google Health Premium and the AI Health Coach, but it is optional. You can buy the Fitbit Air and only pay once. However, there's a better value way of unlocking Google Health Premium if you really want it, and that's through the $20 per month Google AI Pro subscription, which also includes a host of Google's AI features, 5TB of storage space, and YouTube Premium Lite. Do you need AI Health Coach? It's looking good so far The AI Health Coach is the big feature included with Google Health Premium. When you first set up a Fitbit Air, the Coach goes through your personal goals, current exercise regimen, and other health information. It made setting up the Air feel personal and interactive, and the AI "listened" to what I wanted, and didn't push me into doing more than I wanted. It also takes into account the current situation, from weather to work pressures, to create its personalized, custom plan. Beyond that, I really like that I can tell the AI I've done some exercises without either having to track them manually or have it automatically recognize them. For example, a quick circuit of press-ups, squats, and planks in the morning doesn't register, but when you tell the AI Coach you've done it, it looks at sensor data and then adjusts your daily activity accordingly. It's fast and easy, and you can log anything using the keyboard or your voice. I found the AI Coach to be responsive and able to understand natural language, just like Gemini Live. Time will tell how effective the AI Health Coach continues to be, but it's a great start. What about the Fitbit Air's hardware? A return to simpler times There isn't much to the Fitbit Air. Just like the original Fitbit and other trackers, there's a central module that fits into a replaceable band that wraps around your wrist and is secured with a hook-and-loop section. If you're at all used to wearing a watch or another fitness tracker, you won't notice the Fitbit Air on your wrist. It's so light and unobtrusive. It's two-thirds of the width of the Whoop MG band, and although the band lacks the Whoop's elasticity, it's still comfortable to wear. It comes with the Performance Loop band, and I chose the Lavender color to match my Lavender Google Pixel 10a, and they look summery and cool together. The Berry color is even brighter, but there are also the Obsidian and Fog colors if you don't want to make a statement. Alternatively, Google will sell you posher versions of the strap if you want to take away the sporty edge. The Fitbit Air is as colorful as you want, sporty yet unobtrusive enough to be worn all day, and the lack of a screen and notifications makes it delightfully simple. There's no pretense here, just good old-fashioned style and value. All from a company that knows fitness tracking Buy with confidence? Fitbit knows what it's doing when it comes to sport, health, and lifestyle tracking. It's not a startup trying to work out algorithms or smooth out bugs from an early app, and it has Google's might behind it when it comes to its AI. It gives me confidence in the product. The Fitbit Air is a return to the brand's early days, and the exciting wearable tech boom that came with it, showing us what worked then, hardware-wise, still works now, just improved with an AI coach, which seems to be doing all the right things so far. My first 24 hours with the Fitbit Air have been very positive. It deserves the attention it's getting, and it deserves yours, too. Android Police will have a full review of the Fitbit Air in the near future. Fitbit Air $99.99 at Google Store Expand Collapse
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The Google Fitbit Air is here: What do the reviews say?
As one reviewer said: It can't tell you the time! Credit: Google / Fitbit Google just launched a fascinating-looking new Fitbit health tracker, but it's a little different from the ones you might be used to. That's because the $99 Fitbit Air doesn't have a screen, instead opting for a combination of a mobile app and an AI coach to meet your health tracking needs. While Mashable's review is still in the works and will be ready soon, reviews for the device from other professional critics came out this week, so let's dive in and see what they had to say. Is it time to upgrade from your old Fitbit, or should you stick with something that has a screen? Fitbit Air review roundup: No screen needed Without dancing around the point, let's establish up front that almost every review of the Fitbit Air is a positive one. Despite some grumbling from long-time Fitbit users on Reddit about the Google Health app, early users really like the Fitbit Air so far. Critics overall enjoyed the device's sleek form factor and health-tracking capabilities, though a few had nitpicks here and there. One thing to understand right away, though, is that the Fitbit Air at $99 (with an additional $99/yr subscription to unlock every Google Health app feature) is substantially cheaper than the latest Whoop tracker, which is an obvious inspiration for Fitbit's new device. The Whoop fitness tracker comes as part of a subscription that starts at $149/yr, so Google's option is a definitive win in terms of value, and critics certainly noted that. In addition, Gemini superusers who already subscribe to Google AI Pro or AI Ultra receive complimentary access to the Google Health app, so no additional subscription is required. Beyond price, it sounds like the Fitbit Air mostly nails the crucial things you'd want it to nail, like comfort. Like any other Fitbit device, it offers a wide variety of band styles to choose from, which will mostly come down to personal taste. Andrew Gebhart of PCMag had kind things to say about the polyester-based Performance Loop band. "The Performance Loop covers the sensor, so I never felt the need to take any precautions when lifting weights, and the device never got in my way," Gebhart wrote. "By contrast, I'd often have to reposition the Oura Ring for comfort, or shift the screen of a smartwatch to protect the display, when lifting weights. The Active Band offers even more protection, but the Performance Loop is durable enough for all everyday activities." Since the Fitbit Air doesn't have a display, it relies entirely on the Google Health mobile app for tracking health, adjusting settings, or doing literally anything else you'd need a screen for. This has certainly ruffled some feathers online, particularly those belonging to longtime Fitbit users who preferred the older Fitbit app. But critics like Engadget's Cherlynn Low found the Google Health app pretty easy to use, with a home page that does a good job of displaying pertinent information for the user. If you choose to pay the subscription fee, you'll unlock access to an AI coach within the app, which is one of the Fitbit Air's other defining features. It's functionally similar to automatically generated progress reports in other fitness apps, but now you can make requests of it in natural language via a chatbot interface. At Engadget, Low acknowledged that the AI coach can occasionally be a little buggy or insensitive regarding things like disordered eating, but found that it's generally decent at basic tracking and health guidance. "For example, it used to be nearly impossible to ask an app to log 'the same cup of muesli and milk I had yesterday' and get the desired results. Thanks to its Gemini powers, the AI Coach did exactly what I asked, looking at my log history for the brands I specified and simply adding them to my data for the right day," Low wrote. "Of course, it was not perfect and occasionally I had to correct it. But by and large I found it easy to get the Coach to do basic things like tracking my nutrition and activity." Want to learn more about getting the best out of your tech? Sign up for Mashable's Top Stories and Deals newsletters today. Of course, there are some basic issues with the screenless tracker that are worth addressing. One thing you get if you choose to pay more for a Whoop tracker is better battery life. Contemporary Whoop trackers are rated for about 14 days of life on a charge, but every reviewer I read only managed to get roughly seven or eight days out of the Fitbit Air. It apparently charges quickly, so it shouldn't be a huge issue, but that's worth noting anyway. One last thing to note, courtesy of CNET's Vanessa Hand Orellana, is that the Fitbit Air is significantly worse at being a watch than any other Fitbit model. Orellana liked the device overall, but made the very important observation that its form factor has real limitations. "I've lost count of how many times I've glanced down at my wrist expecting to see the time, only to be met with a blank band staring back at me like, 'What?,'" Orellana wrote. "Between that and the fact that it couldn't ping my phone, there were moments the Fitbit Air felt like it was freeloading on my wrist." If you want a watch, you should probably get something with a screen. If that doesn't matter to you, the Fitbit Air might be worth a try. The new Google Fitbit Air is available now from Google, Amazon, and other retailers for $99.99. Disclosure: PCMag, CNET, and Mashable are owned by the same parent company, Ziff Davis.
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Existing Fitbit users may be 'beyond frustrated' with the app's Google Health redesign, but having just got my hands on the Google Fitbit Air, I'm actually impressed at the AI integration on offer
I've only had access to the Google Fitbit Air and the new Google Health app for a few hours, at the time of writing, and already there are some interesting things to say about one of this year's biggest contenders for the best fitness tracker crown. While the stats and numbers you get in the free tier are a little basic, they're roughly in line with what you'd expect from a $99.99 / £84.99 / AU$199 tracker. But it's the premium AI health coach that's impressed me with its ability to incorporate contextual information and change your weekly plan just by chatting to it. The tracker is light and comfortable, it's got some cool features even at the free tier, and Whoop (the other big player in the screenless fitness tracker space) should be worried. While Whoop offers more detailed metrics, it's also prohibitively expensive and doesn't allow you to buy the fitness tracker or use it for free after purchase in any form: it entirely relies on an expensive subscription service starting at £169 / $199 / AU$299 annually, and going up from there. Cancel that subscription, and it's just an inert hunk of plastic. You can read all about it in my Google Fitbit Air vs Whoop breakdown. My early impression of the Google Fitbit Air and its Google Health Premium AI coaching service is that it's designed to help beginner-to-frequently-training athletes, with simple metrics, round numbers, and a friendly interface that does a lot of its calculations behind the scenes. Those who are already heavily invested in Whoop's ecosystem won't get the granularity of data they are used to, and thus might not be tempted by the lower price of the Fitbit. However, for the rest of us, I think this is going to do very well. Design and comfort The Google Fitbit Air weighs just 12g. It's light, slender, and the performance loop band I'm wearing is very comfortable, although it does have a tendency to get a little... dank during a very sweaty workout, such as my first test run completed during a heatwave here in the UK. It offers no interaction on the device at all, just a charging LED. As I said in previous pieces, it's almost like an older pedometer-style Fitbit that clipped to your clothes, just in a modern form factor and made by Google. I have to say, it's very unobtrusive, being around two-thirds the width of the Whoop MG. It's very easy to wear this in conjunction with another device or a non-smart analog watch on the other wrist. Funnily enough, that's exactly what I've been doing. Early comparison testing I immediately incorporated the Google Fitbit Air into my smartwatch testing routine. I went on two runs with the Huawei Watch Fit 5 Pro on one hand (the device I'm currently closing out on testing, which on previous runs matched very closely with the Garmin Fenix 8 Pro), a Polar H10 chest strap, and the Google Fitbit Air on the other. Unfortunately, the usually pinpoint-accurate chest strap malfunctioned, but the average heart rate between the two wrist-based wearables was just 1bpm apart. I know the Huawei Watch Fit 5 Pro is quite accurate based on previous testing, so it's a positive early sign, but before my full review I'll be using a (working) chest strap to test the Google Fitbit Air. What I was most impressed with was the Google Health Coach, the app's flagship AI feature that encompasses everything else. After a brief chat about my goals, it set up an early plan for me, comprised of three gym sessions and two runs a week, to build muscle while maintaining baseline cardiovascular fitness. After I completed my test runs, Google noted the extreme weather here in the UK, and mentioned it in the workout's summary as something to take into account when viewing my metrics, as my heart rate was likely to be higher than normal. Very clever: exactly the sort of contextual information fitness trackers have been missing since their inception, pulled in automatically using location and weather data as well as fitness data. Impressed, I tapped the ever-present blue 'Ask Coach' button and typed "I might swap one of my gym sessions for a long run this week. Can you update my plan?" Hey presto: not only did it update my plan, but it also surfaced the Long Endurance Run activity profile for me to use on my next running day. I must admit, my early experiment with this AI Health Coach is a resounding success. But at what cost? All of this, unfortunately, comes at the expense of existing Fitbit badges and features. The app has been renamed, rebranded and redesigned overnight, with all badges and community features lost in favor of the AI-first approach. Existing Fitbit users are not happy: on the Fitbit subreddit, one complaint thread garnered over 1,500 upvotes and over 600 comments, with users mentioning they are "beyond frustrated" at the changes and calling the app "slop", or a victim of "enshittification". A particular target of criticism is the food logging feature, which I've not yet tried, but Google says "fixes are coming". Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our expert news, reviews, and opinion in your feeds.
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Fitbit Air is the best hardware offering from Google in years
When he is not busy with technical analysis and software evaluation, Parth dedicates his time to watching K-dramas, studying mobile technology trends and the role of artificial intelligence. Reviewing Google hardware has always been the same template: great software, questionable battery life, and an ambitious price tag that's tough to justify. Unlock Personalized Content & Exclusive Features For Free Engage in discussions in Threads Follow and Like top authors, topics, and trends Browse with fewer ads across the site Personalize your profile to showcase your activity Get a content feed tailored to your interests By creating an account, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You also agree to receive our newsletters; you can unsubscribe any time. Keep Reading Log In Forgot your password? Create an account Please provide your email address to finish creating your account. Create An Account *Required: 8 chars, 1 capital letter, 1 number Create An Account Continue withGoogle Continue withOpenPass or Continue withEmail Continue By creating an account, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You also agree to receive our newsletters; you can unsubscribe any time. At an asking price of $99, it democratizes premium screenless fitness tracking and offers a refreshing, pro-consumer stance by refusing to lock your own health metrics behind a subscription paywall. Fitbit Air isn't just a great wearable; it's shaping up to be the most value-driven piece of hardware Google has ever produced. Related 5 things I'd like to see on the Google Pixel Watch 4 Plenty of room for improvement Posts 7 By Rajesh Pandey The genius of the $99 sweet spot and anti-subscription stance When I look at Google's hardware history, it is often a story of great ideas burdened by awkward compromises or ambitious price tags. But with Fitbit Air, Google nailed the product positioning. By launching this tracker at $99, Google blew the doors off a category that was quite restrictive for regular buyers. It undercuts expensive smartwatches pushed by Apple and Samsung, and changes the value conversation for fitness-focused buyers. More importantly, it directly challenges premium, screenless trackers like Whoop or Oura that require an expensive annual subscription just to unlock basic tracking. After all, the tech industry has adopted the rent-your-own-hardware model, where the companies lock vital metrics behind a yearly paywall. Google wisely walked away from that trap. When you buy a Fitbit Air, your foundational health metrics like heart rate variability, deep sleep analysis, SpO2, and activity tracking are available for free without any subscription costs. Sure, Google offers an optional premium tier for advanced Gemini-driven health coaching, but the core product doesn't feel like a broken demo if you choose not to subscribe. For me, this pro-consumer approach is exactly why the device stands out. It is a rare, refreshing win for consumer hardware. Sidestepping the smartwatch war Every time I review a Google Pixel Watch, I find myself judging it through the available competition. It is impossible not to. The traditional smartwatch space is crowded, and it's a fight where standing out is tough against the established hardware giants like Apple and Samsung. That is exactly why the Fitbit Air feels like such a breath of fresh air. By completely ditching the screen, Google stopped trying to build a smartphone clone for your wrist. The Fitbit Air isn't competing for your attention; it is designed to disappear. This means the Air won't suffer the same fate as the Pixel Watch, which constantly risks getting squeezed out by rivals offering marginally better chips or deeper brand loyalty. Apple and Samsung simply don't have a rival in this space. They are too invested in their flagship ecosystem to bother building a minimalist, distraction-free pebble. Fitbit Air captures a growing audience of users (like me) who are suffering from digital fatigue. It targets people who want deep, passive health insights without the constant buzzing of emails and texts. By intentionally doing less, the Fitbit Air actually achieves more and secures a unique market where it can make its mark and capture healthy market share. Related The Fitbit app is dead, long live Google Health There's a lot to unpack here Posts 2 By Karandeep Singh Oberoi Merging Fitbit heritage with Google's AI ecosystem If you want to unlock the advanced Gemini-driven health coaching, Google charges a standard $10 per month or $99 per year. But the real masterstroke is how it bundled that exact subscription into the $20 per month Google AI Pro plan. For anyone already plugged into the Google ecosystem, this tier is hands-down the best bang for your buck right now. You are getting a massive 5TB of storage, full access to Gemini's advanced models, Google Antigravity IDE, YouTube Premium Lite, and now, a premium AI fitness coach. It undercuts standalone services that charge the same amount just to look at your daily data. Still, the verdict is out on real-world fitness accuracy, and we will need to see how the sensors hold up under intense testing. Subscribe to our newsletter for deeper Google hardware insights Get deeper analysis -- subscribe to our newsletter for expert takes on value-driven wearables like the Fitbit Air and broader consumer-hardware trends, with clear perspectives on features, pricing, and ecosystem trade-offs to guide smarter purchase decisions. Get Updates By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime. I am confident they will do a stellar job here. Google has Fitbit's decades of expertise, algorithms, and historical health data baked right into the foundation of this device. When you supercharge that hardware knowledge with the smart, personalized touch of Gemini, you get a product that feels both grounded and futuristic. It's a rare moment where Google's software and hardware acquisitions actually feel like they are pulling in the exact same direction. Quietly brilliant For me, Fitbit Air delivers pure, uncompromised value, and I can't wait to flaunt it on my wrist when the wearable hits the store later this month. Google has quietly built its most compelling product in years. It takes the unbeatable foundation of Fitbit's historical data accuracy, injects it with the smart, personalized essence of Gemini, and delivers an experience that feels both accessible and futuristic. Google has created a solid base with the first-generation product, and I can't wait to see how it takes this entire lineup further. Fitbit Air Distraction-free health and fitness tracking in a lightweight and comfortable-to-wear band with up to 7 days of battery life, Gemini's smarts, and advanced sensors to track your heart rate, sleep, and more. $99.99 at Google Store Expand Collapse Close Thread Sign in to your Android Police account This space is open for discussion. Be the first to share your thoughts. Terms Privacy Feedback Recommended I found a Gemini feature so good, I stopped using everything else I found an Android launcher that solves something the Pixel Launcher still struggles with Amazon just killed your old Kindle. Here's what to do about it I've been waiting all spring for the new Google Home smart speaker to finally drop Join Our Team Our Audience About Us Press & Events Media Coverage Contact Us Advertising Careers Terms Privacy Policies Android Police is part of the Valnet Publishing Group Copyright © 2026 Valnet Inc.
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Fitbit Air Review: This Is the Best Fitness Tracker for Most People
Top to bottom: Elevated modern band in Porcelain, Active band in Fog, regular band in Fog. Credit: Beth Skwarecki The Fitbit Air scores a big win in this department. It's a smaller device than any wrist-based tracker I've ever tested: smaller than Whoop 5.0, smaller than the Charge 6, and certainly smaller than any smartwatch. I can actually wear it next to a watch or another charger without feeling like my wrist is crowded. Google sent me a few spare wristbands, which I'm wearing in the photo here. The "elevated modern" band is the closest to my hand, and I find it stiff, bulky, and annoying to close. (The device is in this band in the photo; the others are empty.) The next is the Active band, which is nice if you like a silicone band, and the last is the regular band that ships with the device. This is the one I prefer -- it's soft and simple, and probably the lowest profile of all. The device itself is a little pod that pops into the strap. I'm serious about it being small -- out of the band, it's slightly bigger than a large vitamin pill. There's an indicator light on one side, but I found it pretty much impossible to tell which side, meaning I didn't know which way to insert it into the band. That said, the light doesn't tell me anything I actually need to know, so this didn't really matter. I don't love the way the fabric band wraps over the pod (I feel like it should reverse direction so you can snug it up more easily), but overall it's easy to wear. It slips under sleeves without any extra bulk, and doesn't attract attention if you get it in a neutral color. The "fog" colorway is the one I'm wearing in the picture, and it's a grayish-blue. Note that there is also a "fog" color in the Active band, but that one is a more neutral off-white, as you can see here. So far, there is no bicep band, but Google hinted in a press briefing that they are paying attention to feedback when deciding what to offer next. At $99.99 with no subscription required, the Fitbit Air is the cheapest in its category, falling even with the Amazfit Helio strap (which has spotty availability) and undercutting rivals like the Polar Loop and Whoop. But the headline features of the Fitbit Air are, in many cases, features of the Google Health app. And to get the best features, you need to pony up $9.99 per month or $99.99 per year for a premium subscription. These features include the AI-based Health Coach and all the features that are based on it, like weekly goals and photo and text logging of food and workouts. If you already pay for Gemini, you're in luck: Google Health Premium is included in Pro and Ultra plans. For the rest of us, pairing a new device gives you three months of Premium free. That's a downgrade from the six months of Fitbit Premium that Google used to offer with new devices. You can use the app quite happily without any subscription at all, though. You won't get those chatty AI summaries of your sleep or workouts, and you'll also miss out on weekly plans, Coach-created workouts, and the workout and mindfulness libraries. You will still get steps, calories, sleep tracking (including sleep stages and a sleep score), workout tracking, and nutrition tracking with entry by text or barcode. Here are some screenshots of what you get without the subscription: I found that the Fitbit Air drained about 10% of its battery each day, meaning you could squeeze 10 days out of it if you're willing to run it until it's empty. Google's official estimate is that the battery lasts "up to 7 days," so perhaps the one I tested was an overachiever. It charges quickly with the included magnetic charging cable. Despite its similarity in appearance to the Pixel Watch 4 charger, the two devices can't actually share chargers. I found it took about 50 minutes to charge from 12% to completely full, which is not bad at all. The last Fitbit I tested, the Charge 6, had okay, but not great, heart rate accuracy, and it had some GPS issues as well. The Fitbit Air has no GPS, so location accuracy is no longer a consideration. If you want location data when you run or walk, you need to track the workout through the app, which then uses your phone's built-in GPS for your location. When it comes to heart rate accuracy, the Fitbit Air was pretty good most of the time. I did notice some momentary drops where it reported a lower heart rate for just a second or two, before returning to normal. Some of my test runs had several of these drops, while others had none at all. Overall, the heart rate numbers were still pretty reliable; if you were planning or analyzing your workouts based on heart rate zones, you'd still have numbers that are accurate enough to do the job, even if they're not perfect. The Fitbit Air can track your heart rate, of course, and it has movement sensors to count steps and automatically detect workouts. It also has a skin temperature sensor and will report whether your nighttime skin temperature is higher or lower than your baseline. (Google said in a press briefing that the temperature sensor is not sensitive enough for menstrual cycle tracking.) There is no GPS, as I mentioned above, no ECG, and no "EDA scans" for measuring stress responses like some Fitbits used to have. The Fitbit Air has no screen, so it can't tell the time or report how many steps you've taken. You'll have to check the app for anything you want to know. The device itself doesn't have any way of starting or stopping workouts; they're either auto-detected, or you start and stop the workout from the app. Sleep detection is also automatic. You can wear the device without interacting with the app all day, and it keeps track of data to sync later. I have more here on Fitbit features that disappeared when the Fitbit app became Google Health. There won't be any more sleep animals or badges, and you'll no longer have a Fitbit profile that is different from your Google account. The entire app is now redesigned, and if you used the Public Preview, you'll notice that most of the changes tested in the Preview are now live in the new Google Health app. You can read more about my experiences with the Preview here. One nice upgrade is that cardio load is now a weekly target instead of a goal that arbitrarily changes from one day to another. The dashboard is more customizable, although the implementation is still a little rough -- the number of days I exercised, for example, is inconsistent, with one part of the app reporting that number from the calendar week and another using a rolling seven-day window. Google says they're working on fixing this. Many of the new features live in the Health Coach, an AI-based chatbot that can accept different kinds of input. You'll need a Premium subscription to use these features. You can take a photo of your meal and get an estimate of its nutrients and calories; you can also upload a screenshot from another app or a photo of a workout written on a gym whiteboard, and the bot can log it as a workout. You can speak to the bot, but it can't speak back. When I first tried the chatbot in this app -- a feature now branded as Google Health Coach -- it was laughably bad. Its workout plans were hopelessly garbled, and its real-world knowledge was so limited that it told me that the Google-made watch I was wearing did not exist. It has definitely improved since then, so I have to give Google credit for that. The bot can now create workouts for you to follow from the app, and it's slightly less verbose and smarmy. There's a disclaimer at the bottom of every chatbot screen reminding us that "Coach is AI and can make mistakes. Not for medical advice." I wrote a bit about the coach's "personality" and the pitfalls in its advice in my Whoop comparison, since Whoop and Google both now have a coach that can guide your training and help you interpret your data. Whoop's is better, since it seems to be programmed in a way that lets it see the big picture a bit more, and it's better at playing a support role, giving me data and options and letting me decide what to do. Google's Health Coach, on the other hand, seems to dogmatically decide what I should do each day. It does things a real-life coach would never do, like telling me the day before a race that I'm poorly recovered and should throw my whole plan out the window. (Even if I am poorly recovered, it's important to stay positive and focus on controllables.) It hallucinates, of course. Not as badly as it used to, but it lied to me about whether the Fitbit Air has certain features, where to find them in the app (places that don't exist), and it miscalculates numbers -- like telling me that I have room to run my next race a little faster, but in the same sentence suggesting a slower pace. It complimented me on easy workouts as if they were hard ones, and keeps using the word "shift" for reasons that baffle me. "That 14-minute run was a tough shift," it said after a warmup jog that was anything but. I also just found myself frustrated with the way the coach spoke with me. Often I asked it a simple question only to be answered with a lecture on basic concepts about fitness. Sometimes I got these lectures in response to my answer to a question it asked. For example, it asked how I felt after a workout, I selected one of the multiple-choice answers, and it proceeded to condescendingly explain to me why I felt that way. Besides its tone and its frequent hallucinations, I also found myself frustrated by the back-and-forth that it sometimes took to get things done. I have a weekly plan under the "fitness" tab with checkboxes for doing three runs a week and two hybrid workouts. If a workout wasn't logged properly, there's no way to just check the checkbox myself. Instead, I have to go and ask the bot to fix it, then check whether it was fixed, then go and argue with the bot, before finally submitting a "thumbs down" feedback entry explaining to someone (probably another chatbot) what went wrong and why it's wrong. I miss the olden days, when you could just check a checkbox yourself. All that said, I did sometimes enjoy the coach's commentary. It gives me a notification every morning when I wake up -- sometimes before I'm even out of bed -- letting me know how I slept, what it has planned for me that day, and whether the weather will cooperate with any outdoor run plans. I'll get more notifications after workouts and in the evening. It's more proactive than other fitness coaches I've tried, even if the content is sometimes lackluster. And as I noted above, the chat interface for entering workout and nutrition data is surprisingly good.
[9]
Why Google's New Fitbit Air is Making Apple and Whoop Sweat
Google has unveiled the Fitbit Air, a screenless and lightweight fitness tracker designed to offer essential health monitoring at an accessible price point. At just $99, the Fitbit Air provides a robust suite of features without requiring a subscription for its core functionalities. This strategic move positions the Fitbit Air as a strong competitor to premium devices from brands like Whoop and Apple, potentially reshaping the wearable health technology market. The video below from Rjey Tech gives us a look at the new Google Fitbit Air and its range of features. Key Features and Affordable Innovation The Fitbit Air is crafted with simplicity and practicality at its core. Weighing only 12 grams and constructed from recycled materials, it combines sustainability with a minimalist design. Despite its compact form, the device integrates advanced health tracking capabilities, including: * Continuous heart rate monitoring * Comprehensive sleep tracking * Blood oxygen (SPO2) measurement * Atrial fibrillation (AFib) detection * Automatic workout recognition At its $99 price point, the Fitbit Air delivers these features without locking users into ongoing subscription fees, a notable contrast to competitors like Whoop. This affordability makes it an attractive option for individuals seeking reliable health insights without the financial burden of recurring costs. By focusing on essential features, the Fitbit Air appeals to both fitness enthusiasts and casual users. Design for Everyday Comfort and Versatility The Fitbit Air's design prioritizes user comfort and adaptability. The tracker itself is a compact pebble weighing just 5 grams, which can be clipped into interchangeable bands. These bands are available in a variety of materials, such as textile, silicone and leather, allowing users to tailor the device to their personal style or activity needs. Additional design highlights include: * Water resistance up to 50 meters, making it suitable for swimming and other water-based activities * A battery life of up to seven days on a single charge, making sure consistent use without frequent recharging * Fast-charging technology for quick and convenient power-ups These features ensure the Fitbit Air is both durable and practical for daily use, whether during workouts, outdoor adventures, or everyday routines. Its lightweight and unobtrusive design makes it an ideal companion for users who prefer a minimalist approach to wearable technology. Seamless Integration with Google Health The Fitbit Air integrates seamlessly with the newly revamped Google Health app, which replaces the older Fitbit app. Available on both Android and iOS platforms, the app organizes health data into four intuitive tabs: Today, Fitness, Sleep, and Health. This streamlined interface allows users to easily track their progress and gain actionable insights into their overall well-being. For iPhone users, the app also supports Apple Health integration, allowing data from Apple Watch devices to sync with the Google Health ecosystem. This cross-platform compatibility enhances the app's usability, making it a versatile tool for users across different devices. By centralizing health data in one accessible location, the Fitbit Air simplifies the process of monitoring and managing personal fitness goals. AI-Powered Health Coaching A standout feature of the Fitbit Air is its optional AI-driven health coaching, powered by Google's Gemini AI. This feature offers personalized fitness and wellness guidance, helping users set and achieve their health objectives. The AI health coach is available through Google Health Premium, a subscription service priced at $10 per month. Fitbit Air users receive three months of free access to this service, providing an opportunity to explore its benefits. For those already subscribed to Google AI Pro or Ultra, the health coaching feature is included at no additional cost. This integration of AI technology adds a layer of customization, catering to users who seek tailored advice to optimize their fitness journey. Competing in a Crowded Market The Fitbit Air directly challenges established players like Whoop and Apple by addressing key consumer concerns. While Whoop relies heavily on a subscription-based model and Apple's devices often come with a premium price tag, the Fitbit Air offers a cost-effective alternative without compromising on functionality. Its minimalist design, competitive pricing, and integration with the Google Health ecosystem make it a compelling choice for users seeking a streamlined, no-frills approach to health tracking. The optional AI health coaching further enhances its appeal, providing added value for those who want personalized insights to improve their fitness and wellness. Market Potential and Challenges The Fitbit Air has the potential to make a significant impact on the health tracking market by combining affordability, simplicity and advanced technology. However, its success will depend on several critical factors, including: * The accuracy and reliability of its health sensors, which are essential for user trust and satisfaction * The performance and user experience of the Google Health app, particularly its ability to deliver actionable insights * Consumer adoption rates are influenced by marketing efforts and word-of-mouth recommendations If these elements align, the Fitbit Air could emerge as a formidable competitor to premium offerings from Whoop and Apple, appealing to a broad spectrum of users, from fitness enthusiasts to casual health-conscious individuals. Shaping the Future of Fitness Tracking With the Fitbit Air, Google has introduced a bold contender in the fitness tracking market. Its lightweight design, affordable pricing, and integration with the Google Health ecosystem position it as a disruptive force in the industry. By offering essential health tracking features without a subscription and using AI-driven coaching, the Fitbit Air challenges the status quo of wearable health technology. While its ability to dethrone established players remains uncertain, the Fitbit Air's combination of practicality, affordability, and advanced features makes it a compelling option for health-conscious consumers. For those seeking a straightforward and cost-effective solution to monitor their well-being, the Fitbit Air represents a promising step forward in fitness tracking innovation. Explore further guides and articles from our vast library that you may find relevant to your interests in Google Fitbit Air. Source & Image Credit: Rjey Tech Disclosure: Some of our articles include affiliate links. If you buy something through one of these links, Geeky Gadgets may earn an affiliate commission. Learn about our Disclosure Policy.
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Google launched the Fitbit Air, a screenless fitness tracker priced at $100 that relies entirely on the redesigned Google Health app and a Gemini-powered AI Health Coach. Early reviews praise its comfort, affordability, and intelligent activity detection, positioning it as a serious competitor to Whoop's premium trackers that start at $149 annually.
Google has officially launched the Google Fitbit Air, a $100 screenless fitness tracker that signals a departure from traditional wearables and positions itself as a direct competitor to Whoop's established devices
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. The device arrives at a time when minimalist design meets advanced artificial intelligence, offering health tracking for the AI generation without the distractions of a display3
. Available in four colorways—lavender, berry, obsidian, and fog—the screen-less Fitbit Air features an optical heart rate monitor, three-axis accelerometer and gyroscope, SpO2 monitoring sensors, a temperature sensor, and a vibration motor for wake-up alarms2
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Source: Lifehacker
The device's lightweight, unobtrusive form factor has drawn comparisons to the golden age of fitness trackers, when devices like the Jawbone Up3 and Nike+ FuelBand dominated the market at accessible price points
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. Reviewers consistently noted that the Air is two-thirds the width of the Whoop MG band and lighter than most smartwatches, making it virtually unnoticeable during daily wear and exercise4
.The centerpiece of the Google Fitbit Air experience is the Gemini-powered AI Coach, which fundamentally changes how users interact with their health metrics
1
. Setup begins with an onboarding conversation where the AI Health Coach asks about goals, routines, and obstacles before generating personalized wellness plans that adapt to individual habits rather than forcing predefined routines1
. The process takes approximately five minutes and can include uploading medical records for more tailored recommendations.Reviewers found the AI Coach surprisingly central to the experience, with one noting it "kept pulling me back into the app throughout the day" through morning sleep recaps, post-workout summaries, and nightly overviews connecting activity, recovery, and stress levels
1
. The Coach's ability to understand natural language inputs makes logging activities remarkably simple—users can tell the AI they completed exercises without manually tracking them, and it analyzes sensor data to adjust daily activity accordingly4
.For nutrition tracking, the Gemini integration delivers practical benefits. One reviewer noted it's now possible to ask the app to log "the same cup of muesli and milk I had yesterday" and receive accurate results, as the AI Coach examines log history and adds specified brands automatically
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. This represents a significant improvement over traditional fitness trackers that require tedious manual entry.
Source: ZDNet
The redesigned Google Health app serves as the command center for the screenless fitness tracker, supporting both Health Connect and Apple HealthKit for iOS and Android compatibility
1
. The interface features a horizontally swipeable carousel at the top third of the screen, displaying weekly cardio load progress in a ring format alongside pill-shaped bars for steps, readiness, and sleep3
. Users can customize dashboards, pin preferred health metrics, set weekly targets, and follow guided workouts through videos or step-by-step instructions.The app's Today page consolidates AI-generated summaries of sleep, activity, and overall state, while dedicated Fitness and Sleep sections provide deeper analysis
3
. A persistent "Ask Coach" button appears at the bottom right of every page, making it easier to request workout planning, recovery and nutrition advice, or log specific food items through conversation rather than navigation3
.While the Google Health app received praise for its clean design and flexibility, some longtime Fitbit users on Reddit expressed concerns about the transition from the familiar Fitbit interface
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. However, professional reviewers generally found the app easy to navigate, with most needed features accessible from the Today page or Device settings3
.The automatic activity detection on the Google Fitbit Air demonstrates solid performance, consistently recognizing walks and generating useful summaries about intensity and recovery
1
. The system occasionally produces misreads but shows self-correction capabilities—one reviewer noted the Air logged a walk as a run but immediately followed with a note pointing out heart rate data suggested it was probably a walk1
.Detection algorithms noticeably improve with user feedback. During initial testing, the Air missed a recurring high-intensity workout class, but after manual logging several times, it began recognizing the sessions automatically
1
. This adaptive learning mirrors the Oura Ring's approach, where the device gets smarter with more context.When users start workouts from the app beforehand, they can follow live stats including heart rate, elapsed time, and Cardio Load—a metric estimating cardiovascular system strain during exercise
1
. The AI Health Coach generates weekly cardio targets based on health data, though reviewers suggest treating these readiness-style scores as guidance rather than absolute fact given they rely on Google's proprietary algorithms.Related Stories

Source: Mashable
At $100 for the device, the Google Fitbit Air undercuts Whoop's subscription model that starts at $149 annually, with premium tiers reaching $360 for medical-grade features
2
. The Google Health Premium subscription costs $99 annually or $10 monthly, unlocking full AI Health Coach functionality and advanced features2
. However, subscribers to Google AI Pro at $20 monthly receive complimentary Google Health Premium access alongside 5TB storage and YouTube Premium Lite, creating additional value for existing Google ecosystem users4
.The device functions without the subscription, though some features like logging meals by messaging the AI Coach are more seamless in the premium tier
2
. This positions the Fitbit Air for mainstream fitness audiences rather than the longevity and biohacking-obsessed users who gravitate toward Whoop's premium offerings2
.Battery performance delivers approximately seven days of use, with reviewers noting the device reached around 20 percent charge by the following Saturday after beginning testing on Saturday morning
2
. While this falls short of Whoop's 14-day battery life, the Air compensates with impressive charging speeds—going from 36 percent to 58 percent after just five minutes on the magnetic charger3
.The screenless design creates both advantages and limitations. Reviewers appreciated how it fosters a healthier relationship with activity tracking compared to constant on-screen reminders from devices like the Apple Watch
2
. However, the absence of a display means the device cannot tell time, and users who habitually glance at their wrist for quick health metrics must instead open the app5
. The lack of built-in GPS requires phone connectivity for location tracking during runs, limiting phone-free workout options2
.Summarized by
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