{"id":84212,"date":"2025-08-20T17:42:08","date_gmt":"2025-08-20T17:42:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/84212\/"},"modified":"2025-08-20T17:42:08","modified_gmt":"2025-08-20T17:42:08","slug":"fitbits-ai-health-coach-is-the-first-i-might-actually-be-interested-in","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/84212\/","title":{"rendered":"Fitbit\u2019s AI health coach is the first I might actually be interested in"},"content":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m not a fan of AI health and fitness features. Not only do they regurgitate Captain Obvious-level summaries<\/a> of what you just did, but the \u201cinsights\u201d are so generalized that a Google search is often more helpful. So it was with great skepticism that I walked into a demo to learn about Fitbit\u2019s forthcoming AI-powered personal health coach. To my surprise, I left cautiously curious about where Fitbit is going.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe really want to move towards this world of coaching,\u201d Andy Abramson, Google\u2019s director of product management for Fitbit and Health, says during a demo of the feature. Professional athletes have a whole team of people helping to craft their fitness regimens. \u201cWe asked ourselves, what if everyone could have something like this?\u201d<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a><\/p>\n

Dark mode will finally be a thing. Image: Google, Fitbit<\/p>\n

On paper, Fitbit\u2019s health coach isn\u2019t offering anything a dozen other health and fitness tech companies haven\u2019t already promised. It\u2019s a chatbot built off Gemini that lives in a spiffy, redesigned Fitbit app (now with dark mode!). Each week, it builds custom routines with detailed workouts and workout targets based on your personal health goals. Those workouts will adjust based on your real-time data. So if you have a crap night of sleep, the next day it\u2019ll tweak your suggested workout to compensate. You can also proactively tell the bot anytime you\u2019re sick, injured, or have a new goal, and it will take those things into consideration. If it notices trends in your data, like improved sleep quality, it\u2019ll flag them to you.<\/p>\n

Fitbit\u2019s coach is an attempt to address the age-old problem of wearables providing users way too much data without the appropriate context. What\u2019s been sorely disappointing from competitors thus far has been the execution. Often, it feels like AI has been tacked on as a gimmick to please investors rather than developed as a tool that can provide genuinely helpful insights.<\/p>\n

Where Google and Fitbit\u2019s take feels different is that the product has been completely yet cautiously overhauled around the concept.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not just like a new coat of paint. It\u2019s not just AI bolted on. We\u2019ve really asked the question of: How do we put the AI coach in every part of the app?\u201d Abramson says.<\/p>\n

Fitbit\u2019s coach really is prominently baked into every corner of the new app. The Today tab, which displays your daily metrics, has been reorganized into a smaller data dashboard with an AI chatbox right underneath. When you scroll down, there are blocks calling out insights based on metrics like sleep. Underneath each are prompts to engage with the coach further on each topic.<\/p>\n

In our demo, Abramson shows me how the AI coach interprets his own personal data. Some parts seem like the same old regurgitated book reports. In others, however, I can see glimpses of the promise. For example, Abramson is able to tell the AI that his overarching goal is to get better at trail running, but that he\u2019s traveling and has limited access to equipment. In response, the app suggested a workout incorporating the Peloton bike he has access to at the hotel. The coach also notes that because of jetlag, Abramson\u2019s had less sleep the night before but with fewer interruptions compared to his usual. It then asks to check in on his energy levels for the day.<\/p>\n

The key here is real-time adjustment based on conversation. Abramson relays another story of a staffer who hurt their finger and asked the coach to remove strength workouts for the time being. A week later, the coach checked in asking whether the finger had healed and if it was okay to add those workouts back in.<\/p>\n

\"<em>Here\u2019s<\/a>\"<em>As<\/a>PreviousNext<\/p>\n

1\/2Here\u2019s another example I got to see in person. Photo by Victoria Song \/ The Verge<\/p>\n

Compared to other fitness AI I\u2019ve tested, this demo coach is also fairly chatty. In Abramson\u2019s logs, there are lengthy blocks of text peppered with metrics and data breakdowns. Google VP of Fitbit and Health Rishi Chandra says this is intentional.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe LLM can summarize it if you want three lines, but it will be so generic that it doesn\u2019t feel like it\u2019s telling you anything,\u201d Chandra says. The team explored shorter summaries, but early testers told them that they weren\u2019t at all helpful. \u201cThis is a balancing act we have right now. We\u2019ve right now indexed on getting more depth for users and then figuring out how to trim that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fitbit is also moving away from daily goals toward weekly ones like an actual personal trainer would do. \u201cA coach would not say every day you have to get this exact 10,000 steps or whatever it might be,\u201d Chandra says.<\/p>\n

\"Render<\/a><\/p>\n

This is regurgitated book report-adjacent, but even this pulls in more about your personal data than other iterations I\u2019ve seen. Image: Google, Fitbit<\/p>\n

Cardio Load, introduced last year, was originally designed as a daily goal for people to understand what they needed to do to improve their cardiovascular health. Going forward, this feature will be a weekly target. Sleep insights will also be based on your weekly and long-term patterns, and the coach will also suggest adjusted schedules if it finds your sleep debt is excessive or if it determines you need extra rest from a hard workout.<\/p>\n

This is just a smart change that allows for greater flexibility. A daily cardio target doesn\u2019t work if you\u2019re stuck on a 14-hour plane ride and all you can manage is a chill yoga session when you arrive at your hotel. The change lets users and the app account for life getting in the way.<\/p>\n

Part of making this all work is making sure Fitbit\u2019s app actually has the data it needs. The sleep tracking algorithm, which processes data from Fitbits and Pixel Watches, is supposed to be more accurate. The Pixel Watch 4 is also adding retroactive activity logging so that you never lose credit in case you forget to log a walk or a workout. Users will be able to train the AI to more accurately recognize certain activities over time through tags, too. The AI coach will also be able to take in data logged from third-party apps through Health Connect and HealthKit \u2014 so you don\u2019t have to do all the native workouts in the Fitbit app. And, because Fitbit devices are platform-agnostic, technically the coach can work with iOS too. The goal is to become more of a connected AI health hub, eventually branching from sleep and fitness toward other aspects like nutrition and mental health.<\/p>\n

Of course, anything is possible when a feature is in development. When the feature actually launches in October, it\u2019ll be an opt-in preview for Fitbit Premium users only. (One perk is that the preview isn\u2019t limited to the Pixel Watch 4; it\u2019ll work with any Pixel Watch or Fitbit hardware.) There are also still several concerns I have. LLMs are limited, are prone to hallucination, and could teeter dangerously on the line between medical tech and wellness. Data privacy is yet another can of worms.<\/p>\n

But having tested a dozen lackluster AI health coaches, this feels closest to reaching the platonic ideal that I\u2019ve seen yet.<\/p>\n

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