I wore Google’s Fitbit Air to trace my well being for per week, and it is a critical Whoop rival for much less cash

Is 2026 the 12 months we go screenless? It is seeking to be that manner with Google’s launch of the Fitbit Airits Whoop competitor, obtainable now. Whoop might have kick-started the screenless wristband craze, however Google is proving that an affordably priced well being tracker may be simply as commercially profitable, particularly if it is comfy, helpful, and long-lasting — with its $100 price ticket.

Additionally: Fitbit Air vs. Whoop: I compared Google’s screenless fitness tracker to the industry best

The Fitbit Air’s announcement got here with just a few software program updates, together with an app identify change from Fitbit to Google Well being and the worldwide launch of Google’s Well being Coach, the AI companion that powers the premium app expertise.

I have been testing the system over the previous week as I’ve gone working, lifted weights, completed yoga, and logged hours on the elliptical. I’ve requested the AI coach for assist in planning my exercise routine, understanding my restoration, and diet recommendation. After stress-testing the Fitbit Air, I am well-positioned to inform you whether or not it is a worthy purchase. Spoiler alert: it completely is.

Your expertise with the Fitbit Air will differ relying on whether or not you are subscribed to Google Well being Premium. The majority of the Fitbit Air’s capabilities are the identical throughout tiers, however some in-app options, like logging a meal by messaging the AI coach, are barely extra seamless within the membership tier.

Out of the field, the $100 Fitbit Air is available in 4 colorways: lavender, berry, obsidian, and fog (a blue-gray). It is a skinny band that takes up much less house round my wrist than my Whoop or Apple Watch. It is also lighter.

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It has an optical coronary heart price 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 would not have a GPS for location monitoring, however since it is a screenless system, the Fitbit Air makes use of your telephone’s location monitoring as an alternative. If you wish to log a phone-free run across the block, you will have to make use of certainly one of Google’s different units (like its Pixel Watch).

Fitbit Air’s screenless design permits it to foster a more healthy relationship with exercise monitoring. I like my Apple Watch, but it surely’s made me a little bit obsessive about getting my steps in, due to the fixed reminders of my exercise targets on the display screen. A screenless tracker, however, is way much less invasive; with all the info housed within the app, I can test once I wish to.

Out of all of the wearables I’ve examined, this one blended into good outfits the very best. On the flip aspect, once I was figuring out, I’d discover myself glancing on the band out of behavior, checking my coronary heart price zones or energy burned, solely to understand I would must dig into my app to seek out them.

The battery lasts round per week. I started sporting the system on a Saturday morning, and by the next Saturday morning, its battery was round 20%. Not too unhealthy, proper?

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You’ll be able to log a wide range of actions by way of the Google Well being app, whether or not you are path working, working towards Bikram yoga, or doing ballet. It shows your total cardio load, energy burned, and coronary heart price as you log an train. On the Google Well being residence display screen, you will see a weekly cardio load (adjusted every week based mostly in your exercise targets and habits), sleep, steps, and a restoration rating.

I like having the weekly goal entrance and heart — it serves as a pleasant train pacer. I do know when to ramp up my cardio throughout a slower week, or relaxation on the weekends if I’ve already jam-packed the entrance of my week with runs and high-intensity exercises.

As a result of you’ll be able to’t view any train information on the system, it might be good to have sure metrics, like energy burned, steps, or coronary heart price zones, obtainable on show in your telephone’s residence display screen. That is at the moment lacking from Google Well being, however I would like to see it in a future replace for simpler viewing.

I would additionally like to make use of the Google Well being Coach whereas logging a exercise, say, to ask it to transform 16kg to kilos or to swap one arm train for one more throughout my higher physique power coaching.

Additionally: I wore the Whoop 5.0 for a month – it combines the best of the Oura Ring and Apple Watch

The system continues to be designed for a mainstream health viewers — not a lot a premium, longevity- and biohacking-obsessed viewers to which Whoop caters. It is also priced accordingly. With out the $100 annual Google Well being subscription, the Fitbit Air prices $100. In distinction, annual Whoop subscriptions begin at $200, with the very best “medical grade” tier at $360.

Google’s AI on the core

The Google Well being app (previously often known as Fitbit) delivers the majority of the fundamental health-tracking mechanisms, and if you wish to freestyle by exporting your weight coaching information from one other app, that is obtainable to you within the Google Well being Coach chat by way of the extra Google Well being subscription.

The membership and entry to Google Well being Coach elevated the Fitbit Air for me. As a substitute of digging by way of tabs to log my diet or add notes to my power coaching session, I would merely chat with the Well being Coach to do these items as an alternative. I log and observe all my weight-training information by way of an app known as Fitbod. Whereas testing the Fitbit Air, I needed so as to add the workouts from that app to the Fitbit Air, so I screenshotted the units and reps, uploaded them by way of Well being Coach, and the AI dealt with the remainder.

Additionally: Are AI health coach subscriptions a scam? My verdict after testing Fitbit’s for a month

The primary time I attempted this, it did not work as a result of once I seemed again into that session, I did not see any of the workouts I shared with the Coach. The second time I attempted it, although, my workouts have been certainly logged.

The AI can also be good at diet monitoring. You needn’t search by way of complicated product databases for the fitting model of yogurt you are consuming; you’ll be able to simply give it the small print, like “a single serving of 5% Fage Greek yogurt”, and it information all of it for me.

Simply bear in mind that I’ve seen the AI hallucinate, as AI tends to do. For instance, one night time it talked about a 52-minute elliptical session I had completed that morning. However I did not train that day (until it confused my ten-minute espresso stroll with a 52-minute elliptical session).

Once I requested a Google spokesperson about this challenge, they defined that the Coach is designed to identify patterns however can generally join dots that are not there. “We put our Coach by way of rigorous evaluations – each time a mistake like that is flagged, we flip it right into a strict new check query that the AI should go earlier than we launch new updates to the app.

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It is a steady course of, so our system will get smarter, safer, and extra correct daily,” a Google spokesperson instructed ZDNET. If any introduced datapoint or reality appears to be like off, a Google spokesperson really useful asking the Coach, “Are you certain?” or from the place the Coach received the info. This makes the Coach redo its work.

These useful, seamless touches obtainable by way of the Well being Coach present a holistic exercise and wellness-tracking expertise for the Fitbit Air. The Well being Coach helps me additional perceive the info Fitbit Air is already gathering, and in doing so, encourages me to ask it extra questions or use it in new methods.

ZDNET’s shopping for recommendation

The subscription-free tier and the Google Well being Premium tier are an ideal instance of an organization understanding precisely the way to promote its merchandise to completely different teams. The Fitbit Air matches the invoice as an affordably priced health tracker, with the choice to customise and improve the expertise by way of a subscription.

It is light-weight, skinny, unobtrusive, and as trendy as a health tracker can get (one thing I can not say about nearly each smartwatch I put on). Plus, it lasts per week on a cost, and it is solely $100 — cheap in comparison with the competitors.

Additionally: I tracked 3,000 steps on my Apple Watch, Google Pixel, and Oura Ring – this one was most accurate

The system is the platonic excellent for individuals leaning into health and well being monitoring who do not fairly want a flashy display screen round their wrist. As soon as they totally undertake the system, put on it for just a few months, and dig deeper into exercise monitoring, I can see these customers getting loads out of the Well being Coach and including on that annual subscription.

Why the Fitbit Air will get an Editors’ Selection award

It is priced affordably and good for first-time customers or anybody flirting with step-counting and sleep-tracking. That stated, it will additionally do properly on the wrist of somebody who has tracked their well being for years and desires a light-weight, discreet various to a smartwatch (with a seven-day battery life).

Its AI Well being Coach enhances the system by connecting patterns, finishing duties, and answering well being questions, and I fairly like that folks pays extra for it with out being mechanically roped right into a month-to-month subscription.