Google Announces a New Fitbit App, Coming This Fall

Google announced today that it will issue a major update to its Fitbit app this fall that is simpler to navigate, easier to use, and more personalized.

“Get ready to experience an all-new, personalized, and customizable Fitbit app coming later this fall,” Google’s Fitbit team announced. “The new app is designed to give you a holistic view of your health and wellness with a focus on metrics that matter most to you. Today, we’re inviting select Fitbit users to try out the app in a limited beta and share their feedback before the app becomes available to everyone this fall.”

It doesn’t appear that there’s a way to sign-up for the private beta, so I assume they’re literally reaching out to individual users. But as a long-time Fitbit user, I can say that the current app is hard to use and a regular disappointment, so any attempt at fixing the user experience is welcome. And the team does say that it will use feedback from this limited beta to continue evolving the app.

So. What’s new? Here’s the rundown.

Redesigned user experience. The new app is “simple to navigate, easy to use and more personalized,” Google says, with an updated design that “reflects the energetic feel of Fitbit” and provides “a modern look and feel based on Google Material Design standards.” It’s based on a new three-tab design, with Today (with customizable metrics views), Coach (“motivating health and fitness content”), and You (goals, community, and badges) views. (The current app offers Today, Discover, Community, and Premium tabs.) The new design also offers a refined color palette with updated icons, photography, and imagery.

Easier health tracking. The new app offers easier ways to log steps, exercise, and water intake, and more accurate step counting, and it provides a live view on a map of walks, runs, and hikes.

Improved privacy controls. The app provides integrated privacy controls to help you manage your Fitbit data and permissions. (In keeping with its acquisition-time pledge, Google notes that “your Fitbit health and wellness data won’t be used for Google ads and will be kept separate from Google ads data.”)

Google also vaguely promises “ongoing updates that support new experiences, devices and data.”