Google Health is pushing out version 5.11 this week, and it's a meaningful one for anyone wearing a Fitbit Air or waiting on the Fitbit Edge, which launches October 27.
The update brings what Google calls Improved Automatic Activity Tracking to the Fitbit Air right now, along with the Pixel Watch 3, Pixel Watch 4 and Pixel Watch 5. The Fitbit Edge will ship with the same capability built in when it goes on sale later this month, according to 9to5Google, which first reported the release notes.
The bigger change sits behind a paywall. Fitbit Air and Fitbit Edge owners who pay for Google Health Premium can now set up blood pressure and insulin resistance trend tracking, two of the features Google groups under its Health Guardian banner. These aren't diagnostic readings, they're trend lines built from data the wearable collects over time, and the first reports won't land until the beginning of November.
Elsewhere in the app, blood glucose tracking has been renamed simply "Glucose" throughout Google Health, with updated charts and graphs that go along with the rebrand. It's a small change on its face, but it fits a pattern of Google tidying up the terminology across the app as it folds more health metrics under one roof.
Sleep tracking also gets attention in 5.11, with improvements to wake detection and to how naps get edited after the fact. Google hasn't detailed exactly how much more accurate wake detection will be, only that it's part of this release.
Version 5.11 is live on iOS now and is still rolling out to Android users, so the timing of when any individual phone sees the update will vary. That staggered rollout is typical for Google Health, which has been iterating quickly since it absorbed Fitbit's tracking features into a single app experience.
The real test comes in November, when Fitbit Air and Edge owners with a Premium subscription get their first blood pressure and insulin resistance trend reports. Until then, the headline feature on the hardware side remains the Fitbit Edge itself, arriving October 27 with the activity tracking improvements baked in from day one rather than added later through an update.
Google hasn't said anything publicly about pricing or specs for the Fitbit Edge beyond its arrival date, and the 9to5Google report doesn't include that detail either. Anyone searching for a Fitbit Edge release date should expect more specifics closer to the October 27 launch, when the device and its software both go live at the same time.
GDFiled by The Gadgets Desk
Audio, wearables, cameras, tablets, chargers and every other device worth carrying or plugging in.
More from this desk →
Be the first to comment
Join the argument. No password, just your email or a passkey.