Fitbit Air debuts with seven-day battery

Google introduced the Fitbit Air on May 7 as a screenless health tracker aimed at users who want continuous monitoring without a smartwatch display. The device starts at $99.99 in the United States and comes with a three-month trial of Google Health Premium, according to Google’s product announcement. (blog.google) Google said the band delivers up to a week of battery life and is designed for 24/7 wear. The launch puts Fitbit more directly into the market for lightweight recovery-focused wearables that have been led by companies such as Whoop. The new device is part of a broader Google health push announced the same day. Google said the Fitbit app is being reworked into the Google Health app, and that Google Health Coach will become publicly available on May 19 through Google Health Premium, priced from $9.99 a month or $99 a year. (blog.google) Google said Fitbit Air was designed to work closely with that coaching system by feeding it continuous sensor data. ### How much does Fitbit Air cost, and what do buyers get? Google priced Fitbit Air at $99.99 and said pre-orders opened on May 7. Every device includes three months of Google Health Premium, the company said, and a Stephen Curry special edition is priced at $129.99. (blog.google) Whoop’s current pricing is materially higher. Whoop says its MG Life membership starts at $359 a year and includes the device as part of the subscription bundle. That makes Fitbit Air’s upfront hardware price one of the clearest comparisons in the category, even though the two companies package software access differently. (blog.google) ### What exactly is different about a screenless Fitbit? Fitbit Air has no display and shifts most interaction to a phone app. Google said the device is built as a small “pebble” that tracks heart rate, sleep and activity while leaving deeper analysis to the Google Health app. Google also said the tracker supports metrics including heart rhythm monitoring with atrial fibrillation alerts, SpO2, resting heart rate, heart rate variability, sleep stages and workout detection. (blog.google) The design is meant to stay unobtrusive during all-day wear. Google said users can review data and receive personalized guidance in the app while staying “notification-free” on the wrist. (whoop.com) That positions the product closer to recovery bands than to Fitbit’s earlier screen-based trackers and smartwatches. ### How light is the device, and why does that matter? Tech and wearables coverage published after the launch focused on the device’s weight. Reports cited Fitbit Air at about 5 grams without the strap and roughly 12 grams with the band attached, putting it in the range expected for low-profile recovery wearables. (blog.google) Google’s own launch materials described Fitbit Air as its “smallest tracker yet,” though the company’s summary pages reviewed here did not specify the exact gram figures. The low weight matters because sleep tracking and round-the-clock wear tend to improve when a device is less noticeable on the wrist, according to the way Google framed the product in its announcement. (blog.google) ### How does Google connect this device to its broader health software? Google tied the hardware launch to a wider rebranding and software rollout. The company said Fitbit users will be upgraded into the Google Health app, which will combine data from wearables, Health Connect, Apple Health and medical records in one place. (msn.com) Later this year, Google said it will begin migrating Google Fit users into the same app. May 19 is the next key date in that plan. Google said that is when Google Health Coach becomes publicly available through Google Health Premium, giving Fitbit Air buyers access to the coaching layer the company has been promoting as a core part of the product. (blog.google) ### When can people actually buy it in stores? Google said Fitbit Air is available for pre-order now. Regional Google store posts for Australia and New Zealand said in-store sales begin on May 27, while the Stephen Curry special edition is due in stores on May 26, according to Google. (blog.google) The U.S. launch materials reviewed here emphasized pre-orders and pricing but did not specify a U.S. retail date in the excerpts available. Google’s next concrete milestones are the May 19 public release of Google Health Coach and the late-May store availability dates the company has already listed in some markets. (blog.google 1) (blog.google 2) (blog.google 3)