Google’s Screenless Fitbit Move
Google teased a Whoop‑style screenless Fitbit band—fabric strap, no display—with Steph Curry spotted wearing a prototype, positioning Fitbit to compete on comfort, battery life and passive tracking (9to5google.com) (androidcentral.com). Separately, Fitbit is rolling three AI health‑coach features out to all users (not just Premium), which could make the screenless band more useful via app‑delivered coaching (phonearena.com).
Bloomberg reports Google is developing a screenless Fitbit fitness band and expects to release the device “later this year,” tying it into a redesigned Fitbit app and the AI‑powered Personal Health Coach that entered public preview last October. (bloomberg.com) The same Bloomberg piece says the band will ship with basic tracking out of the box but will require a paid subscription to unlock additional functionality, and that Google plans to charge for the hardware rather than follow Whoop’s subscription‑only hardware model. (bloomberg.com) Fitbit’s Personal Health Coach is built on Google’s Gemini models and first rolled out as a public preview to eligible Fitbit Premium users on October 28, 2025, as part of a broader app redesign. (blog.google) In its latest update, Fitbit expanded the Coach public preview to non‑Premium users and added Cycle Health logging, Mental Wellbeing/mood tracking, and Nutrition & Water logging to the app’s toolset. (androidpolice.com) CNET notes the Coach feature is Gemini‑powered and reiterates Fitbit Premium’s price tiers at roughly $10 per month or $80 per year for the U.S. subscription that initially gained access to the preview. (cnet.com) Bloomberg also highlights market context by noting Whoop’s recent capital raise and investor interest, underscoring why Google is targeting the screenless, subscription‑oriented wearables segment with a paid hardware offering. (bloomberg.com)
