Fitbit Air gets smarter at tracking your workouts, plus stylish new bands to show it off

The Fitbit Air is getting three upgrades announced by Google today. These include smarter automatic workout detection, Health Guardian trends and new Metal Mesh bands to make your Fitbit Air look more stylish.

The automatic workout detection upgrade also applies to the Pixel Watch 5 and the newly announced Fitbit Edge.

What's coming to the Fitbit Air

Google announced the updates in a blog post alongside its Fitbit Edge launch, which we covered earlier today.

The first of these updates, Health Guardian, was initially announced for the Pixel Watch 5 and the Fitbit Air back in August. Now, improved activity detection joins the fray and both features will begin to roll out later this month. It should be noted that Health Guardian does need a Google Health Premium membership to function on the Fitbit Air.

In addition to the software upgrades, the Fitbit Air is getting new Metal Mesh bands. These bands are woven stainless steel and come in Champagne Gold or Polished Silver.



The Metal Mesh bands cost $69.99 and there's also a $149.99 bundle that includes the Champagne Gold band plus an Obsidian Fitbit Air. This bundle is exclusive to Target and the Google Store.

Pre-orders start today (October 12) and they will be available on October 27.

How the Fitbit Air decides what counts as a workout

The Fitbit Air will log a workout automatically upon detecting at least 15 minutes of a sustained elevated heart rate. It now uses context, meaning your workout routines, your history, your edits, and even your location if you allow it.

Google says this added context is how the Fitbit Air can get "nearly 2x more accurate" detection and "more than half" fewer missed workouts. When you confirm or edit a detected activity, the device learns your patterns and gets better over time.

In our Fitbit Air review, we found that the device appeared to log a workout as a bike ride. This is exactly the kind of mix-up that we hope this update targets.

In addition to the activity detection updates, Google has announced a multi-year partnership with Flo Health, the popular women's health app. As a result, starting early next year, you'll be able to sync Flo cycle data with Google Health and Health Coach. This data will require separate permissions and Google says it will never be used for ads, sold, or shared with other apps.

The Google Health Premium catch

The improved activity detection on the Fitbit Air is for everyone. However, if you want to use Health Guardian (the feature that tracks blood pressure and insulin resistance trends), you will need a Premium subscription. This will cost you $9.99 a month after you use up the three free months that come with a new Air purchase.

The right fix for the Fitbit Air

I've been using a Fitbit Air ever since its launch and I fell in love with the product. The only issue is inaccurate detection, which is precisely what this update claims to fix.

For a screenless device, being able to trust that the data it's detecting is accurate is of utmost importance. Otherwise, you'd have to be constantly monitoring it via the app, and by then what would be the point? I look forward to having the Air become an even more integral part of my health tracking.

More on Google's latest wearables:

• Google's new Fitbit Edge is here
• Google Pixel Watch 5: everything you need to know
• Google Pixel Watch 5 (41mm)

• Follow me on X and Threads

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