What you need to know
- Fitbit’s AI Personal Health Coach snags a few updates this week, such as the ability to understand your medical records if provided.
- After offering them, the AI coach can tune its responses to questions you might have by using your verified medical records.
- The app is also preparing to boost its sleep accuracy by 15%, as well as a “Get care now” update, giving users access to a continuous glucose monitor (CGM).
AI is looking to do more to help users understand their health, and that’s exactly where Fitbit is taking its Personal Health Coach.
Fitbit announced in a blog post that it’s rolling out three new capabilities for its AI-driven Personal Health Coach in its app for users. This update aims to showcase how “we’re advancing health through new research,” per Fitbit. The first major addition is offering a “fuller picture” of the user’s health through their medical records. Understanding what’s going on will first arrive in a Public Preview for U.S. users in April.
Your lab results, medications, and visits with your doctor will be involved in this “full picture.” Fitbit states that, when given enough information, the Personal Health Coach’s guidance becomes “safer, more relevant and more personalized.” The company gives the example of a user asking about how to help reduce their cholesterol, to which the AI will leverage their records, if provided.
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Fitbit highlights its partnership with b. well and CLEAR, as users can find their healthcare provider and establish a connection with their portal for your records. Alternatively, Fitbit says you can “verify your identity” with CLEAR, and the service will take care of searching for your records. This particular feature plans to add a way for users to share their records and health summaries with their family or provider through a QR code or Smart Health Link.
More on the way
Sleep insights and accuracy is getting a massive boost in this week’s update. Fitbit says it’s improved the feature by 15%. Through dataset and model training, this update will better capture interruptions, naps, and stage transitions. It’s going to take a few days before Fitbit’s better sleep accuracy arrives in the app. However, there’s a “Sleep Score” that’s also preparing to debut “in the coming weeks” for Public Preview users.
Fitbit’s Sleep Score “evaluates specific aspects of your rest — not only how much sound sleep you got, but how long it took you to get there.” In other news, Fitbit’s announcement teases an additional update: “Get care now.” Born from its work with Included Health, Fitbit’s “Get care now” will be able to connect users through virtual visits. As this heads to Public Preview, users can connect to a continuous glucose monitor (CGM). You’ll also have the ability to ask the AI coach about how certain foods may affect your glucose.
The post states “Get care now” will arrive in the next few weeks.
Android Central’s Take
I know my colleague Derrek Lee uses health/fitness apps quite often, so when he gave his two-cents about it, I listened. In his experience, Fitbit’s massive glow-up with the Personal Health Coach brought it closer to becoming a true contender for him, as it nearly became his go-to. However, it wasn’t quite there, as the coach’s plans can, at times, feel more like suggestions, rather than a plan of action. Personally, if I’m going to get involved with something like this, I’d much rather have something concrete and actionable, rather than “this might help.”
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