Whiile it is a reliable and stylish fitness tracker, the Fitbit Ionic may have seemed anemic as a smartwatch. That's changing today thanks to the new Fitbit OS update. We're now seeing apps for home automation, entertainment, news and much requested clock faces. I am currently installing the update with a Windows 10 PC connected directly to the Fitbit Ionic using the companion app. I'll post impressions as soon as I've spent some time with the new OS.
Available throught the Fitbit app on Android, iOS and Windows, the update adds more than 60 apps now available across a wide range of categories, 100+ clock faces, and enhanced performance.
Fitbit is also introducing Fitbit Labs, a Fitbit Research initiative that will bring innovative apps and intelligent clock face experiences to users to motivate and drive behavior change, and help accelerate the company’s pace of innovation.
Additionally, Fitbit is partnering with Deezer, the world’s most dynamic, diverse and personal music streaming service, to provide international users the ability to listen to music directly from their wrist with Fitbit Ionic in 2018.
New apps from popular brands available for free download include:
● Food & Drink: Yelp, the leading local guide for consumers, to easily find the best nearby restaurants.
● Health & Fitness: Clue, the #1 rated free female health app by gynecologists, to track your menstrual cycle and symptoms (coming by end of year); GAME GOLF, the leader in tracking golf performance analytics, will help to improve your game by providing precise distances to the green and visualizing the hole layout (coming by end of year); and Surfline, the leading surf reporting and forecasting company, to track swells and conditions so you can find the best waves.
● Home & IOT: Nest, the leading connected home brand, to easily control your thermostat from your wrist (coming by end of year); and Hue Lights, for controlling Philips’ leading wireless lighting system.
● News: Flipboard, with stories for every interest, to quickly preview the latest health and fitness stories; and The New York Times, the global paper of record, to easily check current news headlines.
● Travel & Transit: TripAdvisor , the world’s largest travel site, to easily discover restaurants and things to do nearby (coming by end of year); Uber by Fitbit gets you fast reliable rides in minutes, displays your ride status, and provides access to your trip details (coming by end of the year); and United Airlines, one of the world’s largest airlines, to access boarding passes and check flight status (coming by end of year).
Expected in January is an app for British Airways, with more popular brands to be added on an ongoing basis. Detailed information about each new app can be found here.