Long gone are those days when Fitbit was a little gadget to count steps. Today, it is a continuous heart and sleep monitor with an aspiration to foray deeper into the health watch segment.
Acquired by Google in 2021, Fitbit is currently manufacturing both fitness trackers and advanced health smartwatches. It is also adding wellness routines with its premium subscription.
Fitbit’s voyage from a fitness tracker to a health-focused smartwatch is a long one. Let us know about it.
Health Features of Fitbit: A Timeline
James Park and Eric Friedman sensed the potential of sensors in small wearable devices. They founded Fitbit in 2007 as a consumer electronics company.
| Year | Milestones |
| 2007 | Founded by James Park and Eric Friedman |
| 2008 | Raised $400000 in funds |
| 2009 | Launched the first wearable clip-on Fitbit Classic |
| 2013 | Launched the first wristband Fitbit Flex |
| 2015 | – Launched the first smartwatch Fitbit Surge that could measure heart rate – Successfully raised $4.1 Bn through IPO |
| 2016 | – Transformed to Digital health company – Added sleep monitoring feature |
| 2017 | Successfully incorporated SpO2 sensor to measure blood oxygen levels |
| 2019 | Launched Fitbit Premium, a subscription service |
| 2020 | Launched its most advanced health smartwatch- Sense |
| 2021 | Acquired by Google |
2007- 2008
The founders spent these two ideating the product and raising funds to manufacture the wearable device at scale. Based on their talk at Techcrunch, they were to get 5000 preorders.
2009- 2012
Fitbit launched its first wearable clip-on Classic in 2009. It was a fitness tracker that focused on counting your steps and tracking sleep timing. Fitbit classic became a commercial success in 2009 when the wearable fitness device industry was still in its infancy.
From 2009 to 2012, Fitbit launched several wearable clip-on- Ultra, One, and Zip. All of these tracked steps, floors climbed, and sleep timings.
2013- 2014
The Fitbit Flex, Force, and Charge wristbands were introduced in 2013-2014. All the fitness tracking wristbands had similar fitness features- steps, floors climbed, and sleep timings.
However, with every product, Fitbit brought new features like mobile phone connectivity using Bluetooth, location tracking with GPS, etc.
2015
Fitbit released its first smartwatch, Surge, in 2015. The smartwatch had the capability of measuring heart rate. You could measure heart rate while working out or running and track steps, calories, and sleep, all in one device on the wrist. Fitbit also launched a wristband, Charge HR, with heart rate measuring capabilities in the same year.
The year 2015 also saw Fitbit raising $4.1 Bn through IPO.
2016
Fitbit added in the feature of tracking different stages of sleep in 2016. Based on your heart rate variability while sleeping, Fitbit could help you determine the quality and stages of your sleep. All its wristbands- Charge 2 and Alta and smartwatch Blaze launched in 2016, had these capabilities.
In 2016, CEO James Park announced that Fitbit was undergoing a major transformation from a consumer electronics company to a digital healthcare company. In the following years, Fitbit incorporated many health features.
2017
In 2017, Fitbit made itself capable of measuring blood oxygen saturation (SpO2) with its new smartwatch Ionic. The device incorporated red and infrared sensors on the back of the watch. Using the light reflected from blood vessels oxygen saturation was determined.
2018- 2019
Fitbit devoted 2018 and 2019 to refining its sensors, their accuracy, and application. It launched a series of smartwatches and wristbands that developed on existing features.
In 2019, Fitbit launched a subscription service- Fitbit Premium. The company offered customised health and fitness guidance, advanced insights, and motivational support with a Premium subscription.
2020
2020 was the year Fitbit launched its most advanced health-focused smartwatch, Sense. With Sense, Fitbit expanded its health features. The additional features included
- ECG to track Afib, irregular heart rhythms
- EDA sensor to measure skin temperature
- Use both ECG and EDA for stress tracking and measurement.
Here are all the health features the latest Fitbit smartwatch Sense offers
| Latest-model | Fitbit Sense |
| Health features↓ | (Out of 10) |
| Activity monitor | 9 |
| Heart rate monitor | 8 |
| Blood pressure | Unavailable |
| Sleep tracking | 8 |
| Fall detection | 9 |
| ECG | 9 |
| Fitness tracking | 10 |
| Blood oxygen Saturation | 8 |
| Body fat composition | 8 |
| Stress monitor | 10 |
2021
In 2021, Google acquired Fitbit for $2.1Bn to enter the growing smartwatch market.
The Google- Fitbit acquisition is a perfect match. Fitbit has been facing tough competition with the rise of Apple, Samsung, Garmin, and other players in the smartwatch segment. And Google has never been able to enter the segment due to various reasons.
While Fitbit brings in its user base and health and fitness knowledge and hardware operation, Google is ready with the financial clout required to take down the might of the Apple watch.
What will the future Fitbit look like?
There are many rumors about the future of Google-Fitbit watches. James Park, in one of his interviews, spoke about working on Premium Fitbit watches with Google’s Wear OS and ambient computing technology.
Eric Friedman, in an interview with cnet.com, spoke about bringing in blood pressure measurement based on pulse arrival time and illness detection based on EDA and heart rate variability.
To conclude, Google and Fitbit coming together will result in many improvements in health-focused Fitbit smartwatches. We can expect disruption in Apple’s domination of the smartwatch market.
What do you think about it? Let us know in the comments below.
