Fitbit's Personal Health Coach can finally recognize if you're sleeping or just lying there

Google gave US-based Android Fitbit Premium users access to an at-the-time new AI-powered personal health coach last year.

Dubbed Fitbit’s Personal Health Coach, the feature expanded to users internationally in February this year, bringing a fitness trainer, a sleep coach, and a health and wellness advisor all-in-one to more users worldwide.

Fitbit Charge 6 unit sitting in a plastic dish with it's wrist straps off

Fitbit’s personal health coach is finally going international

It’s now available on iOS too

Google is now supercharging the fitness feature by adding medical records, advanced sleep science and metabolic research to give users “more tools on the path to live a longer, healthier life.”

Google announced the updates at The Check Up, its annual health event.

Sleep accuracy and insights

Our sleep is divided into different stages, and Fitbit’s sleep monitoring tracks said stages. With its latest update, the personal health coach will offer an additional 15 percent increase in sleep staging accuracy for Public Preview users.

According to Google, its models can now “better distinguish between when you are aiming to sleep and when you are asleep,” a classic issue for most trackers.

The development should allow your wearable to more accurately capture interruptions, naps, and transitions between stages. Additionally, the development also brings a new Sleep Score that doesn’t simply break down how long you slept, but also how long it took you to get there.

A screenshot highlighting Fitbit Personal Health Coach's new features.

Personal Health Coach’s improved tracking will roll out over the next few days. The new Sleep Score calculation will roll out in the coming weeks for Public Preview users.

Additionally, in the “next couple of weeks,” Google will launch a new Get care now study “to assess how conversational AI can help you navigate your health during virtual visits,” with conversational AI for health-related functions being the Personal Health Coach’s whole MO.

Elsewhere, “starting next month” in Public Preview, users will be able to connect their continuous glucose monitor (CGM) through Health Connect and ask the app whether/how your meals and workouts affect your personal glucose levels.

Link your medical records to the Fitbit app

An image highlighting Ask Coach's upcoming ability to look into your medical records to answer questions.

Starting next month, Public Preview users in the US will be able to link their medical records to the Fitbit app. This should allow the app to gain a better understanding of your health, “including your lab results, medications and visit history, all in one place and under your control.”

Google is collaborating with partners like b. well and CLEAR to make this possible. Once rolled out, users will be able to search for their healthcare provider and then link to their portal. Alternatively, users will be able to verify their identity with CLEAR and Google will search for records on your behalf.

Google explains that this should allow the Personal Health Coach to offer more personalized advice. For example, “instead of getting a generic answer about cholesterol, you can ask, ‘How can I improve my cholesterol?’ The coach can then summarize your cholesterol labs, highlighting notable values and trends, and provide personalized wellness information based on your medical history and wearable data.”

As is the case with other sensitive features, Google says that medical data will be securely stored with Fitbit, and you’ll have “control of your data and how it’s used, shared or deleted. Your medical records, like other health data in Fitbit, is not used for ads.”