Fitbit Charge 5 tells you it’s okay not to work

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Fitbit CEO James Park said the past 18 months have inspired the company to take a closer look at how its fitness followers can better support mental health and stress management. Its solution: a next-generation fitness tracker that marks the score of physically and mentally prepared users they have to face challenges every morning and make personalized suggestions to better plan their day.

“We realized [during the pandemic] we were capable of more than we thought and what it means to be strong took on a new meaning; maybe it’s not about being in the best physical shape, “Park said at a news conference.” body activity and balance with rest. It’s about finding time for your mental and physical health and controlling stress. It’s about taking a break today. “

The Charge 5 ($ 179.95) comes with all the bells and whistles you’d expect from a fitness tracker – it’s slim, sleek, has a bright AMOLED display, and includes built-in GPS. But its new daily prep feature is the big selling point. Fitbit (TO ADJUST) said he uses an algorithm to generate a score each morning that analyzes the previous day’s activity or effort level; how good you slept the last few days; and heart rate variability during deep sleep, which helps measure the body’s responses to stressors such as illness and emotional stress.

These parameters are measured from a personal baseline. When a user gets a low score, the app will suggest prioritizing recovery and recommend activities such as yoga, stretching, or a mindfulness session. When you get a high score, you will suggest one of your hundreds of workouts.

The feature is available through Fitbit’s Premium service, which costs $ 10 a month (or $ 80 a year) for advanced health information, sleep tools, games, and guided programs. Charge 5 includes six months of free service.

The feature will also be available as an upgrade to other Fitbit devices, including Sense, Versa 3, Versa 2, Luxe and Inspire 2 devices. The company said it has approximately one million Premium subscribers.

Fitbit also brought several tools that already appear in its Sense line of smart watches, such as an EDA sensor, which measures the body’s response to stress by monitoring changes in the sweat glands, and an ECG sensor. which controls heart rate and potentially marks abnormalities that could help prevent blood clots, strokes and other risks.

Fitbit is in a unique position to provide a feature such as a daily preparation score, as it tracks both sleep and heart rate and learns more about the user over time.

When a user gets a low score, the Fitbit app will suggest prioritizing recovery. When given a high score, he will suggest one of his hundreds of workouts.

“Body preparation is smart because excessive exercise can be a problem and can lead to injuries on the road, and insufficient exercise makes you out of shape,” said Ramon Llamas, the firm’s research director. IDC Market Research. “This provides a test to the user for what their body is prepared for or needs, eliminating conjectures about how the user is thinking about how their body is doing. Use user data to get a score rather than compared to an inaccurate and sometimes inaccurate set of information “.

IDC reported that Fitbit shipped 15.1 million units worldwide over the one-year period beginning in January 2020. This left behind Apple (44 million), Xiaomi (43.6 million) and Huawei (29.4 million).

Fitbit isn’t the only one offering wellness features. Samsung offers a stress management tool on your Galaxy Watch that allows users check their heart rate and oxygen saturation to determine their stress level. It also provides breathing exercises, a practice that is also available on the Apple Watch.

Fitbit Charge 5 pre-orders start on Wednesday and start shipping this fall.

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