MOUNTAIN VIEW, California, May 7, 2026, 08:10 (PDT)
Google opened pre-orders on Thursday for the Fitbit Air, a $99.99 screenless fitness tracker, and said the Fitbit app will become Google Health in a wider push to build an AI-led health platform. The Air is due in U.S. stores on May 26, while the app change starts rolling out May 19.
The timing matters because screenless wearables have moved from niche recovery tools to a fast-growing category. Devices from Whoop and Oura have helped sell the idea that some users want health tracking without another display on the wrist; Google is now trying to take that pitch mainstream with a lower upfront price and the Fitbit name.
It also marks a sharper break from old Fitbit. Rishi Chandra, Google’s vice president of Health and Home, told The Verge that the health app is “not going to be specific to Fitbit hardware” and added: “We want to be a health coach to an Apple Watch user, too.” The Verge
The Fitbit Air has no screen or buttons. It is built around a small sensor pebble that fits into wristbands, weighs 12 grams with a band and 5.2 grams without one, and tracks heart rate, sleep, blood oxygen, skin temperature and signs of atrial fibrillation, an irregular heartbeat. Google says battery life runs up to a week, with a five-minute charge giving about a day of use.
For now, the device is a wrist product, not a chest strap or pendant. Chandra told Engadget that more accessories are being studied, but “right now, it’s just wristbands.” Engadget
The renamed Google Health app will use four main tabs — Today, Fitness, Sleep and Health — and will pull in data from Fitbit and Pixel Watch devices, as well as outside apps through Health Connect, Apple Health and Google Health APIs. In the United States, users will also be able to sync medical records into the app, Google said.
The paid layer is Google Health Premium, the new name for Fitbit Premium. Google Health Coach, built with Gemini, leaves preview on May 19 and will cost $9.99 a month or $99 a year through Premium; Google said AI Pro and Ultra subscribers will get it at no added charge.
Google is not pretending the first version works with everything. The AI coach launches first for eligible Fitbit and Pixel Watch users, while Chandra told CNN the company is working toward support for Apple Watch and other devices later this year: “So you can decide whatever hardware you want.” KESQ
Google also opened pre-orders for a Stephen Curry special edition Fitbit Air at $129.99. The version has a rye brown and orange band, Curry’s signature design details, his No. 30 and a “#LockIn” mark, plus a water-resistant coating and raised interior print meant to improve airflow during workouts. Blog
The competitive fight is partly about price model. Bloomberg reported that Whoop does not charge for its hardware but uses an annual subscription that starts at $200, while Google is charging upfront for the Air and making the $10-a-month health subscription optional.
Google bought Fitbit in 2021 and pledged then that Fitbit health and wellness data would not be used for Google ads. The company repeated that commitment in its new Google Health rollout, a point likely to remain central as it asks users to put more fitness, sleep and medical data into one app.
The risk is that users may not see the shift as a simple upgrade. Google’s own help page says some Fitbit-era features will change or disappear, while Google also warns that Health Coach is not for medical purposes and that Gemini responses should be checked because results may vary. That leaves the company with a familiar test: make the AI useful enough to offset the loss of the old Fitbit feel.
