FitbitOS 3.0 brings new tiles, apps and goal based exercises
If you own the Fitbit Versa or Ionic, you are about to get an early Christmas gift. The San Francisco outfit has just released a new version of its operating system. FitbitOS 3.0 comes with more apps, watch faces, tiles and goal based exercise modes.
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The company is still a newbie when it comes to smartwatch operating systems. The first version of FitbitOS was released just over a year ago to coincide with the launch of the Ionic. The number of apps that run on the system has steadily increased since then, and now totals around the 700 mark. While this may sound like a lot, it pales when compared to what is available on the Apple Watch and Wear OS. The company is doing its best at playing catch-up, though.
The third iteration of its operating system comes with some new health and fitness apps and clock faces. This includes Achu Health, Couch to 5K, Genius Wrist and MySwim Pro. A slew of other third-party apps will come in early 2019 including Charity Miles, FitBark, Gold’s Amp for Fitbit, Mindbody, Noonlight and TRX. Some of these apps are only available in the US. In a bid to encourage developers, Fitbit is also expanding its API to include Exercise and Scientific API.
“We are partnering with some of the most popular health and fitness brands to develop apps that leverage Fitbit data to offer unique experiences and deliver more valuable and personal insights to help our users live healthier lifestyles,” Fitbit CMO Tim Rosa said in a statement.
The 3.0 update makes it easier to do stuff from the smartwatch screen. The Fitbit Today dashboard is benefitting from new sleep, weight, water and food tiles, as well as a more detailed exercise view. This will enable users to quick view data and easily log certain items such as water intake and weight.
New stats are now available with a flick of the wrist with the latest #FitbitOS update for #FitbitVersa & #FitbitIonic: https://t.co/Z6aPtdBOFX pic.twitter.com/bNCG8Slz3E
— Fitbit (@fitbit) December 17, 2018
Goal-based exercised modes are also making their smartwatch debut. This is a feature that can already be found on Charge 3. It lets you set a specific calorie, time or distance goal ahead of your workout and then track it during your exercise. You can use the feature for any of the 15+ exercises that are available such as running, biking, yoga and swimming.
It was also revealed today that the Female Health Tracking app will land in early 2019. This will allow female users to see menstrual cycle data, logged symptoms and trends no matter what Fitbit device you use.
The OS3 was released today to users of Ionic and Versa. If you’re not getting a prompt to update in the app, be patient. It will probably take a few days before it makes its rounds to everyone.
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