A Reddit user spotted the wearable. The tracker appears among Pixel phones, Pixel Watch 5 and Pixel Buds, with Google telling buyers to “Make it a matching set.”

There is just one slight problem. Google doesn’t currently sell the fitness tracker shown in the picture.

This doesn’t look like any current Fitbit

The mystery device has a rounded rectangular display sitting inside an equally rounded case. One of Google’s images shows it with a green band and another with a much lighter strap, but the tracker itself looks consistent between the two ads. Its screen also appears to show the time alongside several small circular complications.

That immediately rules out the Fitbit Air. Google’s newest Fitbit is deliberately screenless, with the small sensor pod sitting inside a band and all of the detailed interaction taking place through the Google Health app.

It doesn’t look much like the Fitbit Charge 6 either. The proportions, corner radius and overall shape are different. Inspire 3 is an even less convincing match because its display and body are considerably narrower.

We’ve created a concept image based on these product shots.

Charge 7 is the obvious candidate

We’ve been waiting an awfully long time for a successor to Charge 6. That tracker arrived in 2023, and earlier this year we looked at whether Fitbit Charge 7 could finally arrive. At the time there were no credible leaks, only the increasingly obvious fact that Google’s most capable conventional Fitbit tracker was getting old.

Google has since given Fitbit a fresh start with Air and the new Google Health ecosystem. The company had previously indicated that new Fitbit hardware would arrive in 2026, although Fitbit Air has already fulfilled that promise to some extent.

A redesigned Charge would still make plenty of sense alongside it. Air covers people who want passive, screenless tracking, while Charge 6 remains the better option if you actually want to see workout stats, notifications and other information on your wrist. There is plenty of room in Google’s lineup for both approaches.

The device in these ads also looks much closer to what a modernised Charge could become. The display appears larger and more rounded than Charge 6, but it remains clearly smaller and simpler than the full Pixel Watch 5. That middle ground has always been the Charge series’ natural territory.

There is another possibility. Google could be preparing a cheaper Pixel Watch A-series device rather than another Fitbit. The prominent “Google Pixel” branding around the campaign gives that theory something to work with, although there is currently no solid evidence of an A-series Pixel Watch.

Then there is the less exciting explanation that Google’s marketing team simply created a fictional wearable. AI-generated or heavily manipulated advertising imagery can produce strange hardware. But all the other devices in the images are genuine.

Also, seeing essentially the same unknown tracker in multiple campaign images makes that explanation a little less satisfying. It still doesn’t prove we’re looking at real hardware, since several ads could have been generated from the same source artwork, but this is now worth watching.

For the moment, calling it Fitbit Charge 7 would be premature. What we can say is that Google is advertising the Pixel 11 alongside a screen-equipped wearable that does not appear to match anything it currently sells, and if this was an accidental preview of Google’s next Fitbit, somebody in the advertising department may have pressed publish a little too early.

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Amazon has discounted four of Fitbit’s familiar wearables, with the Charge 6 looking like the strongest buy of the bunch right now. Sense 2, Versa 4 and Inspire 3 are also reduced, while the newer Fitbit Air is sitting this one out.

Fitbit’s lineup is in a slightly strange place in 2026. The new screenless Fitbit Air has changed what a Fitbit can look like, but Google is still selling the Charge 6, Inspire 3, Versa 4 and Sense 2 alongside it, giving buyers a much wider choice than the current product cycle would suggest.

That gets more interesting once Amazon discounts enter the picture. Some of these older models still offer considerably more hardware than Air, and the current gap is small enough that anyone who does not specifically want a screenless tracker should look at the established Fitbit range before deciding.

Fitbit Charge 6

The Charge 6 is the standout deal for me. It already occupies a useful middle ground between a basic fitness band and a smartwatch, and the current discount makes that position even stronger.

You get an AMOLED display, built-in GPS, ECG readings, EDA stress measurements, Google Wallet and Google Maps, while battery life can stretch to around seven days. It also has heart rate broadcasting for compatible gym equipment, which gives it a useful workout feature that cheaper Fitbit bands lack.

The comparison with Fitbit Air is particularly interesting. I looked at Fitbit Air vs Charge 6 when Air launched, and the basic trade-off has not changed: Air is smaller and deliberately passive, while Charge 6 gives you far more control from the wrist.

That makes Charge 6 the safer all-round recommendation unless the lack of a screen is actually one of the features you want. It can handle everyday health tracking without giving up proper workout controls, GPS or on-device information, and the discount makes that package harder to overlook.

Fitbit Sense 2

Sense 2 remains the model to look at if you want Fitbit’s health tracking in a larger watch format. It combines ECG with continuous electrodermal activity sensing for stress, along with built-in GPS, skin temperature tracking and the broader collection of health metrics you would expect from Fitbit’s top-end watch.

The AMOLED display also gives you much more room than Charge 6 for checking stats and interacting with the device during the day. You get a microphone and speaker too, so it behaves more like a traditional smartwatch rather than a fitness band with a screen.

The question is whether you actually need the bigger format. Our Sense 2 vs Versa 4 vs Charge 6 comparison goes through the hardware differences in more detail, and Charge 6 covers a surprising amount of the same health territory in a smaller package.

Sense 2 therefore makes most sense for someone who prefers wearing a watch and wants Fitbit’s broader health sensor package in that form. If size is not important, Charge 6 remains the more obvious value play.

Fitbit Versa 4

Versa 4 takes a slightly different route. It gives you the larger Fitbit smartwatch design without asking you to pay for all of the additional health hardware found on Sense 2.

You still get built-in GPS, a large AMOLED display, activity and sleep tracking, smartphone notifications and Alexa support on the wrist. What you lose are features such as ECG and the more advanced EDA stress hardware, which is worth remembering because Charge 6 actually includes both.

That leaves Versa 4 in an unusual spot. It is not really the health-feature choice and it is not the compact choice either, but it can still make sense if you simply prefer a larger display for workouts, notifications and everyday use.

I would therefore choose it based on form factor rather than the spec sheet. If you want something that looks and behaves more like a watch, Versa 4 has an argument; otherwise Charge 6 gives you a stronger mix of health features in a smaller body.

Fitbit Inspire 3

Inspire 3 is the simplest device here, and that is still a perfectly good reason to buy it. Not everyone needs ECG, built-in GPS or another miniature smartwatch strapped to their wrist.

You get a small AMOLED display, heart rate tracking, sleep tracking, activity monitoring and battery life that can stretch to around 10 days. It is also noticeably less intrusive than Sense 2 or Versa 4, which makes it easier to keep on overnight for sleep tracking.

There is no built-in GPS, ECG or EDA hardware, so this is not simply a cheaper Charge 6. Our Charge 6 vs Inspire 3 comparison shows how quickly the differences add up once you move beyond basic activity and sleep tracking.

But that simplicity can work in its favour. If you mainly want Fitbit’s app, sleep data and everyday activity tracking in something small with long battery life, Inspire 3 still covers the basics without much fuss.

What about Fitbit Air?

There is currently no qualifying Fitbit Air deal showing in our Deal Tracker, which makes the discounts on the older models more interesting. It is probably too early to be waiting on some kind of deal on Air. Perhaps in November for the end-year sales, but unlikely before then.

I have spent plenty of time with Air, and its main appeal is how little attention it demands. As I found in my Fitbit Air review, it is tiny, screenless and comfortable enough to disappear into the background while Google Health handles most of the experience.

That approach works if you want passive health and sleep tracking without another display competing for your attention. It is less convincing if you regularly check stats during workouts, want GPS on the device or prefer having health tools such as ECG immediately available from your wrist.

That is why Charge 6 is the model I would look at first while these discounts are running. Inspire 3 remains the straightforward option, Versa 4 and Sense 2 suit people who want the larger watch format, while Air still has the clearest case for anyone specifically looking for a screenless Fitbit.

You can also browse the full Fitbit lineup if you want to compare these models with older devices. The current range spans several very different form factors now, so choosing the right type of Fitbit is arguably more important than simply buying whichever one carries the biggest discount.

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Google introduced the feature alongside Health Guardian this week. We now have a better idea of when it will arrive, which devices support it and what users will actually see.

It is coming in September

Google’s wearable comparison pages now list Insulin Resistance Trends as coming next month. That is more specific than the broader fall timeframe given during the original announcement.

The feature will not produce a result straight away. Google says Health Guardian needs around 30 days of wear before delivering its first detailed summary, because it is looking for a longer-term pattern rather than reacting to individual readings.

The screenshots Google has released gives us a good idea of how this works. The Health Guardian summary shows Insulin Resistance Trends marked as “High”, alongside blood pressure and sleep breathing information. Google Health Coach can then explain the trend and suggest possible next steps. You can view daily info, or monthly overviews.

Your watch is not measuring glucose

There is an important distinction to clarify. Pixel Watch does not have a hidden glucose sensor, and neither does Fitbit Air.

Instead, Google analyses signals the wearable already collects, including heart rate, movement and sleep. Its SensorFM model was trained using more than one trillion minutes of wearable data from five million consenting users across more than 20 Fitbit and Pixel Watch models.

Google has also published research looking specifically at insulin resistance prediction from wearable data. Its WEAR-ME study involved 1,165 participants and compared wearable-based predictions against conventional fasting glucose and insulin measurements.

The basic idea is fairly simple. One heart-rate reading tells you very little, but several weeks of heart rate, sleep and activity data may reveal a broader physiological pattern associated with changing insulin sensitivity.

That does not turn the watch into a laboratory test. It means Google is trying to recognise the footprint insulin resistance leaves elsewhere in the body.

Pixel Watch 3 is included

The feature is expected on Pixel Watch 3, Pixel Watch 4, Pixel Watch 5 and Fitbit Air. That makes this more of a software upgrade than a Pixel Watch 5 exclusive.

It is worth keeping in mind when looking at our Pixel Watch 5 vs Pixel Watch 4 comparison. Some of Google’s most interesting new health features are heading to older hardware as well.

Fitbit Air is perhaps the more interesting inclusion. It has a simpler sensor setup than Pixel Watch, yet Google still plans to offer insulin resistance tracking on the screenless device.

There is one catch, however. Insulin Resistance Trends sits behind Google Health Premium, so having a compatible device is not enough on its own.

Think of it as a warning light

Google is not giving users an insulin resistance score or a glucose reading. Health Guardian is looking for sustained changes and can flag a trend when something appears unusual.

That makes the “High” status shown in Google’s screenshot closer to a warning light than a diagnosis. Health Coach can explain what the system has noticed and provide suggestions around things such as activity, sleep and nutrition.

The open question is how well it works in everyday use. Google has published plenty about the research behind the feature, but we still do not know how often the finished consumer version will produce false alerts or miss meaningful changes.

Sources: Google Health Guardian announcement | Google SensorFM research | Google insulin resistance research

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The new features sit under Google’s Health Guardian umbrella, which arrived alongside the Pixel Watch 5. And they are due to arrive this Fall.

Your watch does not need a glucose sensor

Insulin Resistance Trends is probably the one worth flagging up first. No, there is no glucose sensor hidden inside Pixel Watch 5. And Google is not claiming that the watch can suddenly measure blood sugar.

Instead, the system looks across several weeks of existing health data and searches for patterns associated with insulin resistance. That includes signals such as heart rate, HRV, SpO2, movement, sleep and skin temperature, giving Google a wider picture than it could get from one metric alone.

The technology behind that is Google’s SensorFM foundation model, which was trained using more than one trillion minutes of wearable data from five million consenting users across more than 100 countries. It has learned from data collected across more than 20 Fitbit and Pixel Watch models, which gives Google a fairly enormous base to work from.

There is also proper research behind the idea rather than this appearing out of nowhere at the Pixel Watch 5 launch. A Google-led study involving 1,165 people found that wearable data could improve machine-learning models designed to identify insulin resistance, although the research model and the consumer Health Guardian feature are not exactly the same thing.

Now make no mistake. Insulin Resistance Trends will not diagnose diabetes or tell you your glucose level. Think of it more as a warning light that something in your longer-term physiological pattern may have shifted enough to deserve a closer look.

Blood pressure takes a similar route

Blood Pressure Trends follows much the same philosophy. There is no inflatable cuff, and the watch does not suddenly produce a conventional systolic and diastolic reading such as 120/80.

Instead, Google analyses pulse and movement patterns over time and looks for signs that cardiovascular stress appears to be running persistently higher. If it notices a meaningful change, the idea is to encourage you to check your blood pressure properly.

That approach is quite different from the race to produce cuffless blood-pressure numbers that we have seen elsewhere in wearables. Google is asking a simpler question, which is whether the pattern has changed enough that you might want to investigate it.

The underlying research has already involved Pixel Watch hardware as well. One study used seven days of PPG and accelerometer data from Pixel Watch 3 devices and compared the resulting model against 24-hour ambulatory blood-pressure monitoring, so there is quite a bit going on behind what will look like a relatively simple trend inside the app.

Sleep breathing adds another piece

Sleep Breathing Quality brings the same longer-term thinking to overnight data. Google looks at how much of your sleep is spent with what it considers optimal breathing, then uses repeated nights to build a monthly picture rather than putting too much weight on one result.

This is not sleep-apnoea detection, and Google is not presenting it as a diagnostic tool. Once again, the point is to notice changes in your normal pattern that might otherwise disappear among dozens of nightly health metrics.

Health Guardian also includes Breathing Emergency Detection on supported Pixel Watches, although that feature works rather differently. It looks for a persistent and critical drop in oxygen saturation and can contact emergency services if the wearer becomes unresponsive in supported markets.

This goes well beyond Pixel Watch 5

Google says the technology is coming to other Pixel Watch and Fitbit Air devices rather than being locked to Pixel Watch 5. More specifically, Blood Pressure Trends is coming to Pixel Watch 3, Pixel Watch 4 and Pixel Watch 5 this fall, while Insulin Resistance Trends is coming more widely across Pixel Watch and Fitbit devices. Both are app-based features.

That fits particularly well with what Google has been doing with Fitbit Air. The hardware itself is deliberately simple, while more of the interesting work happens inside Google Health where data from several sensors gets combined and interpreted in the background.

We have already seen a version of that philosophy with Fitbit Air’s AFib detection. Health Guardian pushes the idea further because Google is now trying to infer health changes that the wearable does not directly measure at all.

The next health upgrade may be software

For years, adding a new health feature to a wearable usually meant adding another sensor. Google is showing another route, where better models squeeze more information from heart rate, HRV, sleep, SpO2, temperature and movement data that millions of devices are already collecting.

There are obvious limits to that approach, because software cannot magically turn a Pixel Watch into a glucose monitor or a proper blood-pressure cuff. But if the models can reliably identify when something has changed, that information could still be useful even without producing a traditional measurement.

Sources: Google Health, Google Research, Nature, DC Rainmaker

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In this article we compare Garmin CIRQA, Google Fitbit Air, Amazfit Helio Strap, WHOOP 5.0 and Polar Loop to find the best screenless fitness tracker for different types of users.

These devices give screenless fitness tracker buyers five genuinely different options. Garmin offers the deepest training tools without a required subscription, Fitbit Air is the lightest and cheapest route into passive tracking, while WHOOP still has the strongest recovery platform but costs far more over time.

A few years ago, choosing a screenless fitness tracker mostly meant deciding whether you were willing to pay for WHOOP. That has changed quickly, with Google, Garmin, Polar and Zepp Health all offering alternatives that collect health and activity data without putting another display on your wrist.

None of these trackers has built-in GPS. They all move most settings, results and analysis into a smartphone app, but the similarities begin to fade once you look at subscriptions, training tools, comfort and compatibility with other devices.

Price, design and battery life

The purchase price only tells part of the story. Fitbit Air and Helio Strap both cost $99.99, while Garmin CIRQA and Polar Loop have $199.99 list prices.

WHOOP does not sell the tracker in the conventional sense. The hardware comes with the membership, but continued access to the platform requires an active plan starting at $199 per year, rising to $239 for WHOOP Peak and $359 for WHOOP Life with the MG hardware. 

Fitbit Air is the easiest device to forget you are wearing. Its pod weighs only 5.2 grams, with the complete tracker coming in at around 12 grams, and its 17mm width makes it noticeably slimmer than everything else here.

That comfort was the strongest part of my Fitbit Air review. It works well for sleep and continuous wear, although the seven-day battery claim trails CIRQA, Helio Strap and WHOOP.

Amazfit Helio Strap is also fairly discreet at 20 grams. Its nylon strap uses a hook-and-loop fastening, and Zepp Health sells an official upper-arm accessory for workouts where wrist movement might interfere with optical heart-rate readings.

Garmin CIRQA is wider than Fitbit Air but remains reasonably light. Its 24mm ComfortFit strap uses quick-release pins, and a physical button gives it a small advantage over the other trackers.

Polar Loop is the heaviest option at 29 grams. That is not excessive for a normal watch, but it is noticeable in a category where the whole point is often to wear something less intrusive.

Garmin CIRQA

Screenless tracking with no required subscription

$199.99

View on Amazon View on Garmin

WHOOP has the best charging arrangement, provided you choose Peak or Life. Its Wireless PowerPack slides over the tracker while it remains on your body, reducing gaps in sleep and recovery data, while the entry WHOOP One plan uses a conventional wired charger.

Health, sleep and recovery tracking

All five trackers cover the foundations. Each records continuous heart rate, resting heart rate, HRV, respiratory rate, sleep duration and sleep stages, but some of the apparent similarities disappear once you look more closely.

Polar Loop does not provide a normal blood-oxygen metric, while its temperature sensor remains available through the software development kit rather than as a consumer-facing skin-temperature feature. WHOOP reserves ECG and irregular rhythm notifications for WHOOP MG, which requires the top Life membership.

Garmin CIRQA has the broadest health package without a required fee. It includes Pulse Ox, skin temperature, HRV Status, Body Battery, Training Readiness, stress tracking, nap detection, abnormal heart-rate alerts and a Smart Wake alarm.

Google has given Fitbit Air a strong selection of passive health features for a budget-friendly tracker. It records SpO2 and skin-temperature variation, supports Smart Wake and can provide irregular rhythm notifications in supported regions.

That combination makes Fitbit Air more of a health tracker than a serious training device. It is particularly useful for someone who wants sleep, heart rate and background health data without wearing a large smartwatch overnight.

Helio Strap sits closer to the fitness side. BioCharge estimates available energy throughout the day, while Readiness focuses more directly on recovery, and the Zepp app also provides sleep, stress, HRV and blood-oxygen trends.

Polar’s Nightly Recharge remains a useful and well-established recovery feature. Loop also feeds into Sleep Plus Stages and SleepWise, but it lacks a vibration motor, so there is no smart alarm or silent wake-up option.

WHOOP still does the best job of turning recovery information into a daily narrative. Its Recovery, Strain and Sleep system connects behaviour, training and rest more clearly than most competing apps, although useful features such as the real-time Stress Monitor and WHOOP Age require Peak or Life.

Training features and ecosystem differences

None of these products should be mistaken for a full sports watch. There is no onboard GPS, map, display or live pace field on your wrist, so runners and cyclists who depend on real-time feedback will still need a phone, watch or bike computer.

That said, the training gap between the devices is substantial. Garmin CIRQA offers more than 80 activity profiles, connected GPS, Training Status, recovery time, VO2 max and Fitness Age, while its physical button can start one chosen activity without opening the app.

CIRQA is the obvious choice for someone already using a Garmin watch or Edge computer. Health and activity data sync through Garmin Connect, and the band can broadcast heart rate to compatible Garmin equipment.

It can also fill a practical gap for people who do not want to wear a Fenix or Forerunner continuously. You can wear CIRQA for sleep and general health tracking, then switch to the watch for a run without splitting your long-term data between two platforms.

The main caveat is that CIRQA is new. Its feature list is excellent, but comfort, workout heart-rate accuracy and automatic activity detection still need extensive real-world testing before it can be declared the most accurate tracker in the group. Garmin’s official specifications confirm the 80-plus activity profiles, connected GPS, training tools and 10-day battery claim. 

Helio Strap is the strongest low-cost option for people who care about training. It offers more than 50 sports modes, BioCharge, Training Load, VO2 max, heart-rate broadcasting and an official upper-arm band, all without a subscription.

It also shares data with Amazfit watches inside the Zepp app. My earlier Helio Ring and Helio Strap comparison looked at how Zepp Health uses separate screenless devices to maintain sleep, recovery and exercise tracking when a watch is charging or not being worn.

Fitbit Air can record a decent workout, but its software remains the weak point. In my Fitbit Air and Garmin 5K test, heart rate and distance were surprisingly close, but the overall experience lacked the workout controls and post-run detail Garmin users will expect.

The hardware often seems more capable than the app. Automatic recognition can also record the wrong start or finish time, and Google Health does not always provide enough editing control to repair the session afterwards.

WHOOP is more polished for interpreting training than recording conventional workout statistics. It excels at showing how a session contributes to Strain and affects subsequent Recovery, but it is less useful for someone who wants maps, splits or detailed running dynamics.

That difference came through when I let Fitbit Air and WHOOP automatically record the same 8km run. Both detected activity, but neither produced a complete record without checking, which is a reminder that passive detection still needs supervision.

Polar Loop works best as a doorway into Polar Flow. Manual sessions use the tracker as a heart-rate sensor inside the app, with the phone providing GPS, while automatic detection can record casual sessions without the phone.

Training Load Pro and Nightly Recharge give it more depth than a simple activity band. However, its lack of vibration, SpO2 and a user-facing temperature metric makes the $199.99 price difficult to justify unless you already value Polar’s training system. That said, phone GPS can provide route, speed and distance during manually recorded outdoor workouts. 

Frequently asked questions

What is a screenless fitness tracker?

A screenless fitness tracker records health, sleep and activity data without putting a display on your wrist. Most settings and results appear in a companion app, which allows the tracker itself to stay lighter, simpler and less distracting than a smartwatch.

Are screenless fitness trackers accurate?

The better models can track resting heart rate, sleep duration and general activity trends reasonably well, although accuracy varies by device and activity. Workout heart rate, automatic exercise detection and GPS distance can be less consistent, especially because the trackers in this comparison rely on a connected phone rather than built-in GPS.

Is Garmin CIRQA better than WHOOP?

Garmin CIRQA is the better choice for Garmin users who want training, recovery and health data without a mandatory subscription. WHOOP has the more mature coaching platform and does a better job of connecting sleep, behaviour, Strain and Recovery, but its membership makes it considerably more expensive over time.

Does Fitbit Air require a subscription?

Fitbit Air does not require a subscription for its main health, sleep and activity features. Google Health Premium adds extra analysis and guidance, but the tracker remains usable without it.

Which screenless tracker has the longest battery life?

WHOOP 5.0 has the longest quoted battery life at more than 14 days. Garmin CIRQA and Amazfit Helio Strap follow with up to 10 days, while Polar Loop offers up to eight days and Fitbit Air up to seven days.

Do screenless fitness trackers have GPS?

None of the trackers in this comparison has built-in GPS. They can use a connected phone to record routes, distance and pace during outdoor workouts, although the available features and reliability vary between platforms.

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Garmin launched CIRQA today, giving Fitbit Air a direct rival yet in the growing screen-less tracker category. Fitbit Air remains smaller, lighter and half the price, while CIRQA offers deeper training tools, longer battery life and tight integration with existing hardware.

Taking inspiration from Whoop, both devices collect health and activity data without putting another display on your wrist. Neither has built-in GPS, so outdoor routes depend on a connected phone, and both move most settings and data into their respective smartphone apps.

Those are the main similarities. What follows are the main differences.

Fitbit Air is smaller and lighter

Fitbit Air is the more discreet device. It weighs a mere 12 grams with its band, compared with 20 grams for CIRQA, and its narrower module should be easier to forget about during sleep and everyday wear.

That comfort was one of the strongest points in my Fitbit Air review. CIRQA is still compact compared with a Garmin watch, but its wider fabric band and larger module give it more of a Whoop-style appearance. In fact, it uses bands with 24mm width – larger than Whoop.

If you buy the Fitbit, it is a one-size-fits-all affair. With Garmin, you can choose between S/M and L/XL bands.

Both trackers can be worn away from the wrist. Garmin officially supports CIRQA on the upper arm and sells accessory bands for that, while I have also tested Fitbit Air on the wrist, ankle and upper arm, despite Google currently treating it as a wrist-based device. 

CIRQA has a physical button

CIRQA’s physical button gives the band several controls that Fitbit Air lacks. One press starts or stops a favourite activity selected in Garmin Connect, with vibration and LED feedback confirming the action. Only one activity can be assigned to the button, while other profiles still need to be launched through the app.

The button can also activate Bluetooth pairing and start or stop heart-rate broadcasting to a compatible Garmin watch or Edge computer. When an alarm goes off, a short press snoozes it and holding the button dismisses it. It can also stop the vibration triggered through Find My Band.

Fitbit Air has no physical controls. It relies on automatic activity detection and the Google Health app, which gives it a cleaner design but makes it more dependent on the phone.

Fitbit Air has more sensors

Fitbit Air has the slightly broader documented sensor package. Alongside optical heart-rate and SpO2 sensors, it includes an accelerometer, gyroscope and device temperature sensor for tracking skin-temperature variation.

Garmin CIRQA

Screenless tracking with no required subscription

View on Amazon View on Garmin

Fitbit Air also supports passive irregular rhythm notifications. CIRQA does not provide this. Nor does it include ECG, so neither device provides an on-demand ECG reading from the band.

What CIRQA covers is continuous heart rate, stress, respiration, skin temperature and Pulse Ox. Garmin gets more value from combining its core sensor data with established metrics such as Body Battery, HRV Status and Sleep Coach.

CIRQA integrates more deeply with existing training hardware

This is CIRQA’s biggest advantage. It can serve as the Primary Wearable for sleep, steps and daily health data, while a Garmin watch or Edge remains the Primary Training Device for workouts, GPS and training analysis. 

CIRQA can also broadcast heart rate to compatible Garmin hardware. A cyclist could wear it on the upper arm and send live heart-rate data to an Edge computer, while a runner could use a Garmin watch for the workout and CIRQA for the rest of the day.

Fitbit Air works well as a passive second tracker, something I explored when wearing Fitbit Air alongside a Garmin. However, Google Health does not provide the same direct relationship between a passive band and dedicated training hardware.

CIRQA lasts longer between charges

Garmin quotes up to 10 days for CIRQA, compared with up to seven days for Fitbit Air. Both take around 90 minutes to charge fully, although Fitbit Air can recover roughly one day of battery life from a five-minute top-up.

The difference is useful, but not enormous. Features such connected GPS and prolonged heart-rate broadcasting will reduce CIRQA’s real-world result, while Fitbit Air already proved easy to keep charged during my testing.

Fitbit Air costs half as much

Neither device will break the bank. Fitbit Air starts at $99.99, while CIRQA costs $199.99. The extra $100 from buys CIRQA’s physical button, longer battery life, official upper-arm option and much deeper ecosystem integration. It does not buy a broader sensor package, a display or built-in GPS.

There is an optional subscription for the Fitbit, but you will be just fine without it. Most of the important stuff is free including core health, sleep and activity tracking.

Garmin also has an optional Connect+ subscription in the app which you do not really need. Most of the features work without this, except Workout and Training Plans, live activity, manual lap during activities and meditation. Which is great for those that want to use CIRQA as a second device to pair with their primary Garmin watch.

If you do opt for a subscription, Connect+ will set you back $69 per year, compared with $99 per year for Fitbit Premium. But, as mentioned, you don’t really need either.

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Custom foods finally return

This is not entirely new territory for Fitbit users. The old Fitbit app already supported custom foods, but the option disappeared during the transition to Google Health.

Now it is back. Users can search for foods they have created previously and log them again, making the feature useful for homemade meals, supplements and products missing from the standard database. 

Version 5.01 restored access to previously saved entries, while Google promised that full creation tools would follow. Version 5.04 now completes that part of the job.

The company has also added a quicker way to record calories and estimated macronutrients. Users can enter calories, protein, carbohydrates and fat directly without searching for a named food first.

These are fairly basic nutrition tools, but they will be useful to people who use Fitbit as a daily food diary. Custom foods were also one of the main missing features highlighted in Google’s roadmap for improving the new Health app.

Naps now count towards daily sleep

The sleep change is smaller but sensible. Naps now contribute to the total sleep duration shown on the Today tab, giving users a more complete view of how much sleep they accumulated across the day.

Google has been improving nap handling over several releases. Version 5.02 made naps easier to find, while the more recent Google Health 5.03 update expanded those changes and brought more of them to iOS. The latest release carries nap data onto the main dashboard rather than keeping it separate from the headline sleep total.

Version 5.04 also fixes truncated heart-rate charts and exercise maps that did not always represent the full duration of a workout. Cycle history can now be grouped chronologically by year, while an iOS issue that prevented some users from initiating friend requests has also been addressed

The update is available on Android and iOS. Google says the phased rollout began on July 16 and will continue over the following week, depending on the device and carrier.

Google Health is still rebuilding Fitbit

The response from Fitbit users has been mixed, although custom foods and the nap change have generally landed well. The wider discussion quickly returned to features that remain missing, including a complete historical daily dashboard, old badges, Daily Cardio Load targets, easier switching between Fitbit devices and Apple Health integration.

That reaction is understandable. Google Health has improved quickly since the wider rollout, but many of its most welcome additions are familiar Fitbit tools returning piece by piece.

There was also a brief wave of complaints from users who found that normal food searches returned no results. Reports appeared around the 5.04 rollout, although at least one user said installing the latest app update resolved the problem. It is worth watching, but there is not enough evidence yet to treat it as a widespread 5.04 fault.

This is still a useful update. Custom foods remove one of the more irritating gaps in the new app, while the nap and exercise fixes make everyday tracking a little more coherent.

The broader picture has not changed, though. Google Health is getting better, but it is still working its way back towards functionality Fitbit users already had.

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Google has confirmed a widespread Google Health outage that is preventing devices from syncing and pairing. The problem affects all Google Health users, while parts of the company’s Health Coach service are also unavailable.

The company’s official status dashboard shows a service outage for Device Sync / Pairing. Google says the incident began at 04:20 PDT on July 15, although it did not publicly acknowledge the problem until 05:41 PDT.

The dashboard currently describes the incident as “Sync not working for all users.” Google has not provided an estimated time for restoring the service.

Google confirms a server-side problem

This does not appear to be an isolated Bluetooth or phone compatibility issue.

Google says the outage affects syncing functionality for all Google Health users. Its status dashboard continues to show the Mobile App and Web API as available, suggesting the problem sits specifically within the systems responsible for connecting devices and transferring their data.

A later update at 07:50 PDT expanded the list of affected features. Google confirmed that Health Coach Ask and Summaries are also unavailable. Other parts of the Google Health app may continue working, but users could see old information because their latest wearable data has not arrived.

The outage comes during Google’s broader transition from the Fitbit app and services to the new Google Health platform. There is no evidence that the migration caused today’s problem, however, and Google has not explained what triggered the outage.

Users report missing sleep data and pairing failures

Reports from users began appearing on Reddit soon after the outage started.

Some users say their devices will not sync. Others report missing sleep scores or trackers that appear to have disconnected from their phones. One user said they reset a Pixel Watch before discovering that the problem was affecting Google’s services rather than their individual device.

Another reported that a Fitbit Air had become unpaired and would no longer reconnect. Health Coach users have also confirmed that they cannot use the chat functionality, which matches Google’s later status update.

A person identifying themselves as a member of the Google Health product team responded in the Reddit discussion. They said the issue was on Google’s side and that the company was working to fix it.

The outage follows a separate Pixel Watch software problem that caused some users to lose SpO2 and skin temperature data. Today’s incident is broader because Google has identified the device syncing infrastructure itself as the problem. 

Do not reset or unpair your device

The best response is to wait.

Because Google has confirmed a service-wide outage, resetting a Fitbit or Pixel Watch is unlikely to solve the problem. It could instead create a second problem by removing an otherwise functional connection that cannot be restored while pairing remains unavailable.

Users should also avoid deleting and reinstalling the Google Health app unless Google specifically recommends it. Signing out, clearing app data or removing the wearable from an account could make recovery more difficult.

Your tracker or smartwatch will still collect information while the cloud service is unavailable. However, that data might not appear inside Google Health until syncing resumes. The amount of information retained locally can vary by device, so users should leave their wearable connected and charged.

Google has not said when it expects normal service to return. The status dashboard still marks Device Sync / Pairing with a red outage symbol at the time of writing.

The outage arrives one day after Fitbit Air received its first firmware release. That update introduced several changes and fixes, which we covered in our Fitbit Air firmware update article.

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The wider rollout has reached my Fitbit Air

The notification appeared as a Device update card inside Google Health. The app then downloaded and installed firmware version 20001.253.2, replacing version 20001.245.19 on my Fitbit Air.

Android users see the same update with a slightly longer number, 67.20001.253.2. The added 67 appears to be an Android naming difference rather than a separate firmware release.

Installation only took around 3 or 4 minutes in my case. The Fitbit Air remained on my wrist and did not need to sit on its charger during the process.

Google is not saying what actually changed

The official description only mentions bug fixes and general improvements. Google’s public Fitbit firmware page does not currently include a Fitbit Air entry, so there is no breakdown of individual fixes or any confirmed new features.

That leaves plenty of room for speculation, particularly around automatic exercise detection. Google previously said it would continue improving the number of activities that Fitbit Air can recognise automatically, but it has not tied that promise to firmware 20001.253.2.

Recent Google Health app updates have addressed some related exercise problems. These include incomplete TCX exports, inconsistent metrics when several devices or apps record the same exercise and the app’s behaviour when a live Fitbit Air workout loses its phone connection.

Those fixes should not automatically be credited to this firmware. Google described them as app improvements, while the device update arrived separately with no detailed explanation.

The interesting part comes after installation

I have spent the past few weeks testing Fitbit Air in different positions and comparing it against Garmin and Whoop. Automatic tracking remains one of the areas where the hardware can produce decent underlying data while the final workout summary gets the timing wrong.

That was clear in my latest 8km run test against Whoop. Fitbit Air split the outing and missed part of the distance, so automatic workout recognition will be the first thing I check after installing this update.

Sleep detection, battery drain, heart rate continuity and connected GPS are also worth watching. A firmware update can change any of those without adding a visible feature or new menu inside the app.

For now, this looks like a maintenance release rather than a feature update. The wider rollout is welcome, but Fitbit Air owners will have to work out what changed through use because Google has given them almost nothing to go on.

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How Bevel works with Fitbit Air through Google Health

Bevel already works with several wearable platforms, including Apple Watch, Garmin, Oura and Amazfit. Fitbit Air remained a fairly obvious gap, particularly for iPhone users who had moved from an Apple Watch but wanted to continue using Bevel.

The new Google Health integration closes that gap. Google Health now acts as the bridge between Fitbit Air and Bevel, automatically bringing compatible health data into the app rather than requiring a manual workaround through Apple Health.

That connection makes particular sense for Fitbit Air. As I found in my full Fitbit Air review, the screenless tracker is designed to disappear on the wrist and leave most of the interpretation to the phone app. The hardware collects the data, but the software determines how useful that data feels.

Bevel provides a different way to view it. The app centres its experience around recovery, strain, sleep, fitness and longer-term health trends. Its recent Bevel 3 update added Biological Age and Health Records, allowing wearable information to sit alongside blood tests, clinical documents and lifestyle data.

There is an important distinction here. Google Health integration does not mean Bevel has launched on Android. Bevel remains an iPhone app, but it can now receive information held in Google Health from Fitbit Air and other compatible devices.

The wider update goes beyond Google Health

Google Health support forms part of Bevel’s 2026 Mid-Summer Release, which also expands Bevel Intelligence. Users can now ask the AI system to build complete cardio workouts using targets based on time, distance, intervals, pace, power or heart rate zones.

Those workouts can sync to Apple Watch for use during training. Google Calendar and iCloud Calendar integration also allow Bevel Intelligence to adapt a training schedule around meetings, appointments and other events rather than treating exercise plans as separate from the rest of the day.

Bevel has also introduced Ghost Mode for temporary conversations and food logging. Chats can expire after between one and 24 hours, while new controls let users disable persistent knowledge and choose between fast, thinking and adaptive response modes.

Strength Builder receives its own set of changes. AirPods Pro 3 can display live heart rate on the phone, while a rebuilt Live Sync system aims to improve communication between Apple Watch and iPhone. Users also get exercise previews on the watch, on-the-fly set editing and support for dual-loaded machines in the plate calculator.

Blood pressure tracking is now available inside the Biology section. Readings can sync from Apple Health or be entered manually, while the nutrition database has gained thousands of additional foods and improvements to portion selection and meal analysis.

Bevel becomes a more credible Fitbit companion

The timing is interesting because Bevel has spent the past year reducing the barriers to using its platform. Most of the core app became free with version 2.4, while Bevel Intelligence remained the main paid layer.

For Fitbit Air owners, the new integration creates a clearer choice. They can use Google Health as the main destination for their data or feed the same wearable information into Bevel for a more recovery-led presentation.

The figures shown by the two apps may not always match exactly. Bevel applies its own calculations and scoring methods, so sleep, resting heart rate and recovery outputs can differ even when the underlying information comes from Google Health.

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