【Lina Romay】

Fitbit's finally come to it senses: the days of trying to sell more fitness trackers are Lina Romayover.

Don't worry, Fitbit's still going to launch new trackers and smartwatches like the Versa 2. But rather than bet the farm on smartwatches and trackers that are increasingly steamrolled by the Apple Watch, Fitbit's reinventing itself as a personal health guardian, starting with a new health and subscription service called Fitbit Premium.

Touted as its most personalized health and fitness experience yet, Fitbit says its $10/month (or $80/year) Premium service uses over 10 years of insights gleaned from Fitbit data and various academic medical sources to provide "actionable guidance and coaching."

Translation: "Pay us and we'll help you understand the health and fitness data logged by your Fitbit device, and also suggest tailor-made programs, so you can live a healthier and happier life."

Having lots of data is meaningless if you don't know what to do with it. Fitbit Premium aims to change that.

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

When the service launches in September 2019, it'll offer a variety of "personalized" ways within the Fitbit app to reach your health and fitness goals.

Mashable Trend Report Decode what’s viral, what’s next, and what it all means. Sign up for Mashable’s weekly Trend Report newsletter. By clicking Sign Me Up, you confirm you are 16+ and agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Thanks for signing up!

For example, Premium provides detailed sleep guidance reports based on your sleeping data. A sleep score break down how long you sleep as well as well as the quality of the sleep you're getting. Additionally, Premium also shows you how your logged activities and sleep impact each other. There's also meditation exercises to help you fall asleep.

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

Another feature Premium users get are guided programs. Instead of a generic setup that gives you an overview of, say, how many calories an average person should eat and burn a day, Premium will offer more specific suggestions for things like activity, nutrition, and sleep based on your personal data.

Other Premium features include "dynamic workouts" that increase or decrease activity suggestions based on your feedback. They also include hundreds of Fitbit coach video or audio workouts; "advanced insights" that pull together tracked stats like steps, active minutes, heart rate, sleep, and then share ways to improve; custom challenge; and personalized health reports that you can bring to a doctor or trainer or nutritionist to provide a better overview of your health.

And if you really need an IRL push, starting with a pilot program later this year with an official launch in 2020, Premium can also help connect you to real certified health and wellness coaches who will be able to use your Fitbit data to create even more personalized workout programs to further motivate you to live healthier.

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

Just as an Apple Watch or Fitbit isn't a replacement for a doctor, Fitbit Premium isn't one either. Rather, it's a service to educate you about your health by interpreting the data and providing small motivations to help you maintain it.

Fitbit Premium is one way to hold people accountable for their health. But it's only as useful to the extent that you follow the recommendations. If you do nothing, naturally, you'll get nothing.

"Health belongs to everyone,” James Park, Fitbit's CEO and co-founder, told press during a pre-launch event. "Everyone should have access to the support, the tools, the motivation, and the guidance to really become healthier."

With Fitbit Premium, Fitbit's hoping to become your support, tools, motivation, and guidance. And assuming people sign up, it's also going to be a nice source of recurring revenue for a company that's seen better days.

---

Featured Video For You

---

Woman's Fitbit saves her life after it detected a strange change in her heart rate

---

• Entertainment
• Science
• Shopping
• Social Good
• Digital Culture
• Life
• Tech
• Deals

• NYT Connections hints and answers for May 1: Tips to solve 'Connections' #690.
• The Darkest Week of the Year: Fosse’s Septology by Sean Thor Conroe
• Paul Bowles in Tangier by Frederic Tuten
• Postcards from Elizabeth Bishop by Langdon Hammer
• NYT Strands hints, answers for May 18
• Fun by Jeremy Atherton Lin
• Correction by The Paris Review
• A Conversation with Louise Erdrich by Sterling HolyWhiteMountain
• NYT Strands hints, answers for May 1
• Making of a Poem: D. A. Powell on “As for What the Rain Can Do” by D. A. Powell

• A Photo Essay for National Library Week
• What We’re Loving: Digressions, Disappointments, Delicious Kisses by The Paris Review
• The Little Bookroom by Sadie Stein
• The Morning News Roundup for March 27, 2014
• The Morning News Roundup for April 3, 2014
• Nothing Is Alien: An Interview with Leslie Jamison
• Immune System by Dan Piepenbring
• Finding a Life on the Edge by Laurel Holland
• Shad Season by Sadie Stein
• Wanted for July: A Writer

• Best Apple deal: Save $19 on AirTag 4
• Dirty Brown Subaru Outback by Kelan Nee
• Philistines by Nancy Lemann
• Young, Slender, Blond, Blue
• Stablecoin bill advances in U.S. Senate as Trump critics call to end his crypto dealings
• Invisible Ink: At the CIA’s Creative Writing Group by Johannes Lichtman
• J. G. Ballard’s Brilliant, Not “Good” Writing by Tom McCarthy
• Recommended Readings for Students by Yu Hua
• Parental Controls: How to Lock Down Your Kids' iOS Devices
• Fixer Upper: Larry McMurtry’s Library by Colin Ainsworth

• NYT Strands hints, answers for April 23
• Young, Slender, Blond, Blue
• Teetering Canaries by Judith Schalansky
• Fun by Jeremy Atherton Lin
• Dell S3422DWG Gaming Monitor deal: save $100 at Amazon
• Ten Years without Gabriel García Márquez: An Oral History by Silvana Paternostro
• A Memory from My Personal Life by Hebe Uhart
• Prince and the Afterworld: Dorothea Lasky and Tony Tulathimutte Recommend by The Paris Review
• Best robot vacuum deal: Get the Roborock Q5 Max for 53% off at Amazon
• Fall Books: Zadie Smith, Moyra Davey, and Maya Binyam Recommend by The Paris Review