In March, when Fitbit announced its second smartwatch, the Fitbit Versa, the company also promised that female health tracking and Android quick replies were on the way. Those two features are now launching, along with a handful of health partner apps and clock faces.
The addition of period tracking is strategic. Fitbit has explicitly said it wants to attract more women to wearables. “We also see a great opportunity to bring more women into the smartwatch category,” Fitbit vice president of product marketing Melanie Chase said in March. The smaller-sized Versa (compared to the Ionic) is one of the ways the company is trying to do that, but software can go a long way to help.
Female health tracking
Female health tracking is launching today for all users in the Fitbit app on iOS and Windows — Android users will get it later this month. The functionality is also launching on-device today for Ionic and Versa owners.
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The Fitbit app is getting the following features:
- Stay on top of your cycle: Log your menstrual data, record symptoms like headaches, acne, and cramps. Helps you be more informed about your health and life planning, and can help you show your doctor specific details for more personalized care.
- Know what’s ahead: See dynamic cycle predictions for where you are in your cycle and when to expect your period. Fitbit’s proprietary cycle algorithm gets smarter and more accurate as you consistently log your period.
- All of your data in one place: View holistic data to reveal connections between your cycle and other stats in the Fitbit app, such as activity, sleep, and weight trends.
- Period 101: Learn more about the menstrual cycle, ovulation, fertility, and common misconceptions with educational content through the Fitbit app.
- Connect with others: Join other women through Groups in the Community tab of the Fitbit app for support around key topics like periods, birth control, trying to conceive, pregnancy, perimenopause, and menopause.
- Personalized insights and guidance: As the database of female health metrics grows, Fitbit could tell you how your cycle impacts your activity, sleep, weight, and nutrition, and potentially how these things can affect your cycle.
On the Ionic and Versa, meanwhile, you can now track where you are in your cycle, view when your period is expected, and predict your upcoming fertile window in the on-device dashboard (by swiping up from the clock face).
Quick Replies on Android
While Android users may not be getting female health tracking in the Fitbit app until later this month, they are getting their own platform-specific feature. Quick replies on Android is now rolling out to Ionic and Versa users.
Quick replies let Android users choose from five pre-populated responses. By default, they are:
- Yes
- No
- Sounds good!
- Can’t talk now, will reply later
- What’s up?
You can also customize your own replies to text messages and messaging apps like WhatsApp or Facebook Messenger, although there is a 60-character limit. And for those who don’t like words, select emojis are also available, including love struck face, smiley face, crying with laughter face, winky face, heart icon, sad face, crying face, thinking face, and running.
Health partner apps and clock faces
The Fitbit App Gallery has over 700 apps and clock faces, as of Versa’s launch. Incoming additions built using Fitbit’s SDK include Dexcom, Diplomat Pharmacy, Fitabase, Go365 by Humana, Limeade, One Drop, Sickweather, and Walgreens.
“Smartwatches provide a powerful platform to deliver important health tools that help our users manage conditions more conveniently than ever before,” Fitbit CEO James Park said in a statement. “With these apps and clock faces, we continue to deliver on our promise to bring important health information to the wrist.”
The catch is that not all these apps are launching today. Limeade, One Drop, and Walgreen are available now, and the remaining apps are expected to arrive by this summer.
