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Google released the Fitbit Air, a lightweight fitness tracker priced at $99, bundled with an optional $99 annual Google Health Premium subscription that includes a Gemini-powered AI health coach. The coach was beta-tested by nearly 500,000 people since October 2025 and received an improved version last month with a more customizable layout, leaderboards, health-fact sourcing, and medical record upload capability.
Why it matters
Google Health Coach is the closest to working well among consumer AI fitness coaches the reviewer has tested—but only if you invest five to six hours front-loading the system with detailed health context, medication lists, medical records, and fitness goals. Without that effort, the coach reverts to older data and forgets previous conversations, making it tedious to use. The basic hardware itself—great battery life, lightweight design, comprehensive metrics like heart rate variability and readiness scores—works well and no longer paywalls core tracking data, but the AI value proposition depends entirely on user persistence.
What to watch
The Health Coach is not exclusive to the Fitbit Air; Pixel Watches also have it, and Google plans to expand it to third-party wearables eventually. The device fits wrists ranging from 130mm to 210mm, and uploading medical records requires identity verification through CLEAR and periodic permission renewal.
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