Fitbit already offers the ability to monitor your heart health, stress and blood oxygen levels in some of your clocks. Now the company is eyeing blood glucosemonitoring with a new feature in the Fitbit app.
The addition is good news for those who have diabetes, as well as for anyone with a health problem who needs to monitor their blood sugar. But, to be clear, this is not a non-invasive alternative to pricking your finger with a glucometer. This is a software update that allows users to record or import their blood sugar levels and see how they relate to other health metrics, such as sleep, exercise and food over time. The app will also allow users to set custom intervals so that they can potentially identify other factors that could affect their blood sugar levels. You can also activate reminders on your wrist to record your blood sugar.
Fitbit Premium users will get some more benefits like see how often your glucose levels fall within a target range each month and other data trends. Premium users will also have the ability to share their blood glucose data through Fitbit’s Wellness Report feature.
While users can manually record their measurements, Fitbit says that anyone using LifeScan’s OneTouch Reveal app can also import their data automatically. The company says it plans to integrate with other meters and applications soon. To enable the feature, you can go to the Discover tab of the Fitbit app, click on Health and Fitness Statistics and add blood glucose. (If you can’t find it yet, you may have to wait a while, as Fitbit says the feature will be released this month.)
G / O Media can receive a commission
More generally, it appears that blood glucosemonitoring may be the next big thing in healthcare technology. Rumor has it that both Apple and Samsung are working on ways to monitor blood sugar non-invasively in your next smartwatches. We also saw a non-invasive blood glucosemonitoring smartwatch prototype in CES this year. These are definitely more ambitious than what Fitbit currently offers, but these watches you can also never see daylight. A device that incorrectly reports blood sugar levels could be much more dangerous than, say, an erroneous ECG reading, so these proposed devices will they also need FDA authorization before they reach the market.
Fitbit feature doesn’t need FDA authorization because it is strictly a tool to help you monitor your data. That said, it comes with a disclaimer: this is not a substitute for a proper diagnosis from your doctor, nor is it something you should base your treatment on without talking to a doctor.
Fitbit is also making its health resources accessible to more users, extending access to the health metrics dashboard. The feature was introduced with Sense and Versa 3 last fall, but will now be available to users of Versa 2, Inspire 2 and Charge 4, although you are limited to last week’s trends. As with blood glucose monitoring, Fitbit Premium members will gain the ability to see personal intervals within that panel as well. Charge 4 users will also receive a small SpO2 treatment in a future update that will allow them to view readings directly on their wrist; they will also be able to see SpO2 and skin temperature data on the panel. In the meantime, Fitbit Sense users in Canada, New Zealand and U.S. territories will also receive the ECG app this month.