Fitbit Air Will Soon Spot 100+ Workouts on Its Own. The $69.99 Metal Band Is the Lesser News

The Fitbit Air has no screen, which means it lives or dies by what it notices without being asked. Google is about to make it notice a lot more. An update due later in October expands the tracker’s automatic activity detection from about 10 activities to more than 100, including strength training, swimming, tennis and team sports.

Google also announced a dressier band, which will get the headlines. The tracking update is the part that matters.

From 10 activities to 100-plus

When Google launched the Fitbit Air in May at $99.99, its pitch was simple: a tiny, screenless band with up to seven days of battery, heart rate and sleep tracking, and an AI Health Coach doing the thinking, as Mobile World Live reported. Automatic workout detection was always part of it. It just was not very broad.

According to Android Authority, better detection was the single most requested feature from owners, so Google built a new motion model for the band. It now uses an LLM to combine movement data with your routine, your workout history, your manual edits and, if you allow it, your location. In practice, that means the band can tell that the hour you spend at the same gym every Tuesday is probably weight training, not a long walk.

Here is how the new automatic logging works, per 9to5Google:

1. A session has to last a minimum duration, 15 minutes by default, with a sustained elevated heart rate.
2. The Air classifies the activity using motion plus context.
3. A workout summary typically arrives in the Google Health app within 30 minutes.
4. If you confirm or correct the label, the model uses that to get better at predicting your next session.

How much better? It depends who you ask

Google’s claim, as reported by 9to5Google, is that the new system is nearly twice as accurate and cuts missed workouts by more than half. Android Authority’s write-up cites a bigger accuracy jump, describing it as both 200% and 300% as accurate in different places. The missed-workouts claim is consistent everywhere; the accuracy figure is not, so we would lean on the more conservative “nearly twice” until someone tests it independently.

There is a bonus for watch owners, too. Android Authority reports the new detection algorithms will also come to Pixel Watch models.

The Metal Mesh band and what everything costs

The new Metal Mesh band costs $69.99 in Polished Silver or Champagne Gold and is meant to look like jewelry rather than gym gear. It is up for preorder now from Google and Target, with shipping later in October. Here is where it fits in the Fitbit Air lineup:

That bundle is a bit of an oddity: it is $20 more than the special editions, but you get two bands, one for the office and one for the gym.

Health Guardian adds a monthly report

Google Health Premium subscribers who set up the blood pressure and insulin resistance trends will now get a monthly Health Guardian report with lifestyle guidance. It is a reminder that the Air’s most interesting features keep landing behind the $9.99 subscription, which is worth factoring in before you treat this as a $99 tracker.

Our take

Screenless trackers live on trust. If you have to open an app after every workout to fix what the band got wrong, you might as well wear a watch. Going from 10 to more than 100 recognized activities, with a model that learns your habits, is exactly the upgrade the Fitbit Air needed six months in. The metal band is nice. The smarter detection is the reason to keep wearing it.

Sources: 9to5Google, Android Authority, Mobile World Live. Photo by FitNish Media on Unsplash.