Fitbit has announced a new partnership that will let Dexcom users track their glucose levels on the Ionic smartwatch.
The Dexcom G5 Mobile is a discreet sensor worn just under the skin, sending readings to a user's smartphone every five minutes. Starting in 2018, it will be able to send that data direct to the Ionic.
Hands on: Fitbit Ionic review
We're still a long way from wearables being able to track glucose with optical sensors, but this added functionality will make life a little easier for people who have diabetes to keep an eye on their levels. It's also another way Fitbit is pitching the Ionic as a more serious health companion, with further plans to enable sleep apnea monitoring in the near future using the watch's relative SpO2 sensor.
A similar partnership was announced between Apple and Dexcom back at WWDC to bring G5 connectivity to the Apple Watch via native core Bluetooth, something that's being introduced in watchOS 4. Dexcom users can track their glucose on the Apple Watch today, but the information is being rerouted via the iPhone.
We spoke to Fitbit CEO James Park about CGM (continuous glucose monitoring) when the Ionic was announced, and he told us it was a key area Fitbit was looking at (and name dropped Dexcom, which might have been a hint). You can also read our interview with Dexcom and what it's doing with wearables to improve the lives of people with diabetes.
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By Hugh Langley
Now at Business Insider, Hugh originally joined Wareable from TechRadar where he’d been writing news, features, reviews and just about everything else you can think of for three years.
Hugh is now a correspondent at Business Insider.
Prior to Wareable, Hugh freelanced while studying, writing about bad indie bands and slightly better movies. He found his way into tech journalism at the beginning of the wearables boom, when everyone was talking about Google Glass and the Oculus Rift was merely a Kickstarter campaign - and has been fascinated ever since.
He’s particularly interested in VR and any fitness tech that will help him (eventually) get back into shape. Hugh has also written for T3, Wired, Total Film, Little White Lies and China Daily.