Fitbit and Google have announced a new partnership to bring health and fitness data to doctors and healthcare services.
Continuing its push into health, Fitbit says it intends to use Google's Cloud Healthcare API to help integrate Fitbit data into medical records. And by combining the tracked metrics it gathers through its range of smartwatches and fitness trackers, it's aiming to provide a more comprehensive view of the patient's profile.
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The news comes after Fitbit recently acquired Twine Health, a service built for helping people who suffer from chronic conditions including hypertension and diabetes, as well as its $6 million investment in Sano - the creator of a glucose tracking patch - and a partnership with Dexcom to integrate its own glucose monitoring into its devices.
"Working with Google gives us an opportunity to transform how we scale our business, allowing us to reach more people around the world faster, while also enhancing the experience we offer to our users and the healthcare system," said Fitbit CEO James Park.
On Google's end, the deal comes after partnerships with medical facilities such as the Stanford School of Medicine. In this case, its Cloud system is set to host a Fitbit dashboard, whereby caregivers can monitor health, as well as plan and assign fitness plans for patients.
Currently, there's no timeline for when we'll start to see the results of the collaboration, though we'd expect the initial push to come by the end of 2018. And as we recently noted in our look at the state of women's health tech, this isn't the only database Fitbit will be involved with, as the data from its upcoming female health tracking platform is set to be used (anonymously) as a future research tool into women's health.
The move points to an effort by Fitbit to lessen its reliance of hardware sales and instead broaden the Fitbit platform. And while the initial signs are positive, only time will tell if the shift in emphasis proves to be successful.
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Conor moved to Wareable Media Group in 2017, initially covering all the latest developments in smartwatches, fitness trackers, and VR. He made a name for himself writing about trying out translation earbuds on a first date and cycling with a wearable airbag, as well as covering the industry’s latest releases.
Following a stint as Reviews Editor at Pocket-lint, Conor returned to Wareable Media Group in 2022 as Editor-at-Large. Conor has become a wearables expert, and helps people get more from their wearable tech, via Wareable's considerable how-to-based guides.
He has also contributed to British GQ, Wired, Metro, The Independent, and The Mirror.