Available now on the Amazfit Balance before a wider rollout this spring
Amazfit smartwatches are on course for a substantial upgrade, with Zepp Health announcing a new AI assistant as part of the latest major software update.
Zepp Flow will first arrive on the Amazfit Balance as part of the Zepp OS 3.5 update, providing users with an AI helper that can answer queries relating to workout data, the weather, and more.
At present, Flow is only accessible to those with the Balance smartwatch in the US, UK, Ireland, and Canada, but the Large Language Model (LLM) tech will roll out to 12 more European countries (including France and Germany) on 1 May.
From there, the Amazfit Cheetah, Amazfit Falcon, and Amazfit T-Rex Ultra will be eligible for the upgrade on a rolling basis from 28 May, with the Amazfit Active receiving the 3.5 update from 20 June.
Users can also use the assistant to engage in what Zepp calls ‘free chat’, which we suspect could involve anything from recipe recommendations to classic AI banter.
It represents another experimental step from the company, following the launch of Zepp Coach in 2023. As we found with that paid-for integration, though, most AI-focused platforms are still in their experimental phase.
We expect this will also be true of Zepp Flow as it debuts on the Balance. Still, we’re looking forward to testing it out over the coming weeks – especially as it appears AI integrations with wearables will persist as a theme in 2024..
Apple is strongly rumored to include AI smarts in its next generation of smartwatches, with Samsung already teasing how it will use AI in Galaxy Health in its wearables range.
We expect this to be fleshed out in more detail if Wear OS 5 arrives this summer, but, at least for now, Zepp is ahead of the competition.
