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Fitbit has been in the news lately after it was announced that the company would be acquiring Pebble, the popular smartwatch manufacturer. This led to many being upset due to the cancellation of the Pebble Time 2 and the Pebble Core.
However, Fitbit has kept their eyes on the prize and have announced a slew of new features that will be coming to the Fitbit application later this year. These new features are designed to help you get off your rump and fulfill your 2017 fitness resolutions with the help of your friends and family.
The first new addition is the Community panel which helps you keep track of what your friends are doing, while also sharing your feats. From here you can also search for more groups of like-minded folks who may be able to help you meet your goals.
The new Community section will consist of three major sections:
- Feed is a new social feature that provides an engaging way to connect with friends, family and groups of like-minded individuals so you can find added support and inspiration to help reach your health and fitness goals.
- Friends easily connects you to friends, family and other Fitbit users across the globe who can help encourage you to reach your health and fitness goals; compete with your Friends to take the most steps, and cheer, taunt and direct message them as you climb the weekly leaderboard.
- Groups lets you discover and join communities of like-minded people to help support and inspire you on your journey; choose from over 20 groups related to fitness, nutrition, wellness and weight loss.
The next big update is an included personal trainer. This panel will provide various workouts depending upon your goals, along with giving you some suggestions of good music, along with “two new certified personal trainers”.
The new Fitstar Personal trainer offers a few new features to improve your workout experience, on top of a redesigned interface. These features are:
- Access recommended workouts based on your daily activity tracked with a Fitbit device, or from the new “Guidance” tab coming soon to the Fitbit app.
- Two new certified personal trainers, Adrian and Lea, will guide you on your fitness journey. You decide who motivates you more and swap between the two as you see fit.
- Customize your workout soundtrack with Fitstar Radio, which offers a variety of popular music stations from Pop to Hip Hop, to motivate you while you exercise.
- Redesigned look and feel provides a fresh and inspiring exercise experience that you can view on any format, from mobile phones to the latest high-def TVs.
How is an app supposed to help understand what you’re trying to do without you letting it know? Well, the redesign also includes a questionnaire which will learn what you’re trying to accomplish. This will help provide a more personalized experience while using the Fitbit application.
Finally, the new Fitbit application will also help you improve upon your personal goals by helping you do the following:
- Define your health and fitness objectives by identifying your focus areas like steps, exercise, sleep, nutrition, or weight, and answering questions that help establish the motivation behind your goals.
- Get personalized recommendations based on your objectives and historical Fitbit data.
The new Fitstar Personal Trainer function is available starting today, the new Personal Goal Setting option will be available later this month, and the new Community feature will be coming to those in the US sometime in March. Will you begin looking more into the different fitness trackers that Fitbit has to offer now that these features have been announced? Let us know in the comments below.
[Ars Technica | Fitbit]
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