Fitbit introduces Charge 4, its most advanced tracker
This post was originally published on the Fitbit press site. It has been adapted from its original format.
Fitbit today announced the latest evolution of its most popular family of devices,Fitbit Charge 4. Featuring Fitbit’s most advanced combination of sensors and features, now with built-in GPS and Spotify - Connect & Control, Charge 4 delivers what you want most in a health and fitness tracker, paired with essential smart features and up to seven days of battery life in a sleek, swimproof design - all at an approachable price. Charge 4 includes Fitbit’s latest innovation, Active Zone Minutes, a new personalized standard based on your resting heart rate and age that tracks any workout that gets your heart pumping, from indoor biking to yoga, measuring the time you spend in each heart rate zone toward a weekly goal of 150 minutes, a suggested goal outlined by the Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans from Health.gov.. For more guidance and motivation in today’s environment, new content has been added to Fitbit Premium, including programs, workouts from brands like barre3, Down Dog and Physique 57, mindfulness tools, challenges and more. Along with 40 new pieces of free content, Fitbit is offering a free 90-day trial for new Premium users. With the launch of new tools, software and content, being “on Fitbit” offers even greater value for users looking to manage their overall health.
“Our mission has always been to help people around the world get healthier. In today’s extraordinary times, that mission is more important than ever, but we realize how hard it is to focus on your health and wellness. However, staying active, eating well and getting enough sleep can help reduce stress and boost immunity,” said James Park, CEO and co-founder. “To help support our users, we’re offering a free trial of Fitbit Premium and added content so our users have the right tools at home to help them stay healthy; and, with Active Zone Minutes, we are giving users a new personalized standard for health and fitness so they can get the most out of any activity that works for them and help to keep them motivated.”
Fitbit’s most advanced designed tracker uplevels fitness and deepens health
Active Zone Minutes will launch first with Charge 4, with an innovative design made to optimize GPS performance plus house other advanced sensors and capabilities while maintaining a slim, lightweight tracker form at the same approachable price and battery life. Its premium, lightweight, swimproof to 50 meters design is comfortable for all-day (and night) wear, featuring an inductive button, a scratch-resistant screen and a bright, crisp touchscreen display that is easy to view in natural light.
As the first Fitbit tracker with built-in GPS, you can leave your phone at home and get optimal performance for activities like running, walking and other outdoor excursions. Now with the ability to track your pace and distance in real-time, in addition to the 20+ goal-based exercise modes, you can access seven GPS-enabled exercise modes, including a new outdoor workout mode for any outdoor activity like hiking, running or a brisk walk. After completing a GPS-enabled workout, sync your device for a GPS-powered heat map in the Fitbit app where you can see your workout intensity, based on your different heart rate zones along your route, to help you visualize and improve how you are performing against different terrain. Workout intensity maps are available in the Fitbit app for all activities using built-in or Connected GPS.
Active Zone Minutes helps you workout more efficiently and unlock better health
Because activity looks different for everyone, Fitbit developed Active Zone Minutes to help you understand how your activity contributes to your overall health, beyond the number of steps you take. You can customize your Active Zone Minutes goal in the Fitbit app. Default daily goal is 22 moderate minutes or 11 vigorous minutes per day.With Fitbit’s PurePulse 24/7 heart rate tracking, Active Zone Minutes uses your personalized heart rate zones to track your effort for any energizing activity, whether doing a HIIT workout, power yoga or taking a vigorous walk outside. Earn credit for each minute of moderate activity in fat burn zone and double the credit for vigorous activity in cardio and peak zones – Active Zone Minutes does the math for you so you can quickly understand how many you need to reach your daily and weekly goals. Get real-time alerts on your wrist each time you change zones so you can push harder or scale back to make your workouts more efficient. After a workout, see a detailed summary of your heart rate zones in the Fitbit app, including progress toward your goals, so you can continue challenging yourself to make every minute count.
Active Zone Minutes is based on recommendations from leading health organizations, including the World Health Organization and the American Heart Association, who recommend getting 150 minutes of moderate or 75 minutes of vigorous activity each week, which has been linked to better overall health and well-being, disease prevention, improved cognitive function, less anxiety and better sleep.
Sleep better and achieve your goals with Charge 4
Sleep is a critical component to maintaining overall health and wellness, and boosting immunity. As such, Fitbit’s leading sleep features are included withCharge 4 to help you understand and improve your sleep. Previously only available on Fitbit smartwatches, smart wake (coming soon) uses machine learning to wake you at the optimal time. Sleep Score provides deeper insights into your sleep with a daily look at the quality of your sleep, now available on-wrist for Charge 4. Other sleep features on Charge 4 make it easy to improve your sleep, all from your wrist: quickly set alarms and activate Sleep Mode to maintain routines and sleep schedules Sleep Mode is only on Fitbit Charge 4, Fitbit Ionic and Fitbit Versa family of smartwatches.
Charge 4 also features a relative SpO2 sensor, which powers Fitbit’s Estimated Oxygen Variation Graph in the Fitbit app. With the graph, see an estimate of the oxygen level variability in your bloodstream, which may indicate variations in your breathing during sleep.
In addition, Charge 4 comes standard with the health and fitness essentials you know and love from Fitbit, including SmartTrack automatic exercise tracking, Cardio Fitness Level and Score, floors climbed, Reminders to Move every hour, female health tracking, food, water and weight logging, motivation from the global social fitness network of nearly 30 million like-minded individuals around the world to help you stay connected, and free educational insights about activity and sleep in the Fitbit app to better understand how your health and wellness tie together.
Improved motivation and convenience with all the right smarts
For an even more powerful health and fitness coach, Charge 4 has added convenience and smart features to manage your day and stay connected but not distracted, right from your wrist. The first Fitbit tracker with Spotify - Connect & Control, Charge 4 helps you stay motivated with your favorite playlists and songs with easy-to-access music controls that let you choose the music output, play, shuffle and skip content, and like songs right from the wrist with a Spotify Premium subscription. Never miss an alert with on-screen call, text, agenda and app notifications, and keep in touch with family and friends with quick replies on Android to respond on-the-go or mute alerts with Do Not Disturb mode when phone is nearby. Now standard on all Charge 4 devices, make secure payments from your wrist with Fitbit Pay with nearly 500 issuers at retailers in 44 countries and 10 transit systems worldwide, including New York MTA.
Charge 4 is powered by up to seven days of battery life so you can stay motivated and connected. It provides an intuitive touchscreen experience with interactive graphics that allow for seamless navigation so you can access the most important information you need, right from your wrist.
Expanded offerings from Fitbit Premium add even more value to the Fitbit platform
For users looking to build on the device experience with extra guidance, support and motivation, which is even more critical these days, Fitbit Premium is a paid subscription service in the Fitbit app that you can access conveniently from your phone, whenever you need it and no matter where you are. Leveraging insights from 10+ years of data along with academic and medical expertise, Premium delivers customized guided programs, advanced sleep tools, personal insights, thousands of workouts, new challenges and a health report to help you move more, sleep better and eat well.
“Since launching Fitbit Premium last year, consumer retention and engagement results are improving, and we’re seeing positive health and wellness benefits for our users,” said Jonathan Oakes, EVP of Product & Design. “For example, users who took less than 5,000 steps per day before trying Premium took 16,000 more steps per week during the first two weeks of joining - a testament to the power of our Premium experience in improving users’ health and fitness.” These results are based on average data from Fitbit Premium users who started a free-trial or subscribed between January 1, 2020-February 27, 2020.
To support our users and help people stay active at home during today’s difficult times, Fitbit is offering 40 new pieces of Premium content free in the Fitbit app. In addition, anyone new to Fitbit Premium can get a 90-day free trial of this paid subscription, which includes personalized health insights, guidance, advanced sleep tools, customized programs and 200+ workouts from brands like barre3, Daily Burn, obé fitness, Physique 57, POPSUGAR and Yoga Studio: Mind & Body. If Premium is not available in your region and you have not tried Fitbit Coach yet, we are offering a 90-day free trial so you can stream video workouts on your phone or computer. To access Premium or Coach, visit the Fitbit app.
Fitbit now has 16 programs available to Premium users. New guided programs include strength training, gym cardio and mindful eating, tailored based on your goals, fitness level, schedule and preferences. In addition to a wide range of workouts categorized by time, activity and fitness level to easily find what’s right for you, Premium members have access to new mindfulness content from brands like Ten Percent Happier, in one single, convenient place. Coming soon, Fitbit will also offer workouts for both free and Premium users to help you reach your Active Zone Minutes goal.
Three customizable challenges are also available to Premium members, including Get Fit Bingo, where users can compete with family and friends on a health and fitness bingo board with different activities such as meeting your step or Active Zone Minutes goal for the day. Premium will continue to add more content to support users on their health and wellness journeys.
