Google Health Update to 5.11 Brings Several Huge Upgrades

A new version of Google Health is rolling out as version 5.11 on both Android and iOS. This fresh build brings numerous changes, like Health Guardian features for the Fitbit Air. It also greatly improves automatic activity tracking, gives more options for glucose tracking, and has improved sleep tracking.

Even though we are only jumping from Google Health v5.10 to v5.11, this is a sizable update. Google previously told us about this update when it announced the Fitbit Edge.

Fitbit Air gets Health Guardian

The new Health Guardian, which first debuted on the Pixel Watch 5, is now here for the Fitbit Air, assuming you subscribe to Google Health Premium. These are not free features on the Fitbit Air, unfortunately.

The two features that Google mentions as arriving are Blood Pressure Trends and Insulin Resistance Trends. These are tracked over time, so you get frequent reports for them, plus they track automatically if you wear your Air for consecutive days. For Blood Pressure Trends, you’ll need to wear it for 5 days in a row, while Insulin Resistance Trends will take 7 or more consecutive days and nights.

Improved Automatic Activity Tracking

This might be the biggest improvement that Google could have given to the Fitbit Air. I’ve been meaning to do a multi-month review check-in, and it wasn’t going to be that positive. The Fitbit Air seemed to get worse and slower at automatically tracking my workouts, even if they were 2 hours long. The device was also incredibly slow to process any workout.

Google says it is rolling out updates to the Fitbit Air, Pixel Watch 3, 4, and 5 that make these devices more intelligent, accurate, and reliable.

To bring those improvements, these devices can now automatically track up to 100 different activities, which is up from about 10. They can also use more context to factor in your routines, historical data, and manual edits, in order to be 2x more accurate.

• Tracks more activities: We expanded the number of activities your Fitbit tracker or Pixel Watch can detect from 10 to up to 100, including strength training, swimming, and racket and team sports.
• Uses more context: Powered by contextual reasoning, we now factor in more context — including your workout routines, historical data, manual edits — to deliver nearly 2x more accurate detections and cut missed workouts by more than half.
• Logs workouts automatically: Workouts that meet your minimum duration threshold (15 minutes by default) with a sustained elevated heart rate are automatically logged, and a summary is sent to the Google Health app, typically within 30 minutes.
• Learns your patterns: When you confirm or edit an activity, you’re improving a feature that learns your unique patterns and uses them to refine its predictions.

More Options for Glucose Tracking

For those using Google Health for glucose tracking, Google says it has improved the following:

• Updated naming: Blood glucose is now called Glucose throughout the app. Check for updates to your charts and graphs.
• Custom time-in-range goals: You can now set specific time-in-range goals for glucose data from connected continuous glucose monitors. To set a goal, go to the Metabolic section of the Health tab, tap Glucose, open Settings, and select Set goal.
• Faster syncing with Lingo by Abbott (US only): You can now connect Lingo by Abbott directly to the Google Health app so your glucose data syncs faster — displaying in the Google Health app within 30 minutes of a reading. If you have a Google Health Premium membership, Google Health Coach³ can also answer questions about your glucose trends. To connect, tap your profile icon in the Google Health app and select Partner Apps.

Improved Sleep Tracking

And finally, in the sleep department, Google has improved awake detection accuracy and will let you more easily edit naps.

• More accurate awake detection: We’ve improved our sleep tracking to better factor in your steps data so that we can more accurately track short awakenings, like getting up to use the bathroom. 
• Easier nap editing: You’re always in control of your sleep data. If a nap ever shows up that doesn’t match your day, you can now easily remove it directly from your nap card.

Again, this update to Google Health 5.11 is rolling out now on both Android and iOS.

Google Health Apps: Google Play | App Store

// Google

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