Fitbit’s new stress management smartwatch will keep you calm, no matter the global situation

Fitbit wants you to keep calm and carry on with its new Sense smartwatch 
Fitbit
Amelia Heathman25 August 2020

There are a few things you want from a smartwatch: the ability to tell the time, get your messages, and some fancy fitness features on top too, like GPS if you’re a runner.

The big wearable makers like Apple, Fitbit and Samsung have also made features such as an ECG app, fall detector, and payments essential to your wrist-based gadget. But, given the current global situation, Fitbit’s new Sense smartwatch has hit the nail on the head with a crucial feature you never knew you needed before: an electrodermal activity sensor to help stress management.

“Our mission to make everyone in the world healthier has never been more important than it is today," said Fitbit CEO and co-founder James Park said. “Our new products and services are our most innovative yet, coupling our most advanced sensor technology and algorithms to unlock more information about our bodies and our health so you can be in control.”

Even before March, stress was a global issue, though mental health issues have certainly become heightened over the past few months. The new Fitbit Sense measures electrodermal activity responses via the EDA Scan app.

Using the app, place your palm over the face of the device and it can detect small electrical changes in the sweat level of your skin. Fitbit says measuring these responses can help you understand your body’s response to stressors and help find ways to manage the stress. For instance, you could scan your stress levels, and then do a guided mindfulness session in the Fitbit app, and then follow up with a scan after the session, so you can gauge your progress over time and reflect on your emotional state.

Not only this, but the Sense watch now has a new Stress Management Score to help you understand how other factors, such as heart rate, sleep and activity level, affect how you respond to stress. The new feature in the Fitbit app will offer ways to help you calm your stress levels, whilst a new mindfulness feature in the app will also allow people to set goals and reminders on building mindfulness techniques into their daily routine. Fitbit Premium members can choose from meditation sessions from the likes of Aura and Ten Percent Happier.

The Fitbit Sense is available with a variety of bands
Fitbit

It’s all part of Fitbit’s plan to become a well-rounded companion to support your health and fitness needs. “Meditation is exercise for your mind,” explained Dr Helen Weng, assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioural sciences at the Osher Centre for Integrative Medicine, University of California in San Francisco. “Just like physical exercise, you need a consistent practice to cultivate your mental capacity for it. Finding a meditation practice that works for you is important for building long-term health and wellness benefits.”

The new Fitbit Sense also comes complete with the fitness features its customers have come to love and expect. It’s the first Fitbit to come with an ECG app, whilst it also features the company’s new PurePulse 2.0 technology which includes a new multi-path heart rate sensor and updated algorithm to facilitate Fitbit’s most advanced heart rate technology yet, to detect when your heart rate is outside your normal thresholds. As well, the new Active Zone Minutes tracking is included. Announced as part of the Charge 4 fitness band launch earlier this year, Active Zone Minutes tracks the workouts that get your heart pumping towards a weekly goal of 150 minutes.

The Fitbit Sense claims to have a battery life of around six days. Obviously using things like the always-on display mode, the ECG app, and EDA scan app will affect the time between charges, but six days is a long claim in the smartwatch world, particularly when most Apple Watch owners are used to charging their devices overnight and there are concerns the forthcoming sleep tracking features will be limited by the battery.

Design-wise, the new watch is made from lightweight aluminium and stainless steel, which houses a new larger AMOLED display — 1.58 inches compared to the 1.39-inch display found on last year's Versa 2 watch. There are two colours available, carbon graphite and lunar white gold, which can be customised with a variety of bands such as the Repreve recycled woven bands or different coloured sports bands. The inclusion of a faster processor means the display is more responsive with increased resolution and the user interface has been redesigned so it’s more intuitive to navigate your way around the watch.

The new Fitbit Sense is available to pre-order now on Fitbit.com and will be available for £299.99 in late September. Purchasing the watch comes with six months free access to Fitbit Premium, which then costs £7.99 a month or £79.99 a year.

Sense isn’t the only new wearable Fitbit has been working on. The company is releasing a new Versa 3 smartwatch, adding new health and fitness features, including an on-device GPS, the PurePulse 2.0 technology and Active Zone Minutes tracking. The Verse 3 comes in black aluminium, pink aluminium and soft gold aluminium.

The new Verse 3 adds features like Active Zone Minutes tracking
Fitbit

For those who prefer fitness bands to smartwatches, the new Fitbit Inspire 2 features the Active Zone Minutes tracking is a stylish, slim design. It also boasts the longest battery life of any Fitbit device, up to 10 days, and a year’s free trial of Fitbit Premium. The Inspire 2 is available in three colours, black, lunar white and desert rose, along with a variety of bands to match including the Horween leather bands, mesh bands or silicone ones.

The Versa 3 is available for £199, whilst the Inspire 2 is available for £89.99. Both devices are available to pre-order now from Fitbit.com, and will ship in late September, just like the Fitbit Sense.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in