What the Fitbit Air Does Before You Pay for Premium

Without a subscription, the Google Health app shows steps, heart rate, sleep score and stages, blood oxygen, heart rate variability, breathing rate, skin temperature changes, Cardio Load and a Readiness score. It also sends irregular rhythm notifications for signs of AFib, according to Google's product page. Google Health Premium adds the Health Coach built with Gemini, adaptive workout plans, detailed sleep insights, photo meal logging and a video workout library.

The Air includes three months of Premium, which then renews monthly unless you cancel. A year on the annual plan costs the same as the band, and Google One AI Pro and Ultra subscribers get Premium included, according to Android Authority's price report.

Blood pressure trends and insulin resistance trends are due on the Air later in October 2026, for Premium subscribers only. Pixel Watch 3, 4 and 5 owners get the blood pressure report without paying.

Android Authority found the coach useful during an illness, when it linked poor sleep and stress to a change in routine, but too eager the rest of the time. It kept telling the reviewer to prioritize recovery and kept returning to a knee injury mentioned once. The review concludes that the core Air works well without paying.

In Which?'s lab, resting heart rate came out a small fraction of the average error for smart rings, the other screenless option. Running heart rate was off by about a quarter of the fitness-tracker average and also beat the smartwatch average. Step counts on a walk were close.

With no GPS, the Air works out distance from steps, and its full-day distance error matched other fitness trackers at more than three times the error of GPS watches.

Android Authority called it "some of the best sleep tracking I've tested", because it told falling asleep apart from lying in bed scrolling and caught short naps and night wakeups. Workout heart rate was more mixed when compared with a chest strap and Google's Pixel Watch 4. A rowing session missed several peaks, and some runs lagged at sharp changes in intensity.

With nothing on the wrist to start a workout, the Air relies on automatic detection. Which? found it took 10 to 20 minutes to kick in and missed 10-minute sessions entirely.

Google's October 12, 2026 update raised the number of activities the Air recognizes on its own from 10 to 100, tennis, strength training, swimming and team sports among them, and uses location and routine to catch more, Notebookcheck reports. By default it records a workout only after 15 minutes, a minimum you can change in the app.

You can still start a session from the phone and use its GPS for a mapped run, Android Authority notes, which means carrying the phone. The Air can also broadcast heart rate to gym equipment and apps such as Peloton.

Google rates the battery at up to seven days. Which?'s lab ran it for 199 hours, more than eight days, and its reviewer got six to seven days of real wear with daily syncing. A full charge took just over an hour in the lab, quicker than Google's 90-minute figure, and Google says five minutes on the charger buys a day. Android Authority notes that the charger is proprietary and differs from the Pixel Watch charger.

The tracker weighs 5.2 g and the band brings it to 12 g, per Google's spec page, and both reviewers found it easy to forget during the day and in bed. Android Authority preferred the nylon band but found it unpleasant when wet. Google rates it water resistant to 50 m. Dry the band after a swim or a shower, Google advises, because a wet band is hard on the skin.

The Air pairs with Android 11 or later and iOS 16.4 or later through the Google Health app and needs a Google Account. It can run alongside a Pixel Watch. With no screen, there is no clock and no notification on the wrist.