Fitbit has received approval from the US Food and Drug Authority (FDA) for a new algorithm that can detect signs of irregular heartbeats throughout the day and quickly alert you to potential problems.
As TechCrunch reports (opens in a new tab), the validation was partly the result of a 2020 heart study (opens in a new tab), which followed 450 people for five months and found that Fitbit's technology is 000% as effective as a specially designed ECG patch in detecting episodes of atrial fibrillation (opens in a new tab).
Both the Fitbit Charge 5 and Fitbit Sense have electrocardiogram (ECG) sensors that can detect signs of atrial fibrillation, but only when you activate the appropriate app on the watch and keep your fingers on the case for one minute.
The app can't diagnose heart conditions, but if it detects a potential problem, it can generate a report that you can share with your doctor. However, this is something most people don't take the time to do on a regular basis and only catch irregularities that appear during the short time a scan is running.
The new algorithm eliminates the need to take time out of your day to perform analysis. Instead, your Fitbit will perform self-checks at regular intervals (approximately every two hours, depending on your activity level) without any manual intervention. If it detects an abnormality, the watch will perform several additional scans to confirm it and then display an alert.
When is it coming?
We learned that Fitbit applied for FDA approval in March, and now that it's been given the green light, the company may release a watch with passive ECG monitoring in the US. You'll still need approval in other countries to roll it out globally, but as we've seen in the past, the company often releases new devices with temporarily blocked sensors in certain regions rather than wait for consent from international regulators.
However, we do not expect this to be a firmware update. Although the Fitbit Sense and Charge 5 have ECG sensors, they're not in constant contact with the skin, so we highly doubt they'll support passive ECG monitoring. However, you may not have to wait long before you can upgrade to a watch with the necessary hardware requirements.
In fact, passive ECG monitoring is perhaps the most notable feature of the Fitbit Sense 2, which we expect to arrive around August of this year.
Earlier this month, references to three new devices appeared in the installation files for the official Fitbit mobile app. Two of them (codenamed Hera and Rhea) appear to have square screens with the same resolution as the Fitbit Sense and Versa 3, while the third (codenamed Nyota) is rectangular, like the Fitbit Inspire 2. Three devices were released simultaneously in 2020, so it makes sense that Fitbit would also launch its successors at the same time.
We're keeping an eye on news about all three watches and will update you as soon as we know more.