Fitbit is branching into tech for monitoring chronic health issues

Ever wanted your Fitbit to track your medical conditions? Soon it may be able to, as the company has announced it's bought Twine Health and may absorb its features soon.

Twine Health is a coaching platform for health that allows you to monitor chronic conditions as well as enact what it calls "lifestyle interventions".

The chronic conditions cover diabetes, hypertension and other health afflictions, while the "lifestyle interventions" are ways to help you quit smoking, improve your fitness or just lose weight.

Extra Fitbit benefits

The introduction of this new platform into Fitbit's app and service would mean the company can expand its health offerings, while also combining it with its weight loss plans.

Exactly how Twine Health will integrate with Fitbit is unclear. There's already the Fitbit Premium service that offers personalized training alongside video workouts and audio coaching, so the company may bring its Twine Health features into that service.

The company is used to buying other firms and bringing its tech on board under the Fitbit banner - the Pebble acquisition was a big part of the Fitbit Ionic - so hopefully the process will be smooth.

It's expected the deal will be finished in March of this year, so don't expect to see any new plans or functionality from Twine Health within the Fitbit service for at least a few months, if ever.

Via Engadget

James Peckham

James is Managing Editor for Android Police. Previously, he was Senior Phones Editor for TechRadar, and he has covered smartphones and the mobile space for the best part of a decade bringing you news on all the big announcements from top manufacturers making mobile phones and other portable gadgets. James is often testing out and reviewing the latest and greatest mobile phones, smartwatches, tablets, virtual reality headsets, fitness trackers and more. He once fell over.