Fitbit adds Quick Replies to its smartwatch platform
The Ionic and Versa are also gaining apps to work with Dexcom's blood glucose monitors.
Fitbit isn't having a great time right now, and last week the company admitted that it had to swallow an $81 million loss over the last three months. But, with a growing smartwatch ecosystem, it's hoped that the pain will be short-lived, and that a slew of new tweaks will help turn things around.
Android users with an Ionic or Versa will soon gain Quick Replies, a list of five pre-populated messages that you can fire off to messaging apps. These include "Yes," "No," and "What's up?," although you can customize your own to suit your needs, they just need to be below 60 characters.
At the same time, the company is broadening its smartwatch platform to better enable it to work with healthcare focused smart devices. Much like the Apple Watch, Fitbit will soon let you run Dexcom's companion app for its continuous blood glucose monitors. Other names that have joined the program include Diplomat Pharmacy (Cancer), Fitabase, Go365 (Humana's wellness platform), Limeade, OneDrop and Walgreens.
This is all part of Fitbit's broader push to give its Ionic and Versa devices more purchase in the healthcare world, turning them into monitoring devices rather than simply fitness trackers. Not too long ago, Fitbit signed up with Google's Cloud for Healthcare, letting users share their stats with medical professionals. After all, if your local sawbones begins prescribing Fitbits, those double-digit losses might just evaporate.
Update: This article was edited to clarify that Dexcom will be available soon, not right now.
