Is 2026 the year we go screenless? It's looking to be that way with Google's release of the Fitbit Air, its Whoop competitor, available now. Whoop may have kick-started the screenless wristband craze, but Google is proving that an affordably priced health tracker can be just as commercially successful, especially if it's comfortable, useful, and long-lasting -- with its $100 price tag. 

Also: Fitbit Air vs. Whoop: I compared Google's screenless fitness tracker to the industry best

The Fitbit Air's announcement came with a few software updates, including an app name change from Fitbit to Google Health and the global launch of Google's Health Coach, the AI companion that powers the premium app experience. 

I've been testing the device over the past week as I've gone running, lifted weights, done yoga, and logged hours on the elliptical. I've asked the AI coach for help in planning my workout routine, understanding my recovery, and nutrition advice. After stress-testing the Fitbit Air, I'm well-positioned to tell you whether it's a worthy buy. Spoiler alert: it absolutely is. 

Your experience with the Fitbit Air will differ depending on whether you're subscribed to Google Health Premium. The bulk of the Fitbit Air's functions are the same across tiers, but some in-app features, like logging a meal by messaging the AI coach, are slightly more seamless in the membership tier. 

Out of the box, the $100 Fitbit Air comes in four colorways: lavender, berry, obsidian, and fog (a blue-gray). It's a thin band that takes up less space around my wrist than my Whoop or Apple Watch. It's also lighter. 

Also: I compared the best smartwatches by Google and Samsung - here's how Pixel wins out

It has an optical heart rate monitor, three-axis accelerometer and gyroscope, SpO2 monitoring sensors, a temperature sensor, and a vibration motor (used for Fitbit Air's wake-up alarm). It doesn't have a GPS for location tracking, but since it's a screenless device, the Fitbit Air uses your phone's location monitoring instead. If you want to log a phone-free run around the block, you'll have to use one of Google's other devices (like its Pixel Watch).

Fitbit Air's screenless design allows it to foster a healthier relationship with activity tracking. I love my Apple Watch, but it's made me a little obsessed with getting my steps in, thanks to the constant reminders of my activity goals on the screen. A screenless tracker, on the other hand, is far less invasive; with all the data housed in the app, I can check when I want to. 

Out of all the wearables I've tested, this one blended into nice outfits the best. On the flip side, when I was working out, I would find myself glancing at the band out of habit, checking my heart rate zones or calories burned, only to realize I'd have to dig into my app to find them. 

The battery lasts around a week. I began wearing the device on a Saturday morning, and by the following Saturday morning, its battery was around 20%. Not too bad, right? 

Also: This minimalist fitness tracker is a refreshing alternative (with no subscription)

You can log a variety of activities through the Google Health app, whether you're trail running, practicing Bikram yoga, or doing ballet. It displays your overall cardio load, calories burned, and heart rate as you log an exercise. On the Google Health home screen, you'll see a weekly cardio load (adjusted each week based on your activity goals and habits), sleep, steps, and a recovery score. 

I like having the weekly target front and center -- it serves as a nice exercise pacer. I know when to ramp up my cardio during a slower week, or rest on the weekends if I've already jam-packed the front of my week with runs and high-intensity workouts. 

Because you can't view any exercise data on the device, it would be nice to have certain metrics, like calories burned, steps, or heart rate zones, available on display on your phone's home screen. This is currently missing from Google Health, but I'd love to see it in a future update for easier viewing. 

I'd also like to use the Google Health Coach while logging a workout, say, to ask it to convert 16kg to pounds or to swap one arm exercise for another during my upper body strength training. 

Also: I wore the Whoop 5.0 for a month - it combines the best of the Oura Ring and Apple Watch

The device is still designed for a mainstream fitness audience -- not so much a premium, longevity- and biohacking-obsessed audience to which Whoop caters. It's also priced accordingly. Without the $100 annual Google Health subscription, the Fitbit Air costs $100. In contrast, annual Whoop subscriptions start at $200, with the highest "medical grade" tier at $360. 

Google's AI at the core 

The Google Health app (formerly known as Fitbit) delivers the bulk of the basic health-tracking mechanisms, and if you want to freestyle by exporting your weight training data from another app, that's available to you in the Google Health Coach chat through the additional Google Health subscription. 

The membership and access to Google Health Coach elevated the Fitbit Air for me. Instead of digging through tabs to log my nutrition or add notes to my strength training session, I'd simply chat with the Health Coach to do these things instead. I log and track all my weight-training data through an app called Fitbod. While testing the Fitbit Air, I wanted to add the exercises from that app to the Fitbit Air, so I screenshotted the sets and reps, uploaded them through Health Coach, and the AI handled the rest. 

Also: Are AI health coach subscriptions a scam? My verdict after testing Fitbit's for a month

The first time I tried this, it didn't work because when I looked back into that session, I didn't see any of the exercises I shared with the Coach. The second time I tried it, though, my exercises were indeed logged. 

The AI is also good at nutrition tracking. You don't need to search through complex product databases for the right brand of yogurt you're eating; you can just give it the details, like "a single serving of 5% Fage Greek yogurt", and it records it all for me.

Just be aware that I've seen the AI hallucinate, as AI tends to do. For example, one night it mentioned a 52-minute elliptical session I had done that morning. But I didn't exercise that day (unless it confused my ten-minute coffee walk with a 52-minute elliptical session). 

When I asked a Google spokesperson about this issue, they explained that the Coach is designed to spot patterns but can sometimes connect dots that aren't there. "We put our Coach through rigorous evaluations - every time a mistake like this is flagged, we turn it into a strict new test question that the AI must pass before we release new updates to the app. 

Also: Health is Tim Cook's defining legacy - and your Apple Watch proves it

This is a continuous process, so our system gets smarter, safer, and more accurate every day," a Google spokesperson told ZDNET. If any presented datapoint or fact looks off, a Google spokesperson recommended asking the Coach, "Are you sure?" or from where the Coach got the data. This makes the Coach redo its work. 

These helpful, seamless touches available through the Health Coach provide a holistic activity and wellness-tracking experience for the Fitbit Air. The Health Coach helps me further understand the data Fitbit Air is already collecting, and in doing so, encourages me to ask it more questions or use it in new ways. 

ZDNET's buying advice 

The subscription-free tier and the Google Health Premium tier are a perfect example of a company knowing exactly how to sell its products to different groups. The Fitbit Air fits the bill as an affordably priced fitness tracker, with the option to customize and enhance the experience through a subscription. 

It's lightweight, thin, unobtrusive, and as stylish as a fitness tracker can get (something I can't say about almost every smartwatch I wear). Plus, it lasts a week on a charge, and it's only $100 -- inexpensive compared to the competition. 

Also: I tracked 3,000 steps on my Apple Watch, Google Pixel, and Oura Ring - this one was most accurate

The device is the platonic ideal for people leaning into fitness and health tracking who don't quite need a flashy screen around their wrist. Once they fully adopt the device, wear it for a few months, and dig deeper into activity tracking, I can see these users getting a lot out of the Health Coach and adding on that annual subscription. 

Why the Fitbit Air gets an Editors' Choice award

It's priced affordably and good for first-time users or anyone flirting with step-counting and sleep-tracking. That said, it'll also do well on the wrist of someone who has tracked their health for years and wants a lightweight, discreet alternative to a smartwatch (with a seven-day battery life). 

Its AI Health Coach enhances the device by connecting patterns, completing tasks, and answering health questions, and I quite like that people can pay more for it without being automatically roped into a monthly subscription.