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Meta’s Hidden Face-Recognition Tool for Smart Glasses Found Inside AI App

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Meta has repeatedly said it has not launched face recognition for its smart glasses. But a WIRED analysis found that much of the technology needed to make such a feature work has already been placed inside the company’s live Meta AI app, which has been downloaded more than 50 million times. The system, internally called “NameTag,” appears designed to identify people seen through Meta’s smart glasses and alert the wearer when a face is recognized.

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Fitbit Air Launch Stumbles As Google Health App Backlash Grows

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Google’s Fitbit Air officially launches today, marking the company’s first new Fitbit device in years. But for some early users, the debut has already been complicated by a frustrating setup problem.

A handful of customers who received the screenless fitness tracker ahead of the wider rollout have reported trouble pairing the device with their smartphones. The issue appears to have affected Android users in particular, with some encountering an “app update required” message when attempting to connect the tracker.

The problem stems from certain Android devices not yet having access to version 5.0 of the Google Health app, which is needed to support the Fitbit Air. While the device is only just beginning to reach customers, the early complaints have already sparked a broader discussion on Reddit.

An official Google employee responded that the company is working to speed up the Android app rollout.

“We are doing our best today to accelerate the rollout of the updated app on Android via Play to accommodate early deliveries, and it should be available shortly. Anyone on iOS should be able to update via the App Store already.”

Some users in the Reddit thread said they were able to get around the problem by side-loading the Google Health app. Still, the expectation is that Google will have a more permanent fix in place before the Fitbit Air reaches most customers who pre-ordered the tracker.

The launch-day issue comes at a significant moment for Fitbit. The Fitbit Air is Google’s first new entry in the Fitbit line in several years, and its screenless design has immediately invited comparisons to the Whoop Strap 5.0, another wearable built around health and fitness tracking rather than smartwatch-style notifications or display features.

Price is one of the biggest differences between the two devices. At $99.99, the Fitbit Air is positioned as a much cheaper alternative to the Whoop Strap, which requires a minimum annual subscription costing at least $199 before the device can be used at all.

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The Fitbit Air does have its own optional subscription component through Google Health Premium, but Google is not requiring that paid tier for the tracker’s core features. Instead, the subscription is built around extras such as Health Coach, Google’s new AI-powered personal trainer, which can help users build workout routines, track calorie intake and manage other fitness goals.

The transition became official on May 26, when Google moved users away from the old Fitbit app after months of previews and beta testing. While the change had been announced in advance, some longtime users appeared caught off guard when the familiar Fitbit experience was replaced by the newer Google Health interface.

The backlash has quickly spilled into the Google Play Store, where users have posted large numbers of one-star reviews criticizing the redesigned app. Many complaints focus on inaccurate sleep and workout tracking, missing or harder-to-find data, bugs, layout changes and the app’s more prominent use of AI features.

That emphasis on AI appears to be one of the more sensitive parts of the rollout. Some users have criticized Google for giving AI-powered summaries and coaching tools a prominent place in the app while basic fitness-tracking features still feel less reliable or harder to access than they were in Fitbit.

One recent reviewer objected to how much space the AI assistant appears to take up in the app.

“Why is the biggest button on the screen for AI questions? You’re a fitness app; the biggest button should be to add an activity. Stay in that lane.”

There currently appears to be no official way to revert to the old Fitbit app, and some reviewers have said they are considering canceling subscriptions or switching to rival fitness-tracking platforms.

Version 5.0 is part of a wider cleanup effort aimed at improving tracking, summaries, data reliability and how fitness information appears in the app. But for some users, the fixes may not be coming fast enough.

The company’s roadmap includes several workout-related repairs, including fixes for runs that were incorrectly appearing as general workouts, the addition of run splits to workout summaries, faster map loading and easier access to maps after exercises. Google is also working on export reliability, including TCX export issues tied to Fitbit Air, connected GPS and workouts recorded across multiple devices or linked apps.

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Sleep and nutrition tracking are also being targeted. Planned updates include fixes for missing Sleep Scores, a 24-hour sleep view that combines main sleep and naps, and changes that make naps easier to find across current and previous days. Nutrition fixes are expected to address duplicate logs when the same third-party app is connected in multiple ways, handle meal-type issues from MyFitnessPal, Cronometer, and LoseIt, and address over-reported energy burn for Pixel Watch users.

Google is also refining Health Coach, the controversial AI-powered feature included with Google Health Premium. Planned changes include shorter, more visual messages in the Today tab, improved instruction recall, fewer unnecessary non-answers, and expanded logging support through Ask Coach.

The Reddit discussion also gave users a rare chance to ask Google directly about future Google Health features. One user asked whether data collected by Google Health would eventually be able to sync with Apple Health and Apple Fitness. The same Google representative confirmed that support for that feature is on the way.

That Apple Health integration appears to be part of a broader push toward more advanced data sharing, with Google’s roadmap also referencing Smart Health Links for medical records and support for tools such as command line interfaces and AI skills. Those additions could make Google Health a more ambitious hub for fitness, nutrition, sleep and medical information, but they also raise the stakes for getting the basics right first.

For longtime Fitbit users, the app’s ability to correctly label a run, show accurate sleep data, preserve workout history and avoid duplicate nutrition logs may matter just as much as its newer AI features.

For now, Google’s most urgent task is getting Android users past the setup screen. If the app update reaches users quickly, the early pairing problem may remain a small launch-day stumble. But the larger test will come over the next several weeks, as Google tries to prove that the Fitbit Air’s rough start is part of a broader reset rather than a sign of deeper trouble in the Fitbit-to-Google Health transition.

Apple Watch

Wearable Tech Looks Well Set To Dominate Health Provision

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In 2018, the wearable technology market was worth approximately $23 billion and is likely to grow to $54 billion by 2023, witnessing a compound annual growth rate of 19%, according to GlobalData forecasts.

Wearables have been adopted in a wide range of fields but have perhaps their greatest potential in healthcare. They could be used to address spiraling costs, ageing populations, and the burden of chronic disease. Let’s take a look at some of the wearable health tech key developments.

Smartwatches in 2018 accounted for nearly 60% of the overall wearables market, according to GlobalData figures, mostly attributed to the remarkable performance of Apple Watches, Xiaomi-backed Huami’s Amazfit, and Fitbit Versa.

The growing inclination of consumers to access smartphone-like features from a watch remains the primary driver. Supplementing this factor, technological improvements such as seamless body integration, health and fitness information accessibility, and modular aesthetics are key stimulants for smartwatch adoption.

With improving adoption rate in the mature markets, GlobalData estimates over 10% of the adult population in the US will adopt smartwatches in 2019. Competition in the segment is vastly increasing.

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Moving away from purely fitness tracking, the segment is witnessing a significant surge in disease-specific functionality smartwatches, such as the medical-grade Embrace2 smartwatch by Empatica, enabling continuous monitoring of sweat levels detecting the onset of epileptic seizures with an accuracy of 98%, according to its validation studies.

While it is known that the smartphone component ecosystem played a critical role in getting the first wearables to market, the next wave of innovation is being driven by purpose-built silicon. Not only is Apple building unique processors and sensors into the Apple Watch, but the company is also using its own chips for implementation of Bluetooth in AirPod wireless headphones. Samsung is using its own Exnyos SoC for the Galaxy Watch, and Huawei has two custom chips in the Watch GT.

In 2018’s fourth quarter, Fitbit derived 79% of its revenue from sales of smartwatches, while its fitness trackers segment contributed nominally. For the full year, 44% of Fitbit’s revenue came from smartwatches, up from 8% in 2017. Garmin reported that the 25% growth in its outdoor segment during quarter four 2018 was possible “with significant contributions from adventure watches”.

Meanwhile, eye-wear is getting smarter thanks to augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR). Despite the initial failure of Google Glass in commercial markets, it has maintained its position in healthcare and is a common feature in many teaching hospitals as a surgical training and assistance tool.

Continuous investment from tech giants to develop and utilize AR and VR beyond the known areas of application, coupled with surging demand from enterprises, is propelling the growth of smart glasses. From first-person imaging to enhanced turn-wise directions, facial recognition and health sensing, AR is driving the penetration of smart glasses into multiple areas of the internet-connected society.

Then there are ear-worn devices. The dramatic surge in interest for combining hearing aids with entertainment attributes resulted in the inception of smart ear-wear, or “hearables”, over the past three to four years.

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While the market remains in the early adoption phase, hearables offer infinite possibilities in the areas of healthcare and fitness. From heart rate measurements to sleep monitoring, steps and calories tracking, and brain waves analysis, hearables perform a variety of functions. The integration of Amazon’s Alexa, Apple’s Siri, Google Assistant, and IBM’s Watson is making hearables smarter.

Virtual assistants support the user as a “wise friend” by reading messages and weather updates, suggesting best sleep positions or cardio moves, translating a foreign language in real-time, and communicating with other smart devices, among others—all through voice control.

Tech firms such as Apple, Google, and Samsung, among others, are harnessing the appeal and utility factors of these sensor-laden devices to the end consumers, with several other firms already entering with bio-metric sensors such as Jabra, LifeBeam and Vinci.

According to a survey by the World Economic Forum, 92.1% of corporate leaders believe that 10% of people will wear internet-connected garments by 2025. The market for smart clothing is in the initial experimental stages with few products, including NadiX yoga leggings, Sensoria socks, Ambiotex smart shirts, and Supa Bras, available commercially.

In addition to sports and fitness, smart clothes are also being demanded in the healthcare and defense sectors, where continuous monitoring of body activities is of utmost importance.

As digital capabilities have improved, these formerly simple devices have evolved to facilitate more complex functions while being thin and flexible from being manufactured using nano-materials, flexible electronic technologies, and sensors. Consequently, the definition of “skin adhesive patches” is broadening to include smart technologies allowing connectivity with IoT devices.

GlobalData expects that miniaturization and lowered costs of development will create a surge for wearable sensors in healthcare, causing considerable market growth.