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I Used Fitbit's AI for a Week, and I've Never Had a Worse Fitness Coach

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  Published in Health and Fitness on Wednesday, November 5th 2025 at 11:49 GMT by Lifehacker

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I Used Fitbit’s AI for a Week and I’ve Never Had a Worse Coach

When Fitbit announced its new AI‑powered coaching feature, the hype was palpable. “Personalized guidance, smarter workouts, and a virtual coach that learns from your data,” the company promised. It sounded like the perfect solution for people who want a concierge‑style fitness experience without the cost of a human trainer. My week with the AI coach, however, proved that the technology was still a rough draft in disguise.

The Setup

After upgrading to Fitbit Premium, the AI Coach feature was automatically enabled on my wrist‑bound device. The first thing it did was ask a series of questions: how many hours I slept, how many steps I’d taken the previous day, my heart‑rate variability, and even my mood (selected from a simple “good,” “okay,” or “bad” dropdown). The answers were fed into a proprietary algorithm that generated a daily “Readiness Score” – a number that supposedly reflected how fit my body was for activity that day.

Every morning, the watch chimed with a gentle “Good morning, Alex!” followed by a brief summary: “Your Readiness Score is 55. Let’s keep it low‑intensity today.” The AI then suggested a “Low‑Intensity Cardio” routine: a 15‑minute walk at a brisk pace, paired with a 5‑minute breathing exercise.

The Problems

1. Harsh, One‑Size‑Fits‑All Recommendations
   The AI’s “low‑intensity” routine meant a target heart‑rate zone of 60‑70% of my maximum. For a user with a mild knee arthralgia, that was more than a mild jog. The watch ignored my injury history and gave me a routine that aggravated pain. The “coach” didn’t ask if I was experiencing discomfort or if I wanted to swap a cardio session for a light strength workout. The tone was not just blunt; it was unempathetic: “You’re not getting any progress unless you push through.”

2. Inaccurate Data Interpretation
   The Readiness Score is calculated in part from heart‑rate variability (HRV). After a bad night of sleep, my HRV dipped, and the AI capped my entire day’s activity to “light” even though I was otherwise fit. The coach didn’t factor in my recent performance streak or my self‑reported fatigue level. Consequently, I spent two days following sub‑optimal workouts, leading to plateauing instead of improvement.

3. Pushy Reminders and Over‑Notification
   The watch pinged me every 30 minutes during my “low‑intensity” walk, reminding me to keep my pace. If I fell behind, it sent a “slowing down. Try to keep up!” message. After a 15‑minute walk, I still received a “you’re not exercising enough” notification, followed by an alert that I could “add 5 more minutes.” The constant prompts felt more like a nagging coach than a supportive ally.

4. Unrealistic Weight‑Loss Promises
   When I logged a few meals in the companion app, the AI scrolled a list of “recommended meals” with the tagline: “You can lose 2 lbs per week with this diet.” That was a blanket statement that ignored my caloric needs, macronutrient preferences, and the fact that my current diet was already balanced. The AI didn’t ask if I had any food allergies or whether I wanted to adjust portion sizes.

5. Lack of Transparency
   The AI would reference its “machine‑learning model” as the source of its suggestions but didn’t provide any explanation of how a particular recommendation was derived. When I queried the algorithm in the app’s help section, the response was generic: “Our AI is constantly learning from your data.” There was no way to view the underlying logic or adjust parameters.

The Bigger Picture

Fitbit’s AI Coach is built on the same data streams that power the company’s sleep score, daily readiness score, and workout recommendations. The idea is that a machine can synthesize these metrics to produce a coaching narrative. The underlying technology involves a neural network trained on millions of user interactions, which can flag trends and suggest adaptations. However, the translation from data to human‑like empathy remains incomplete.

The article also cites interviews with Fitbit product lead Shashank Gopal, who explained that the AI is a “living experiment.” It’s intended to evolve as users provide feedback, but the early version is understandably flawed. Fitbit’s blog on the AI Coach mentions that the feature is still beta, and users can opt out of the “virtual coach” through the settings menu. That option was only available in the Android app; the iOS interface still nudged users to “turn on” the AI.

Comparatively, other fitness apps such as MyFitnessPal and Strava rely on community feedback and simpler algorithms. Those platforms provide more granular control over workouts, allowing users to set their own intensity and duration. Fitbit’s AI, in contrast, tends to enforce a preset framework.

Lessons Learned

After a week of dealing with an overzealous, misinformed virtual coach, I decided to disable the AI feature entirely. The experience highlighted several key takeaways for users and developers alike:

• Personalization Must Extend Beyond Numbers. A coach that ignores injury history or user preferences will fail to inspire adherence.
• Transparency Builds Trust. If users understand why a recommendation is made, they are more likely to follow it or respectfully decline.
• Human‑Touch is Irreplaceable. Even the most advanced algorithm cannot substitute the motivational nuance that a trained trainer brings.
• Feedback Loops Are Essential. The AI must be able to learn from user corrections—if a suggested workout is too hard, the system should adapt, not persist.

Fitbit’s AI Coach is an ambitious attempt to bring artificial intelligence to everyday fitness. The first iteration, however, reminds us that the human element remains irreplaceable. If you’re a Fitbit Premium subscriber wondering whether the AI is worth the extra cost, consider testing it in “beta” mode and be ready to turn it off if it feels more like a nag than a coach.