News

A New Look, Upgraded Fitbit App Will Arrive Later This Year

The new overhaul will include a streamlined, minimalistic design that will match upcoming Pixel Watch 2 watch faces.

Published

3 years ago

August 2, 2023

Nour Nasir

a new look upgraded fitbit app will arrive later this year

Google

Fitbit has announced an updated version of its app that will be released later this year. The new design will focus on essential health and wellness metrics while receiving a usability makeover.

A select group of Fitbit users has been chosen to test the app before its official release, with feedback from their experiences helping the company to meet customer expectations and needs.

One of the most significant changes comes in the form of a three-tab “Today”, “Coach”, and “You” layout. The aim is to help users easily achieve their daily goals, access motivational content, and review personal achievements. In addition, it’s now easier to log steps, exercise duration, and water intake on a smartphone so that users can track their goals even without a Fitbit device.

Fitbit’s design refresh includes a new color palette, updated photography, and illustrations, plus updated icons. In addition, the company has implemented Google Material Design standards, ensuring the new app remains intuitive and user-friendly.

Also Read: A Guide To Digital Payment Methods In The Middle East

Because Fitbit is now backed by Google, the new app will also deliver an easier-to-understand privacy experience featuring unified controls to manage Fitbit data and permissions. It’s also worth noting that Fitbit health and wellness data won’t be used for Google ads and will be kept entirely separate from the search giant’s data collection practices.

It’s clear that the Fitbit refresh is part of Google’s groundwork for the upcoming Pixel Watch 2, which is expected to launch later this year alongside the Pixel 8 smartphone.

News

Visa’s Return To Syria Starts With A Test And A Bank In Lebanon

Foreign visitors will be the first users to benefit, but whether Syria’s own banks and cardholders follow is still an open question.

Published

2 days ago

August 27, 2026

Dana Saadeh

visa's return to syria starts with a test and a bank in lebanon

Visa is returning to Syria. Its first live international card transaction in the country was a test rather than a launch, and the milestone event ran through a Lebanese bank.

The acquirer (the bank on the merchant’s side of a card payment) was Fransabank Lebanon, with Paymera as the other named partner. Nadim Moujaes, who heads a Fransabank Group subsidiary, describes the test as both the culmination of “longstanding efforts to link Syria back to international payment networks” and “the first step in a larger path”.

Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa makes the first electronic payment in Syria using a @Visa card at a store in Damascus, following the lifting of US sanctions on Syria. pic.twitter.com/lpAN7nQ6Fc

— Tech Magazine (@TechMGZN) August 27, 2026

“We are excited to have successfully tested live transactions today as we plan to enable international visitors to use their Visa cards while in Syria,” says Leila Serhan, Visa’s senior vice president and group country manager for the North Africa, Levant and Pakistan region. Although a significant first step, that plan doesn’t come with a hard date for when a visitor’s card will work normally.

Mohammed Safwat Raslan, governor of the Central Bank of Syria, says the test paves the way for international card acceptance in Syria and that maintaining strong compliance, risk management and operational controls will remain essential. Serhan likewise stresses that Visa has worked within applicable legal, regulatory and compliance requirements. For a test transaction, it seems there was a great deal of attention paid to the rules, with the entire operation being carefully managed.

Also Read: Lebanon’s 5G Era Begins With 150 Stations And A $1M Budget

The test is the latest step in a sequence that began in December 2025, when Visa announced a strategic roadmap to support Syria’s integration into the global digital economy. In February 2026 it hosted its first industry gathering of banks, ecosystem partners and policymakers in Damascus and, the same month, signed an agreement with Syria’s Ministry of Communications and Information Technology in San Francisco.

Michel Kattouah, Paymera’s CEO, called the test “the return of international card acceptance,” but while that’s positive news, there’s no word yet on when a Syrian bank will issue a Visa card to a Syrian customer.