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.

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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

Trip.com Is Betting An AI Agent Will Book Your Next Vacation

Abu Dhabi, Jazeera Airways and a run of hotel deals give the company more inventory. Its Mastercard demo says the most about where booking technology is headed.

Published

2 days ago

September 16, 2026

Nour Nasir

trip.com is betting an ai agent will book your next vacation

Most of what Trip.com Group announced at Arabian Travel Market 2026 this week reads like the standard expansion playbook of an online travel agency: a new agreement with a tourism board, a run of hotel partnerships, an airline deal. However, one item was considerably more interesting: a demonstration built with Mastercard of an AI agent that doesn’t just suggest trips but also pays for them.

trip.com tripgenie ai agent

The showcase put TripGenie, the company’s AI travel assistant, to work searching, selecting and completing purchases inside a single booking flow, with Mastercard’s Agent Suite for Merchants handling the payment step and Network International processing the transactions on the merchant side. It’s limited for now to attractions and ancillary services, but the partners plan a phased commercial rollout from early 2027.

“As traveller expectations change, technology and AI will play an increasingly important role in how people plan their journeys,” says Schubert Lou, CEO of Trip.com.

Meanwhile, in more conventional news, CEO Lou and Saleh Mohamed Al Geziry (Director General for Tourism at the Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi), signed an agreement building on the two organizations’ existing partnership, with joint marketing and Abu Dhabi destination content to be pushed across Trip.com Group’s platforms.

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On accommodation, the group expanded its partnerships with JA Hotels & Resorts, Ishraq Hospitality and Aleph Hospitality and deepened its work with Silkhaus, which brings vacation homes into a portfolio that has so far leaned on hotels. Jazeera Airways signed a strategic partnership intended to widen the Kuwaiti carrier’s reach and encourage earlier bookings, tied to Kuwait’s own tourism ambitions.

The company moved into a larger Dubai office earlier this year and describes its long-term aim as a two-way ecosystem: sending Middle East travelers abroad while drawing international visitors in.