Google has opened the floodgates on asking 3rd party companies to release Fitbit Air accessories, bands, and anything else you can think of to put the little Fitbit Pebble in (which is what the pod of the Fitbit Air is officially called).
This will enable companies to create 3rd-party bands/straps of all varieties, similar to what we’ve seen for other companies. However, unlike other companies, Google is just putting the specs out there and mostly saying “go forth!”. Hopefully, that ‘forth’ results in a bicep band ASAP.
Google’s page on the topic is basically split into five sections:
1) General life-guidance on designing bands that humans want to wear
2) Branding things to not make Google upset (don’t call it “Google Fitbit Air Wannabe Whoop Clasp”)
3) A link to the actual CAD drawings (PDF file)
4) A list of technical rules to keep in mind (basically, don’t block the sensor, and release retention thresholds)
5) A list of policy rules around materials that Google has (e.g., lead-free, no PFAS, etc…)
Most of the things Google lists in those rules all make sense/etc… The PDF itself basically has three pages that show the pod from different sides, and then all the dimensions.
That said, I do find two things mildly notable. I’d assumed they’d have simply included/attached the actual CAD files, rather than the PDF’s. And secondly, I note at the bottom, they left the Google Confidential bits. Also, I feel like the ‘Not to Scale’ piece probably doesn’t belong here either.
In any case, hopefully, this quickly opens the door to cheap bicep bands galore!
Now, that said, if someone wants to create a combo Apple Watch fabric band + Fitbit Air holder on the opposite side, I’m all ears. The same goes for any other combination of bands. I like having long-term platform data on multiple devices (though I generally only do accuracy testing on proper straps/placements). So minimizing the number of straps I have to wear would be handy. Just throwing that out there.
With that – thanks for reading!
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