I want Fitbit to copy Garmin’s health reports

I’ve always believed that more is better when it comes to health-tracking metrics. If I’m wearing a GPS watch all day and all night, I want to know what it’s picking up and how I can best use that to my advantage. And when I always have a Garmin on my wrist, I know exactly how much data I have to look forward to.

I know that I can tap into a Morning and an Evening Report on my Forerunner 970, and I’ve noticed that it’s made a few of my colleagues jealous. They have to watch as I check in on my steps, recovery, and upcoming workouts while they try to find their Morning Briefs that may or may not have populated. Since I know they’re not about to go out and buy Garmin watches themselves, I guess it’s time for Google to play copycat, and here’s why.

I know my colleagues love their Fitbits and their Pixel Watches — I like the Pixel Watch an awful lot, too. If I could get Garmin-level battery life out of its smooth, pebble-like design, I’d probably strap it on as my day-to-day wearable whenever I’m not running. However, I’ve also listened to them lament the same few issues over and over, usually surrounding the Morning Brief. Whether it’s a lack of data or a brief that’s flat-out missing in action, it always seems like something’s not quite right.

With Garmin, though, I know that my Morning and Evening reports are coming, whether I’ve been wearing my watch or not. Yes, they’re much more detailed if I’ve been wearing my Forerunner 970, adding a breakdown of my sleep and my recovery from a previous workout, but I still get a look at the weather, my upcoming workouts, and any calendar appointments I have to be on top of. If I’ve been wearing my watch, it’ll offer a much more detailed look at my HRV from the night before, a better recap of my training readiness, and might modify my recommended workout to account for residual fatigue.

Then, when it’s almost time for bed, it’s a case of same, same but different in the evening report. Instead of forecasting your day, it summarizes your activities and an estimate of just how much sleep you might need to get your Body Battery back on schedule. The evening report can also give you workout suggestions for the next day, including runs and bike rides, but if you’re in the middle of a Connect Plus-powered training plan (like I am), it will default to what’s on your schedule instead.

Perhaps what I like best about Garmin’s pair of reports is what I’ve hinted at already — like death, taxes, and the mailman, the reports always come in. As far as I’ve noticed, the Morning Report is ready a little bit before your scheduled wake-up time (in my case, around 7:00 AM), and it sticks around for about two hours after you’ve rolled out of bed. You can miss it if you’re not careful, but it’s much easier to check than I’ve heard about Fitbit’s Morning Brief.

The Evening Report gives you a similar window, popping up on your wrist about 90 minutes before your scheduled bedtime. Typically, that means I’m getting a reminder around 9:30 PM, which is also a pretty good reminder to wind down from my phone (or TV) for the night — even if I don’t actually listen. I’d be slightly curious to see whether Garmin’s Evening Report would change if it knew I was spending the night out with friends or staying up late watching a movie, but that’s usually reflected in the next day’s morning report anyway.

Yes, I know that Google has its Fitbit-powered Morning Brief. I’ve heard about it plenty from my colleagues, and they’ve said over and over again how much they’d like to use it, but that it’s just not consistent enough. That’s the part of this whole thing that I don’t understand. I trust my set of Nest Hubs and speakers to manage routines like the lights and temperature of my apartment, I trust my Pixel 9 Pro to know when I get home, and I trust my Pixel Buds Pro to connect to the correct device, why can’t I trust my watch to give me a morning report at a consistent time?

Timing aside, I’m just as surprised by the information that Google’s Morning Brief doesn’t include. As Kaitlyn pointed out, it doesn’t include calendar appointments or a detailed weather forecast, which are odd considering I trust Google Calendar with my life (basically) and Pixel Weather with my well-being (keeping me dry when I set off for a run). It feels like Google could add — or rather expand — both metrics within its Morning Brief without too much work and offer a much more complete look at my day.

Maybe it’s just me, and perhaps I’m too data-happy regarding Google, but I can’t say the current Morning Brief makes much sense. It’s being outdone by a Morning Report from a fitness company in terms of both regularity and detail, and Garmin’s Evening Report is just the icing on top. Unfortunately, it’s currently limited to just the Forerunner 570 and Forerunner 970, but I can easily see Garmin expanding its access shortly since neither wearable has any special hardware to support the brief.

Right now, my money is on Garmin rolling its Evening Report out to its entire lineup before Google bulks up its Brief, but that’s just my guess. For my colleagues’ sake, I hope I’m wrong.