Fitbit is rolling out the first update to Fitbit OS since launching it on the Ionic two months back. The launch software was pretty bare bones, but the new version brings a ton of new apps and watch faces, along with performance improvements.

Here's the changelog for the new update.

  • New apps from popular brands (including The New York Times, Uber, Yelp, and more) and developers across a variety of categories, such as Food & Drink, Games, Health & Fitness, Home and IOT, News, and Travel & Transit.
  • More than 100 clock faces to customize the look and feel of Ionic plus at-a-glance access to information like active minutes, heart rate, games, goal progress and more.
  • Introduction of Fitbit Labs, an initiative led by Fitbit’s Research and Development team that is focused on building unique apps and clock faces from the latest smart technologies and behavioral insights.
  • Partnership with Deezer, a personal streaming music service, to give Ionic users around the globe instant access to their favorite tunes right from their wrist (available in 2018).
  • At-a-glance access to your personal friend network with the new Fitbit Leaderboard app. See where you stack up against family, friends and coworkers as you motivate each other to reach your goals.
  • Enhancements such as faster touch interactions and updates to Fitbit Pay, including the introduction of multi-card payments directly on-device and expanded banks.

The expanded apps and watch faces will be a nice addition. There were no apps outside the pre-installed ones available at launch, so this update will finally open the door to more developers. There's Uber, Nest, Hue, and a ton more. There's Deezer music integration in this update as well, but it won't be fully operational until 2018.

A major issue I had with the Ionic when I reviewed it was sluggish performance. This update apparently addresses touch responsiveness, so it'll be interesting to see if it makes the watch less annoying to use. Fitbit Pay also gains support for more banks, but we don't have a full list yet.

The update is rolling out now in the Fitbit app—just tap the alert in your app and plug the watch in. Fitbit's updates do take some time, so grab a coffee or something while you wait.