ibitz fitness tracking for the family gets the kids moving

Health and fitness were front and centre at CES, with a whole area of the show floor dedicated to e-health solutions and appcessories. One product that captured our eye was the ibitz. This tiny little unit can be worn on your waist or your shoe and will track steps, distance and calories burned.

The unit itself that you wear is called the “ibitz PowerKey” which is a water resistant activity tracker that keeps 30 days history of your movement and activity on board and syncs wirelessly with your smartphone so you can see your progress on screen.

This is nothing dramatically new. It sounds remarkably similar to both the Fitbit and the BodyMedia Fit. What I love about this is the two separate apps that are available for it.

For adults you get a complex tracking app which logs and monitors your progress with graphs and statistics as you would expect. However, with the kids ibitz Power Key and app, the whole experience is gamified.

Your child gets to play the “game” with a character of their own which they need to keep healthy with physical activity, healthy food and plenty of water. It’s a great way to get your kids engaged in understanding what is a healthy lifestyle but setting simple goals that can be achieved through exercise and movement.

Inside the device is a triple axis accelerometer, and a battery that will last one year.

Available in a huge range of colours, and priced around $35 for the kids version and $50 for the adults, I think this is a fantastic way to try and re-engage our kids in physical activity and exercise.