Nike finally Just Did It: FuelBand comes to Android

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Better late than never! Two years after it launched on iOS, Nike has finally gotten around to releasing an Android version of the Nike+ FuelBand app, making Nike wrist-based fitness tracker and activity monitor available to those without an iPhone.

The app functions with the company’s FuelBand SE wristband. It links to the online Nike+ profile, which periodically updates with the user’s score from the device, courtesy of its Bluetooth 4.0 connection. Users have the option of setting and updating daily goals from inside the app. There’s also an activity function for reminding you about specific activities, as well as a scoreboard that lets users match up with others in their social network.

The app is compatible with Android Jelly Bean 4.3 and higher, and supports a handful of handsets — including the Samsung Galaxy S3, Galaxy S4, and Galaxy S5, alongside the HTC One, Nexus 5 and the Moto X. It’s an English-only app, too, and is available in the U.S., UK., Canada, Germany and Japan Play Store now at the link below.

Of course, it may be too little, too late. While Android users may finally be able to use the FuelBand with Android devices, this comes after the news that Nike has laid off most of its FuelBand hardware team, reportedly shelving plans for a future slimmer iteration of the wristband. Nike will instead focus its efforts on software that can be incorporated into smartphone technology, which has grown more useful as sensors have improved in recent years.

While that could mean fitness-tracking apps for future Android phones, there are also reports that Nike could end up teaming with Apple for its long-awaited iWatch — particularly since Apple’s Tim Cook serves on the board at Nike.

Source: Google Play