Fitbit founders are back with a $250 wearable, but it’s not for counting steps

TL;DR Fitbit co-founders James Park and Eric Friedman have launched a new wearable device called Luffu Link. It’s a $249.99 screenless health and safety band designed for family care. The LTE-connected band tracks health metrics, records voice notes, shares location, and can contact trusted people without a phone nearby. Fitbit co-founders James Park and Eric Friedman have launched a new wearable, but this time, it’s not focused on counting steps.The duo has launched a device called Luffu Link, a screenless health and safety band designed to help families keep track of their loved ones. It’s the first hardware product from Luffu, a company that Park and Friedman launched earlier this year.Park and Friedman founded Fitbit in 2007 before it was eventually acquired by Google in 2019. This time, though, the co-founders are taking a different approach to health technology.Luffu’s idea came partly from their experiences as caregivers, and from seeing that most health technology is designed for individuals, even though health and care often involve an entire family.What does Luffu Link do?Liffu says the screenless band combines health tracking with safety and communication features. It can track activity, sleep, and heart rate, while letting users record symptoms, medications, meals, mood, and reminders by voice.It also has GPS and LTE, allowing it to share a user’s location and contact trusted people even when their phone isn’t nearby. A double press can send a check-in to selected family members, while the wearer can request help through the device. LTE service is included without a separate carrier plan.Luffu says the band can last up to five days on a charge. It will be available in Halo Gold, Onyx Black, and Sterling Blue.Link is just the first device of Luffu’s larger plan. The company’s phone app is designed to bring a family’s health and safety information together in one place, with AI helping organize the data, identify patterns, and surface important changes.Luffu says families will control what information is shared and with whom. The company also says Link only records voice when the wearer presses and holds its main button.The Luffu app is currently in public beta and is expected to become broadly available in the US later this year.Meanwhile, the company is also developing a home device to help families coordinate care across multiple households. There are no details available about this device for now, but Luffu has promised that more details will arrive later this year.Thank you for being part of our community. Read our Comment Policy before posting.