Google Health’s first major post-redesign update is here, and it’s the kind of release that tells you a lot about how the app’s rollout has gone so far: a little rough, a little noisy, and in need of some serious housekeeping.
Version 5.01 is now starting to roll out on Android and iOS, bringing a long list of fixes across nutrition, fitness, sleep and general app behavior. Google says it’s the first of many improvements, which is probably a relief for anyone who opened the new Health app and immediately found a few things not quite behaving as they should.
The update is especially focused on the kinds of annoyances that make a fitness app feel unreliable. For food tracking, Google now lets users view and log previously created custom foods, with the ability to add new custom foods still on the way. It’s also added clearer guidance for setting macronutrient goals, plus better handling for meal logs pulled in from services such as MyFitnessPal, Cronometer and Lose It. If you’ve been bouncing data through Health Connect and Google Health at the same time, the app should now be less likely to duplicate or mislabel entries. On iOS, Google has also added default food names when Apple Health imports come through without one.
That matters more than it sounds. Food logging is one of those features that either quietly works in the background or becomes a daily irritation. The new charts should help too, with Google making nutrition and calorie views more consistent across the Today, Health and deep-dive screens.
Activity tracking gets a useful cleanup as well. Runs that were being mislabeled as other workout types should now show up correctly, and missing split data has been restored for affected summaries. GPS workout maps should also load more reliably, which is handy if you use your tracker for outdoor runs or rides. On iPhone, Google fixed a bug that could count steps twice when both Apple Health and Mobile Track were enabled. That’s the sort of error that can quietly ruin the credibility of an app fast.
Sleep tracking, one of the most heavily used parts of any wearable app, also gets attention. Some users had been missing sleep scores entirely, and that issue has now been addressed. Google also says it has fixed stale information in the Today feed on Android, which should make the app feel a bit less like it’s living in the past.
There are a few other practical repairs tucked in too: Fitbit-to-Google account migration on iOS should no longer get stuck, the Friends and Family screen should load more smoothly, and VoiceOver and TalkBack support has been improved.
The timing isn’t accidental. Google Health has taken heat from Fitbit users ever since the transition began, with complaints ranging from a clunkier interface to missing features and odd design choices. That pushback has been loud enough to echo across Reddit, where some users have described the new app as a downgrade rather than an upgrade. Google’s answer, at least for now, is to keep patching the holes and chip away at the rough edges.
The app still has a way to go before it feels fully settled, though. Some of the more helpful features people are already noticing, like smarter daily summaries and wrist-based alarms, are part of the wider Google Health experience rather than this specific update. And premium features remain tied to the subscription tier, something Google is clearly hoping users will see as worthwhile once the app becomes more polished. For more on the standalone app itself, Google Health replacing Fitbit on your phone is worth a look.
Google has also already signaled that this is just the first step. That means version 5.01 is less a grand relaunch than a repair crew arriving with a long checklist — but after the backlash, that may be exactly what the app needed.
