Mountain & Trail News

    New Fitbit Feature Lets You Experience Yosemite in Your Neighborhood

    If you love heading out into the wilderness and exploring new trails, then you’ll understand why Fitbit decided to develop Fitbit Adventures, a new feature with immersive challenges to encourage more activity.

    Fitbit Adventures was created to help users reach their fitness goals by allowing them to virtually follow breathtaking trails, explore famous landmarks, and visit iconic destinations. Trails include three of Yosemite National Park’s most breathtaking routes; Valley Loops, Pohono Trail, and Vernan Falls.

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    This new motivational feature will be made available to Fitbit users as of September 5th through a free app update.

    We can see why they have chosen Yosemite as their first adventure. With stunning sights, fascinating landmarks, and challenging trails, it’s the ideal way to motivate people to do more exercise. Outdoor photographer Chris Burkard worked with the company to produce the exquisite photographs being used to entice users.

    Since the images were created to allow you to immerse yourself in the experience, they offer 360-degree views, so you can dynamically adjust the panoramic by rotating your phone. The idea is to allow you to enjoy the moment as if you were really there.

    Currently, Yosemite is the only adventure available, but there are more in the works. The next planned adventure is the path of the New York City Marathon. For the future, they plan to head out further with global destinations.

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    While it may not always be possible to go on an actual hike, this feature may just be the next best thing. You’ll get a better idea of how long the trail would take you to complete and whether or not you’re quite prepared for the hike.

    It could even help prepare you for your next trek, with challenges designed to increase your fitness abilities. Daily destinations offer a new challenge every morning, personalized for the user using historic Fitbit data to ensure each one is still achievable. The next day you will be asked to push yourself a little further, so you become more active over time.

    The current challenges offer varying degrees of difficulty, starting from 15000 steps (Vernan Falls) to 24000 steps (Valley Loop), and finally 42000 steps (Pohono Trail). You unlock views by hitting your goals, with additional fun facts, tips, and mini-challenges along the way.

    This feature is available for iPhone, Android, and Windows smartphones.