Fitbit founders are back. Their new band works even without a phone

James Park and Eric Friedman founded Fitbit in 2007 and made smart bands a mass phenomenon. After selling the company to Google and leaving, they are now returning with a new device – but this time it doesn’t count steps and doesn’t even have a display. It solves a completely different problem.

A band designed to look after your loved ones

Luffu Link is positioned as a health and safety band for families. It monitors health indicators throughout the day, tracks location, allows recording voice notes, and most importantly, can call for help from pre-determined contacts. Crucially, it can do all this without a phone in range – the band has its own LTE connectivity and GPS.

Control is intentionally simple. By pressing a button, you dictate a voice note about medication, symptoms, food, or mood; a double press sends a message to selected family members that everything is alright. The app then sorts the information itself and adds it to other data. According to the manufacturer, the battery should last up to five days.

Why it has no display

The missing screen is not a cost-saving measure, but intentional. Park explains that the device is meant to act as a piece of jewelry, not a clunky emergency pendant – something a person would voluntarily wear because it doesn’t remind them of a hospital.

This emphasis is understandable. Wearable devices for seniors have long struggled with users feeling monitored and putting the device away in a drawer. The founders themselves state that the idea came from their own experience caring for aging parents. According to statistics cited by the company, caregivers in the USA comprise approximately 63 million adults and spend an average of over 27 hours per week on it.

The band is just the beginning

Luffu Link is the first hardware from the startup that Park and Friedman launched this February. The core is a mobile application, where AI in the background sorts family health information, learns common behavioral patterns, and alerts to significant deviations. The company promises that families will maintain control over what they share and with whom, and is preparing a home device with a display for this year.

Price and what remains unclear

Pre-sales are running at 250 dollars, with the regular price expected to jump to 300 dollars after deliveries begin. Deliveries are anticipated in early 2027 and currently only in the USA. Three colors will be available: gold, black, and blue. A nice bonus is that the LTE plan is included in the price, so you don’t have to deal with a carrier contract.

However, several questions remain. The company has not specified how long the connectivity is included in the price or if a subscription will be required after some time – and this is often the part that unpleasantly surprises customers with similar devices. It also hasn’t disclosed specific sensors or exactly which health values it measures. There has been no mention of European availability yet, which for devices with their own mobile connectivity is often the most complicated part of the whole story.

Would you buy such a band for your parents, or would it feel like surveillance?

Sources: TechCrunch, Android Authority, HIT Consultant