LAS VEGAS & FRAMINGHAM, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Virgin Pulse, the market leader in the rapidly-growing employee health engagement category, today introduced Virgin Pulse Max™, an ultra smart engagement and activity tracking device as well as a new mobile app, Virgin Pulse Mobile. A revolutionary step forward for personal fitness devices, Max directly integrates into the Virgin Pulse software platform, enabling users to create personalized challenges based on individual program goals and track activity such as daily steps, calories burned, distance covered and active minutes of exercise. Combining features like Bluetooth, unique “bump challenges” and employer branding capabilities, Max makes it easy and fun to create a culture of wellness across any organization by engaging and encouraging employees with personalized messages that nudge them to meet their specific program goals. Virgin Pulse is currently the only corporate wellness provider to offer its own proprietary device.
The company also introduced a new mobile app today, Virgin Pulse Mobile. Users can now view their game dashboard and status, accept challenges from colleagues and friends and track self-entered activities like swimming. The new app offers full integration with the new Max device via Bluetooth.
Max is a sleek, black and water resistant device that can be worn in various places including the hip, neck, and wrist. Going well beyond previous devices that simply track steps and distance, Max creates a more personal experience for users by providing them with a device that is both high-tech and fashionable enough to wear with anything and where it feels most comfortable. Max syncs with the Virgin Pulse Mobile app via Bluetooth, enabling users to transmit steps, active minutes and calories burned in one simple step.
Virgin Pulse provides a hub of consumer-focused strategies and innovative tools that combine to drive real change across every aspect of life—including physical, emotional, social and financial health to improve an employee’s total quality of life. Max is the latest addition to Virgin Pulse’s suite of products, providing employees and their family and friends with a cutting edge device to track their physical activity and engage with the Virgin Pulse program. According to a recent study from the American Medical Association, individuals who tracked activity increased their activity by more than 26 percent, lost weight, and lowered blood pressure.
Max’s unique features include:
- “Bump Challenges”: A feature exclusive to Max, users can bump a friend or colleague’s device to automatically initiate a “most steps until midnight” challenge for that day right from their device.
- Personalized messages: Max provides personalized messages based on a user’s goals and achievements to provide an extra nudge to meet daily health and wellness goals.
- Company branding: Organizations can skin the device and software with their company logo and wellness motto to reinforce their program’s brand and personalize their wellness initiatives.
- Firmware upgrades: Virgin Pulse provides a constant addition of new features and enhancements to Max as they become available – eliminating the need to purchase a new device every time a hot new feature is added.
- Bluetooth upload: Integrated directly into the Virgin Pulse platform, Max is a seamless extension of the online and mobile experiences. Employees can use Bluetooth to upload data to Virgin Pulse wirelessly, or plug in using USB.
- Family and friends can play, too: Virgin Pulse is the first corporate wellness provider to broaden its product suite and enable employers to include up to three family members and/or friends per employee for free on its basic product. Family members and friends of employees on the latest editions of the Virgin Pulse program can get in on the fun and purchase a Max device to participate in bump challenges and personal fitness programs.
“There are a lot of great fitness devices on the market, but we believe we’ve set a new standard for wearable devices with Max by taking employee engagement to a new level,” said Chris Boyce, CEO of Virgin Pulse. “Max is an intuitive device that understands your personal goals and encourages you to reach them on a daily basis, helping you become your best self by aligning challenges and programs integrated into the Virgin Pulse platform. This device is just another way that we are working with organizations to help engage every employee and improve their total quality of life – while creating a spirit of camaraderie in the office.”
While the Virgin Pulse Max is optimized for and fully integrated with the Virgin Pulse program, the company also supports a number of other devices and apps including FitBit, RunKeeper and MyFitnessPal, among others.
Pricing and Availability
Introduced today at CES and available now, Virgin Pulse Max is available to members of the Virgin Pulse program as well as their family and friends. The Max device boasts more features than most all major activity trackers and personal fitness devices, and is priced significantly lower than comparable devices such as the Fitbit Zip, Jawbone Up, and Nike Fuelband.
ABOUT VIRGIN PULSE
Virgin Pulse, formerly Virgin HealthMiles and part of Sir Richard Branson’s famed Virgin Group, increases engagement and loyalty by providing employee-centered programs and tools that go beyond physical wellness. Unlike narrowly focused, one-dimensional solutions, Virgin Pulse is a hub of consumer-focused strategies and innovative tools that combine to drive real change across every aspect of an employee’s life. The name Pulse was chosen due to its universality—everyone, individuals and organizations alike—have one, and it is the backbeat to their own unique rhythm and tempo which engages and impacts those around them. More than 200 industry leaders representing 1,000,000+ employees have selected Virgin Pulse’s award-winning programs for their workplace. To learn more, visit www.virginpulse.com.
