Tractive Announces Pet Activity Tracking Technology Called Petbit

Today Tractive (http://www.tractive.com), an Austria-based technology company announces the latest product in their line-up of pet-related hardware, apps and gadgets. Petbit (http://www.petbit.com) is a brand new product to help pet owners monitor the health and activity of their four-legged friends. Petbit tracks the daily activity of a pet, categorizes pet movements in three categories: ‘lazy’, ‘moderately active’ and ‘active’, and tells its owners whether or not their pet needs to be more active.

Tractive GPS Pet Tracking device

Several sensors provide information to pet owners and their veterinarians. Petbit is now available for pre-order for only $89.99 (or 79.99€ in Europe) at http://www.petbit.com and starts shipping as soon as March. The product will first be showcased at the Consumer Electronics Show CES in Las Vegas starting January 7th (Booth LVCC, South Hall 2 – 26706).

Fighting Pet-Obesity
“There are more than 170 million dogs and cats in the US alone, with over 50% being overweight or obese, according to the Association for Pet Obesity Prevention. We want to make sure people are educated about this trend and act it.”, says Michael Hurnaus, CEO of Tractive and former Microsoft and Amazon employee.
With the current trend of wearable devices and human activity tracking gadgets, one can expect that pet owners will need similar ‘quantified-self’ devices for their furry friends.

Daily Goal and Integrated Display
Petbit users can set a daily goal of Pet-Points. Pet-Points are calculated by taking into account steps, movements, playtime and additional information provided by the sensors. Aside from a motion detection sensor, Petbit also uses an accelerometer, a temperature sensor and a brightness sensor to monitor the pet’s behavior. Through an integrated high resolution OLED display, users can easily see the collected Pet-Points for the day and check their pet’s progress throughout the day.

Free Apps for iOS and Android and NO Monthly Fees
The collected information will be displayed in easily understandable graphs in the free Petbit apps for iOS and Android. Users can manage multiple pets with Petbit devices in the app and the device wirelessly syncs its information to the user’s smartphone. “It was important to us, that the sync happens automatically behind the scenes and users don’t need to connect any cable to get the information on their smartphone”, says Michael Lettner, CTO and Co-Founder of Tractive. Petbit uses Bluetooth 4.0 to send its data to the smartphone. The app promotes healthy and active pets with achievements and shows the worldwide pet activity rank of your pet.

Petbit is available for pre-order at http://www.petbit.com right now and will start shipping worldwide in March. There is no service fee or subscription fee, so once users have the device, it is free to use for life.

Only 15g and over 1 Week of Battery Life
The waterproof Petbit device is very light at only 15g, and with a size of 15 mm x 50 mm x 9 mm it can be used on cats, dogs and any other animal 2kg and over. Tractive worked with vets to ensure the device is safe for the pet and is light enough so your pet won’t even feel it is there. Petbit is FCC and CE certified and follows specifications from other products considered to be safe for the pet and the user.
Petbit comes with a charger and can collect activity information 24/7 for over a week without being recharged.

Multiple Fashionable Colors
Petbit comes with a black silicon clip that holds the device secure on the collar of the pet. Pet owners can also choose additional clips in different fashionable colors to customize the appearance of the device.

About Tractive
Tractive (http://www.tractive.com) develops hardware, gadgets and apps for pet owners. Aside from Tractive’s flagship product, a GPS-based pet tracking device, the company also owns the pet photo platform and app Peterest. Within just a few weeks over 100k photos have been uploaded to the platform. Additional products in Tractive’s portfolio are apps such as Petnames, Catnames and Dognames which help pet owners find the perfect name for their loved one. Tractive was founded in 2012 in Pasching, Austria.