The Best Fitbit for Every Type of Activity

How long the Versa will remain part of Google and Fitbit’s smartwatch plans isn’t clear, especially as it lacks the added smartwatch and health features you’d find on the Sense 2 and the Pixel Watch 2. It’s also not available to buy directly from Google, but can be found for cheap if you’re happy to shop around. And even with the slightly under par features list, it’s still worth looking at.

It adopts a near-identical square design to the Versa 4, including a bright and vibrant 1.5-inch AMOLED touchscreen. It lacks the physical button that was brought back for the Versa 4, which can make interactions away from the responsive display a little irksome. It features all of the same fitness and sleep tracking features as the Versa 4, with sleep tracking accuracy being a highlight feature for a watch that’s comfortable to take to bed. The PurePulse optical heart rate monitor is a better fit for day-to-day readings than it is for high-intensity exercise, while the built-in GPS won't give you serious sports-watch-like accuracy.

Like other Fitbit smartwatches, third-party apps and watch faces have been stripped now. You can still make calls via Bluetooth and enjoy one of the best examples of Amazon Alexa integration on a smartwatch. Add in up to a week of battery life that’s shorter when the screen is on 24/7, and it’s more battery than watches from Apple, Samsung, and the Google Pixel Watch. It’s a bargain buy, and not one to rule out just yet, as it offers that core Fitbit experience for less.

The most desirable wearables don’t scream that they’re packed with tech, and while Fitbit has sought to make all of its trackers and watches pair with your outfit, the Luxe looks most like a fancy accessory. The Luxe sets a colorful AMOLED screen on your wrist and matches that with a slim, stainless steel case and a range of mesh, woven, and leather bands. It even looks great with the bundled silicone band.

Beneath this attractive exterior lie the sensors and smarts to reliably track heart rate throughout the day and night and capture SpO₂ data while you sleep for a useful-if-not-vital dose of wellness data. This Fitbit has 20 exercise modes and “connected GPS” via your phone to give it some limited sports-tracking functionality, though I found the lack of an altimeter to track a flight of stairs I climbed a disappointing omission. The suite of mindfulness tools such as Fitbit’s Relax breathing exercises and Stress Management Scores show the direction it's heading. For now, the Luxe manages to wrap those core Fitbit features up in a slender and stylish frame.

The first Fitbit Ace landed in 2018, offering kids ages 8 and above the ability to track their steps and sleep and to be in constant pursuit of virtual badges. The Fitbit Ace LTE (8/10, WIRED Recommends) ditches the fitness band form for a smartwatch one, instantly giving it more grown-up kids appeal. The Ace LTE is built for ages 7 to 14 and comes with a design perhaps best described as a more child-friendly Versa. There’s a sizable OLED screen with Gorilla Glass 3 to fend off scratches, and unlike the first Ace, it can be submerged in water up to 50 meters deep.

There are some familiar fitness tracker sensors in place, including an optical heart rate monitor and motion sensors to track movement, though Fitbit has ditched the sleep tracking support that was available on the original Ace. It has LTE connectivity so parents and children can make calls to each other, and it also taps into Google Maps to give it location-tracking smarts. Payments are on the way for the watch, too.

There are also games to play, including a very Fitbit take on a Tamagotchi that’s sure to appeal. There is the matter of a $10 per month subscription fee to get the complete Ace experience; it isn’t a cheap kids’ smartwatch either. But it’s easy to use, and gets the balance of fun and fitness just right to make it a good fit for kids.

Now that the Google Pixel Watch actually exists, the fate of Fitbit’s own smartwatches feels up in the air. But if the idea of owning a Pixel Watch doesn’t appeal and you’re interested in a more Fitbit-centric experience with better battery life, the Versa 4 is the one to go for. You get a smartwatch with a gently curved design—it’s almost identical to the Versa, but with the welcome return of a physical button. There’s a large, vibrant, 1.5-inch AMOLED touchscreen display and a battery performance that can really stretch over the promised six days if you don’t leave the screen on 24/7.

As for sports, the Versa 4 gives you built-in GPS to track outdoor runs and rides and the motion sensors to track indoor swims well enough—though not with sports-watch-rivaling accuracy. Fitbit’s latest PurePulse heart-rate sensor is a better fit for day-to-day heart rate stats than it is for a CrossFit class. And third-party app support has been replaced by native Google apps, like Maps, with Google Assistant joining Amazon’s Alexa. As a device that lets you check your phone notifications, keep an eye on step counts and sleep, and forget about charging it constantly, the Versa 4 has plenty to like.

The Fitbit Sense was clearly designed to attract the kind of people who were looking at the Apple Watch (and the rest) as much to monitor health as gym time. The Sense 2 delivers that primarily through an ECG sensor that’s approved in the US to help wearers detect potential signs of atrial fibrillation. A skin temperature sensor can monitor temperature changes during the night to spot any trends and an SpO₂ sensor goes to work when you’re sleeping to detect breathing disturbances. While it’s not a regulatory-approved feature, it can potentially detect signs of the sleep disorder sleep apnea.

An electrical cEDA sensor captures on-the-spot and continuous measurements of galvanic skin response that Fitbit uses as a marker of stress. Fitbit needs to work on delivering information on potential stressors in a useful way, but it’s a start. The Sense 2 also grabs all of the cheaper Versa’s fitness-tracking and sports-tracking features, including built-in GPS, and uses a PurePulse heart-rate sensor to keep track of your Active ZoneMinutes when you’re upping the intensity. You need Fitbit Premium ($10/£8 per month) to unlock all of the most valuable health insights. If you want a Fitbit smartwatch with a stronger and more serious health-tracking edge, this is the one you want.

The first Google Pixel Watch was beautiful on the outside and not so pretty on the inside. One positive was that Google’s flagship watch was a strong showcase for Fitbit’s fitness and health tracking innovations on a smartwatch more fully-fledged than the Versa and the Sense. The Google Pixel Watch 2 didn’t need to ring the design changes and thankfully doubled down on the Fitbit-fueled features.

It has built on the Pixel Watch’s heart rate tracking credentials, and now notifies you of irregular heart rate rhythms. It also tracks temperature and usefully offers insights into your general well-being, and detects when you might be feeling unwell. It brings in the cEDA sensor from the Sense 2 to nudge you when you might be feeling stressed during the day. A new focus on heart-rate-based workouts has also improved its credentials as a training companion, though things don’t work out much better in the battery department; getting the maximum 24 hours proves challenging once again.

With Qualcomm’s Snapdragon W5 Gen 1 chipset providing a welcome performance boost alongside a captivating design, Google’s latest Wear OS software, and Fitbit’s capable tracking smarts, the second-generation Pixel Watch has felt more wrist-worthy than its predecessor.

Fitbit Premium is a subscription service that costs $9.99 (£7.99) a month or $79.99 (£79.99) a year, and gives you access to additional software features not available in the free version of the Fitbit app. These include being able to see additional sleep insights, and a monthly analysis of your sleep profile. You can access workout videos and recipes, and get all of Fitbit’s mindfulness and wellness features, as well as Fitbit’s Daily Readiness Score. It’s a useful metric if you’d like to know each morning whether you’re ready to tackle a strenuous day or should consider taking it easy.

So is it worth paying for? It really boils down to the information you care about most from your day-to-day fitness tracking experience. If you like Fitbit’s approach to presenting sleep stats, then this opens the door to a richer level of data to look over. If you’ve got a Fitbit that tracks temperature, for instance, then Premium will let you look a little closer at temperature trends. Something like the Daily Readiness Score is useful for anyone who’s going to make the most of Fitbit’s available sports tracking features. It’s a subscription that’s cheaper than some other wearable and fitness app subscriptions, and if you buy a new Fitbit you’ll get to try it for free for six months before choosing to commit to it long-term.

Are Fitbits waterproof?

Aside from the first-generation Fitbit Ace kids fitness tracker, all Fitbits offer some resistance against water. All of the latest wearables, including the Google Pixel Watch 2, Fitbit Charge 6, Sense 2, and Inspire 3, can be submerged in water up to 50 meters deep. That also gives you a good idea of how well they’ll guard when you’re drenched in sweat. Where supported, some Fitbits do offer the ability to track swimming, though only in an indoor pool where it uses motion sensors to track your movements.

Can Fitbits connect to Strava?

Yes, although the dedicated Strava app that was previously on some older watches and trackers has been removed from the Fitbit Gallery. If you’ve got a Pixel Watch, you can download the Strava Wear OS app. If you don’t have a Pixel Watch, you can use the strava.fitbit.com link and follow the steps to start sharing your exercise data between the two apps.

Can Fitbits measure blood pressure?

Sadly, no. While the Fitbit app previously supported the ability to manually log blood pressure readings, that is no longer the case. Google does allow you to connect Fitbit to its Health Connect app to group health and fitness data in one place; if you use a blood pressure monitor and app that offers support for the Health Connect app, that’s currently the main way to bring the two platforms together.

Can Fitbits detect sleep apnea?

Unlike the Sense 2, which offers FDA-cleared ECG and PPG heart rate tracking features, none of Fitbits’ other wearables have the same clearance to say they can detect and diagnose sleep apnea. While its wearables can collect information like snoring with the use of a built-in microphone, Fitbit will not tell you whether you’re suffering from the sleep disorder.

Which Fitbit has an ECG sensor?

An ECG or electrocardiogram sensor is considered one of the most accurate ways to monitor heart rate activity, and measures the electrical activity from the heart. That’s different to the way that optical, PPG-style heart rate sensors gather heart rate information, and can be a little more susceptible to disruptions like increased movement that can affect data accuracy.

Fitbit introduced an ECG sensor to the Sense in 2020, and it’s now available in the Sense 2, Google Pixel Watch, Pixel Watch 2, and Fitbit Charge 6. Using the accompanying Fitbit ECG app, users can take on-the-spot ECG measurements, analyzing heart rhythm to help detect (not diagnose) signs of atrial fibrillation, which could be an indicator of a serious health condition.