22 Oct Amazon com: Fitbit Charge 6 Fitness Tracker with Google apps, Heart Rate on Exercise Equipment, 6-Months Premium Membership Included, GPS, Health Tools and More, Obsidian Black, One Size S & L Bands Included : Sports & Outdoors
When he’s not training or writing about health and fitness, he can be found reading doorstop-thick fantasy books with lots of fictional maps in them. Of course, the price is also a factor, but the brilliance of Fitbit’s products is that they are among the most affordable out there. Most of them are much more affordable than Apple’s cheapest smartwatch, which means that unless you’re on a very tight budget, you should have a few options available to you.
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It also tracks dozens of workout types, with GPS for outdoor cardio sessions, and in our tests, it stood up well against dedicated sports watches. The SE doesn’t have an always-on display, and it has a mere 18 hours of projected battery life, falling far below that of most designated fitness trackers. In a test, we found that the battery had dropped to 9% after 18 hours of use, so if you’re traveling overnight, be sure to bring a charger.
The best Fitbit apps: Get the most out of your fitness tracker
It supports over 40 workout types total, with a range of indoor and outdoor sports. Fitbit’s Active Zone Minutes feature encourages you to spend time in the fat burn, cardio or peak heart-rate zones while exercising. And while stress tracking based on skin sweat variability can seem like a bit of a gimmick, I think it successfully brings awareness to mental health — something that’s all too easy to ignore when you’re busy or preoccupied. For comparison, the Apple Watch Series 9 will set you back $399, and while it’s considered the gold standard for smartwatches, it’ll only work if you have an iPhone. Meanwhile, the Fitbit Sense 2 works with Android smartphones and iPhones, so it won’t matter if you switch phones.
Here’s a roundup of the best Fitbit apps you can download today to maximize the potential of your fitness tracker. Use the Fitbit app to log your food, activities, weight, and more, without owning a Fitbit device. Manually enter activities to get an estimated calorie burn based on your personal information, such as height, weight, age, and sex. For certain phones, use MobileTrack and MobileRun to track steps and activities with your phone.
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The Inspire 3 has a flexible silicone band that closes with a plastic buckle and tang (think of how you fasten a belt buckle). While this is not uncommon for fitness trackers, it sometimes took a few tries to close — this is one instance where the slim design of the Inspire 3 may be a drawback. The band doesn’t lay flat like, say, that of a thicker Apple Watch SE, and the tang is a bit flimsy, causing it to not stay in place when adjusting on the wrist. It also showed signs of a decent battery life; some testers found it middle of the road, while others had excellent results.
Is it still worth buying a Fitbit?
Motivation to work out is not always easy to come by, but a little gamification can go a long way. This fun, lighthearted app allows you to power a pirate ship with your steps and find sunken treasure along as you progress. You can then spend your hard-earned coin on ship and crew upgrades. Though it isn’t terribly practical, it’s entertaining and wholesome. Loads of companies make Fitbit-like devices but only a small few are as good as the namesake wearable. The best Fitbit alternatives come from big-name brands, including Garmin, Samsung and Apple as well as smaller manufacturers, like Amazfit.
Best Fitness Apps for Cardio Workouts
Lloyd Coombes is a freelance contributor from Essex, UK, with a passion for fitness and tech. He can be seen at TechRadar, iMore, Live Science and more on a regular basis, and enjoys weightlifting and middle-distance running. We’ve reviewed these apps and plenty that didn’t make the cut to bring you our recommendations, bringing years of tech and software experience to the table. Michael is a lover of all things sports and fitness-tech related, clocking up over 15 marathons and has put in serious hours in the pool all in the name of testing every fitness wearable going. Expect to see him with a minimum of two wearables at any given time. Just download the Fitbit app from the App Store or Google Play, and your watch will connect to your phone without a hitch.
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Get matched with a sleep animal and see a personalized analysis of your sleep every month. Premium content and features may vary, recommendations are not available in all locales and may be in English only. Compatible with select workout machines that support the Bluetooth Heart Rate Profile, and coming soon to more. Choose your mood with YouTube Music controls and get inspired with over 40 exercise modes. However, for serious athletes, or those who don’t want any distractions, then Whoop is likely a more appealing option. On the other end of the scale, Life is the most expensive, with a starting price of £349/$349 for 12-months.
For example, while Strava can track your gym workouts through Apple’s Fitness app, it’ll struggle to give you useful information, as it won’t record any data points beyond heart rate and calories burned. On the other hand, it’s brilliant for running and cycling tracking, even in its free version. All of the food calories and nutrients tracked in the app will also appear inside the Fitbit app. The Fitbit companion smartphone app, whether you’re using it through Android, iOS or Windows (no, we didn’t forget about you) is a big reason why we continue to recommend it among our best fitness trackers.
- They’re useful for people who want to set goals to increase daily movement and gain a better picture of their health.
- YouTube Music controls require a paid YouTube Music Premium subscription.
- The Whoop app displays everything from basics like step counts and estimations of calories burned, to weekly heart rate zones and a recommended bedtime.
- Overall, the Pixel Watch 4 is still missing some fundamentals that serious athletes need, and there’s no guarantee that the Pixel Watch 5 will prioritize niche use cases that don’t appeal to a wider audience.
- Striking a fantastic balance between style and substance with strap and bangle options, this is an excellent fitness tracker even without the jewellery options.
- Again, though, the final result was 5.00 vs. 5.01 miles (16m), and you’d be surprised how many dual-band GPS watches stray slightly off track.
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The Evie Ring and Ultrahuman Ring Air also do not require subscriptions. The Fitbit Charge 6 has an advanced heart rate monitor, an accelerometer, GPS to track runs, walks, hikes and bike rides, light water resistance and Bluetooth compatibility. Plus, you can also access Google Maps, Google Wallet and YouTube Music through the device.
This is why we’ve also included the best Fitbit alternatives like the Garmin Vivoactive 6, our favorite substitute for the Fitbit Sense 2. Many of the apps on this list play nicely together, too, with the likes of Fitbod and Fitbit Premium able to pull data from Google and Apple. With that in mind, we’d recommend testing out one that seems to cater to your chosen discipline, even if just for the length of the free trial, in their free iterations to check you’ve got the right app for your device.
Some Google apps and services require a paired phone within Bluetooth range of your device and are not available in all countries or languages. Not a replacement for medical advice and not mad muscles reviews intended to diagnose or treat any medical condition. Whoop, on the other hand, simply doesn’t offer the same smartwatch functionality, which means you can’t use your strap to make payments, receive smartphone notifications or even follow a map on screen while on a run. Plus, the lack of screen means you can’t even see live tracking updates without needing your phone to hand.
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Best Fitbit compatible apps to step up your tracking game
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Outdoor mode also offered more of the metrics I would expect from an app called Runkeeper, so if you mostly run outside (or have an Apple Watch), it can work well. So even though the indoor tracking feature needs improvement, Runkeeper can be a solid option. If you’re new to running, the dynamic goal-setting experience is worth a little bit of frustration. So it’s a complicated picture, and to some, it seems like Google is slowly killing Fitbit. Right now, you can still buy a Fitbit (or Pixel Watch) and access the brand’s sleep, fitness, and health tracking features on comfortable, and (mostly) affordable devices. The Garmin Vivoactive 6 checks all the https://www.fingerlakes1.com/2025/02/24/madmuscles-review-real-results-without-hidden-fees/ boxes if you’re after the best Fitbit alternative.
You can link your Fitbit to a number of other apps, whether they are dedicated running apps, calorie counters or step challenge games. During our testing, we found battery life was good for a week of light use, or 2-3 days using the Always On display, just like Fitbit promises. Overall, it doesn’t quite dazzle as the Versa 3 did, but it will be more futureproof and it maintains many of the impressive features of its predecessor. It’s got great battery life and borrows some of the interface layout options of the Pixel Watch to present smart features like notifications in a more pleasant package. It has a long list of health features, useful wearOS optimizations, and a great design to make it an excellent option for most people. Here you can see a very brief overview of some of the best Fitbits available right now.
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Step-by-Step: Syncing Your Fitbit With Android or iPhone
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Dan Bracaglia is the Tom’s Guide editorial lead for all things smartwatches, fitness trackers and outdoor gear. With 15 years of experience as a consumer technology journalist testing everything from Oura Rings to instant cameras, Dan is deeply passionate about helping readers save money and make informed purchasing decisions. In the past year alone, Dan has assessed major product releases from the likes of Apple, Garmin, Google, Samsung, Polar and many others. There are also specialized GPS running watches and smartwatches that provide the same health-related information and much more. The lines between fitness tracker, GPS running watch, and smartwatch are blurrier than ever. Generally, fitness trackers are less bulky to wear than GPS running watches or smartwatches and cost less.