First 14 things to do with your new Fitbit

Whether you are a first-time Fitbit purchaser or returning to the model, it may be a bit overwhelming to determine the best way to use it correctly. Fitbit walks you thru the setup through its app, however there are extra obscure tips you need to discover for your self. The Fitbit Help hub most likely has all the data you want, however nobody desires to trawl by means of dozens of assist pages. So we’re right here to information you thru the primary Fitbit suggestions and tips it’s essential know which may not be instantly apparent, from activating Google apps to turning off annoying capabilities. For simplicity’s sake, this Fitbit newbie’s information will give attention to the newest fashions: the Charge 6, Sense 2, and Versa 4. Some of our Fitbit suggestions and tips may also apply to older fashions just like the Charge 5 and Versa 3, however not all of them. Migrate your Fitbit account to GoogleAfter buying Fitbit, Google began transitioning Fitbit accounts into Google accounts. Now, newer Fitbit units require a Google account to perform, and beginning in 2025, legacy Fitbit accounts will now not work on any Fitbit. You could as effectively make the soar if you have not already, so observe our information on the best way to migrate your Fitbit account to your Google account within the Fitbit app. It’ll take you thru your preliminary Fitbit setup as you resolve what information to share with Google and different related apps. Start sporting your Fitbit continuous(Image credit score: Andrew Myrick / Android Central)People purchase Fitbits for health monitoring, well being monitoring, or each. If you are effective utilizing it for step counting and monitoring exercises alone, you may go away it off at night time or whenever you’re stationary. Otherwise, although, you are going to need to put on your Fitbit as a lot as doable to get essentially the most out of it. Why? Because most key Fitbit Premium options require you to put on the gadget continuous and lack the context to evaluate your well being for those who cease. A stress administration rating with the Sense 2 requires a full 24 hours of cEDA monitoring, for instance. The Daily Readiness Score — telling you whether or not to work out and for the way lengthy primarily based in your tiredness and soreness — requires at the least 4 full days and nights, and will take weeks for Fitbit to correctly calculate. And a full Wellness Report requires an entire month of steady monitoring. Skip sporting your tracker for too lengthy, and Fitbit will go away a bunch of app well being fields clean.Plus, your Fitbit measures extra information at night time. The Charge 6 constantly tracks coronary heart charge information throughout the day, however solely throughout sleep monitoring does it measure blood oxygen, coronary heart charge variance, passive AFib detection, respiration charge, and pores and skin temperature ranges. That’s the juicy well being information that many health trackers lack. Customize your Today tab(Image credit score: Fitbit)The Fitbit Today tab is the very first thing you see whenever you open the app, exhibiting the entire newest information taken out of your gadget. You can resolve what information exhibits up on high, primarily based in your priorities.In the top-right nook beneath your profile image, faucet the small pencil icon to open the Editor mode. There, you will select your Focus, whether or not or not it’s Activity (the default), Sleep, Weight, Stress, Heart Health, or Custom. Then, beneath the Focus, you may select the widget order and toggle off particular metrics. For instance, in case you have no plans to trace weight or diet with the Fitbit app — you’d want to take action manually — then you may and may make these invisible. Set a Fitbit Premium cancellation/renewal reminder(Image credit score: Nick Sutrich / Android Central)There is a long-standing debate on whether or not or not Fitbit Premium is definitely worth the annual subscription. Your Fitbit capabilities completely effectively with out it, however long-term well being developments, exercises, meditations, and your Daily Readiness Score are all locked behind a paywall. Every new Fitbit in the present day comes with six months of free Fitbit Premium, as Fitbit tries to hook you into changing into depending on these instruments. You’ll even have to provide Fitbit your bank card information, and 6 months later, you are on the hook for both $9.99/month or $79.99/12 months. Our wager is that most individuals neglect to cancel it. That’s why, after you activate your Fitbit, your first step needs to be to enter your calendar app and create a reminder one week earlier than the six-month deadline. At that time, you will know whether or not or not you employ Premium sufficient to maintain paying, and you’ll resolve to (A) cancel or (B) swap from month-to-month to annual to save lots of your self $40 over the 12 months. Sync your Fitbit information to (or from) your favourite app(Image credit score: Michael Hicks / Android Central)Unless you are a couch-to-5Ker who’s new to understanding, you most likely have already got a favourite health app. While you should use the redesigned Fitbit app natively to trace exercises, you could favor to sync the info to a different app like Strava, the place you have already got health buddies.If you employ Strava, you may go to strava.fitbit.com/ and log into your account to sync the 2. Other health apps like Runkeeper and MyFitnessPal have devoted “Apps” or “Connect” sections in their very own settings the place you may choose Fitbit after which log into your Google account to sync them. Fitbit does not play good with different health apps, both for Android or iOS. If you could have an Android telephone, you could have a ready-made resolution: Health Connect. It’s an app that may sync Fitbit with Google Fit, Samsung Health, Oura, Pelaton, and several other different well-known manufacturers. We have a information on the best way to use Google Health Connect to arrange the connection, however it does not take lengthy.Apple Fitness Plus is a serious competitor to Fitbit Premium. If you need your Fitbit information to go to Apple Health, you could have two choices. The first is to make use of an middleman like Strava that may sync with the Health app, however this may solely ship particular information like exercises. For a full switch, there is a paid app referred to as “Sync Solver: Fitbit to Health” that can ship your energy, sleep summaries, steps, and so forth to Health. Lastly, for those who personal a Withings good scale, you could need to ship your weigh-ins and physique fats percentages to the Fitbit app to enhance its suggestions and well being reviews. In that case, go to fitbit.com/weight/withings and observe the steps. Adjust your each day objectives and transfer reminders(Image credit score: Fitbit)In the Fitbit app, faucet your account photograph within the top-right nook, then Fitbit settings > Activity & Wellness. Here, you may alter your objectives to your time spent asleep, weight and physique fats proportion objectives, what number of days per week you need to train, how lengthy earlier than your Fitbit auto-recognizes a exercise (15 minutes is the default), and your goal coronary heart charge zones for exercises. Even for those who do not contact these, everybody ought to have a look at the Daily Activity tab. Here, you will alter your each day steps, distance, and weekly Active Zone Minutes objectives. We’ve written previously about the advantages of strolling 10,000 steps a day, however research present that 6,000–8,000 is a extra cheap goal with noticeable advantages as you attempt to begin a Fitbit step streak. You should not purpose for lower than 150 Active Zone Minutes per week — it is usually agreed to be a baseline for staying wholesome — you could need to problem your self to push even tougher. As a runner, I personally purpose for at the least 250 AZMs and normally hit above 300. (Image credit score: Michael Hicks / Android Central)In this identical view, you may faucet Hourly Activity Goal to show off Move Reminders or alter what number of hours you are anticipated to maneuver. With this characteristic on, Fitbit calls for that you just stroll 250 steps each hour, reminding you of your aim on the 50-minute mark — and you’ll’t alter this step aim to be shorter. Some Fitbit customers inside our workers name this characteristic annoying and instantly flip it off, whereas others amongst us acknowledge that the annoyance is the purpose since sitting an excessive amount of causes severe well being issues, and Fitbit is prodding us into being more healthy. For a compromise, you may slender the window of reminders to, say, 12p to 5p in order that it is extra manageable and you’ve got time to get up first. Activate your coronary heart well being instrumentsIn the Fitbit app, faucet the You tab and look beneath Health assessments. There, you will see the choice to activate passive irregular coronary heart rhythm (AFib) notifications and activate the electrocardiogram (ECG) for lively AFib readings. In each instances, Fitbit will try to detect indicators of coronary heart points that sometimes sign the potential for severe circumstances like blood clots or coronary heart failure. A Fitbit is not medical-grade by way of accuracy, however passive detection throughout sleep monitoring is more likely to choose up at the least some signal of it, and you’ll take 30-second lively readings with the ECG. You simply must activate these instruments in your telephone first. Make Google Maps seem routinely in your wrist(Image credit score: Michael Hicks / Android Central)Since Google acquired Fitbit, the wearable model has left behind most third-party companions in favor of Google’s personal apps. It’s been a controversial shift in some methods, however we’ll freely say that having Google Maps on a Fitbit is a good perk.The Sense 2, Versa 4, and Charge 6 all help Google Maps, although not a correct app; as an alternative, they’re set as much as auto-sync to your telephone’s instructions, displaying an arrow and distance to your subsequent flip or vacation spot.Our how-to information will stroll you thru each step, however basically, you simply must faucet the top-left icon within the Fitbit Today tab, faucet your related gadget’s title, after which faucet the Google Maps icon. It’ll take you thru the steps to sync Maps to Fitbit, after which you may resolve which sort of instructions present up in your wrist. We’d advocate enabling Walking and Cycling however not Driving if you have already got an infotainment display screen in your automobile. Set up Google Wallet for tap-to-pay(Image credit score: Android Central)Older Fitbit trackers use Fitbit Pay, and our outdated information on the best way to add a card to Fitbit Pay ought to hopefully nonetheless apply. Otherwise, newer Fitbits have transitioned to Google Pay, with the identical tap-to-pay perform however the upside of utilizing your Google account’s saved bank cards. We have a separate Google Wallet on Fitbit setup information you may observe for the newest fashions. As with Google Maps, it’s essential faucet your gadget icon to search out the Wallet icon. If you have used Fitbit Pay previously, you will want to decide on Switch to Wallet first, however then everybody might want to signal into their Google account, choose a bank card from their Wallet, after which add a PIN to their Fitbit to guard funds. Once lively, Wallet may be discovered on the Versa 4 or Sense 2 by tapping the aspect button and scrolling by means of the listing of apps, or you may set Google Wallet as a shortcut. On the Charge 6, Wallet is the default shortcut whenever you double-tap the haptic button, or you may swipe down from the primary watch face to search out it. You’ll then must enter your PIN. The bigger Sense/Versa show offers you a full quantity pad, whereas the tiny Charge 6 show makes you swipe up and down by means of every quantity. It’s sluggish, so take that into consideration for those who do not need to annoy the individuals behind you in line. Stream your music playlist (for those who’re fortunate)(Image credit score: Michael Hicks / Android Central)Almost the entire greatest health trackers management your telephone’s music over Bluetooth, however after the discharge of the Fitbit Sense and Versa 3, Google took management of Fitbit and eliminated this fundamental performance from the Sense 2 and Versa 4. With these and the Inspire 3, you haven’t any solution to management your telephone’s music. With the newest Fitbit Charge 6, Google revealed why it did so: to make YouTube Music Premium (sure, you want a subscription) the one music possibility out there on Fitbit and to attempt to power Fitbit clients to modify to its personal service. The exclusivity is aggravating to individuals who use different music streaming apps, however for those who’re prepared to subscribe, then you may Play/Pause a track, change the amount, skip to the subsequent track, or discover a new latest playlist with the YouTube Music widget, which you will discover whenever you swipe left from the Charge 6’s important watch face. To activate it, go to the identical Fitbit app menu as Wallet and Maps, then sign up. Update your watch face and activate AOD(Image credit score: Andrew Myrick / Android Central)Fitbit normally picks a classy watch face because the default possibility, so you do not have to modify for those who do not need to. But it is good to take a look at your choices earlier than you commit!To replace your Fitbit’s watch face, you will as soon as once more must faucet the top-left button exhibiting your gadget’s proportion, then faucet your gadget’s title. Select Gallery > Clocks to see each official watch face out there to your gadget. Choose any watch face and hit Install to ship it to your gadget. Fitbit Sense and Versa watches can save 5 watch faces at a time, whereas the Charge 6 will solely keep in mind one after the other. Stay on the watch face display screen till it finishes putting in, then faucet Customize to alter issues just like the clock colour, whether or not your present coronary heart charge is at all times seen — which could stress some customers out — and what different information apart from Steps pops up whenever you faucet the show. Each watch face has its personal customized Always-On Display (AOD) setting that matches the clock font. To flip AOD on or off, merely swipe down on the Sense 2 or Versa 4 to drag up your Quick Settings and faucet the Clock icon. On the Charge 6, you need to swipe down till you discover Settings, then Display Settings > AOD.Balance battery life and higher UI(Image credit score: Michael Hicks / Android Central)Most Fitbits are rated to final about 6–10 days in splendid circumstances, however that quantity dips relying on the settings and sensors you activate. You can be certain that your Fitbit lasts so long as doable, however this might make your Fitbit annoying to make use of or much less helpful to you. These are the primary components to contemplate:If you run together with your telephone, you could need to use Connected or Dynamic GPS as an alternative of built-in GPS monitoring. In our assessments, Fitbit’s built-in GPS did not do a lot better than a smartphone’s GPS and steady GPS can kill a Charge 6 or Versa 4 in 5 or 12 hours, respectively.In Settings, you may Dim or Brighten your show, deactivate AOD, and alter your display screen time-out period. We advocate a Long time-out, even when it hurts the battery, so you are not consistently having to shake your wrist or squeeze the haptic button whenever you take too lengthy.You could need to Uninstall the SpO2 app. Blood oxygen readings use a good chunk of battery life. In the Gallery, the place you modify your watch face, faucet Apps on the high to search out and take away SpO2. You can scale back the variety of occasions your Fitbit show lights up per day by tapping Notifications within the gadget menu and altering which telephone notifications are allowed to point out up in your wrist.  Connect your Charge 6 to your Peloton(Image credit score: Fitbit)Another unique Fitbit Charge 6 characteristic (sorry, Versa and Sense homeowners) is the power to broadcast your coronary heart charge on supported train gear or third-party apps. Specifically, Fitbit has partnered with Nordic, Peloton, Concept2, and Tonal, with the potential for different suitable tech down the road. On your Charge 6, swipe down from the watch face till you see HR on gear and faucet it. This basically places the tracker in lively Bluetooth pairing mode; now, go to your train gear, activate the Bluetooth search perform, and choose the Charge 6. Back on the tracker, faucet Share to verify the connection. Your Charge 6 will preserve broadcasting as you begin a tracked exercise, then cease sharing with the gear when you finish the train. Start a video exercise(Image credit score: Android Central)If you need to take advantage of Fitbit Premium (whereas the free trial lasts, at the least), then benefit from the tons of of guided exercises or meditations within the Fitbit app beneath the Coach tab. You’ll discover full-body exercises, yoga, dance cardio, pre-run warmups, post-run stretches, energy coaching with at-home instruments like kettlebells and dumbbells, and a ton of different exercises within the 10-to-40-minute vary, concentrating on everybody from freshmen to severe athletes with “bootcamp challenges.” Whichever of the perfect Fitbit trackers you purchase, you are getting a powerful quantity of well being and fitness-tracking tech packed right into a petite band or squircle body. Most of the smarts are dealt with in your Fitbit telephone app through Premium, so simply preserve that in thoughts for those who did not notice you’d must (ultimately) pay for the privilege of accessing your watch information. We did not discuss a lot in regards to the Pixel Watch 2 right here, a Google smartwatch with Fitbit Premium tech packed inside. In some methods, it is now the “best” Fitbit out there, however it’s not out there for iOS customers and has a one-day battery. It additionally comes with six months of Fitbit Premium, however you may at all times swap to a different Wear OS health app as soon as the trial ends. If you are still deciding whether or not or to not purchase a brand new Fitbit, you may test our basic information on the perfect health smartwatches of the 12 months throughout all manufacturers. Our Fitbit suggestions and tips information exhibits the perfect that Fitbit has to supply; now’s the time to resolve in the event that they’re sufficient to tempt you in comparison with different manufacturers with a distinct focus.