Despite being acquired by Google five years ago, Fitbit remains one of the most recognizable names in the industry. While its products aren’t designed with hardcore athletes, Fitbit makes excellent devices for tracking overall activity as well as monitoring certain health and wellness metrics, like EKGs and blood oxygen levels.
That said, we’re still in the transitional period from the Fitbit of old to whatever Fitbit will be in the future. We’re further away from 2023, which was a particularly messy year. There were multiple Fitbit server outages, and I’m still frustrated by the decision to sunset legacy community features — including challenges — or the fact that all Fitbit accounts will require you to log in via Google beginning in February 2026.
Speaking of which, the Fitbit-to-Google account migration started in 2023 and is required if you buy the Fitbit Charge 6 or the Google Pixel Watch 4. The Fitbit app also got a more Google-like makeover, which didn’t go over well with many users. (Google has since made adjustments based on feedback.) And in 2024, much of Fitbit’s leadership, including co-founders James Park and Eric Friedman, left the company as roughly a thousand Google employees were laid off. Now, most of Google’s focus seems to be on its own smartwatches.
The Googlefication of Fitbit will continue, but there are reasons to stick with its trackers in the meantime. Fitbit trackers are relatively affordable, especially since they often go on sale. All the devices also come with a free trial to Fitbit Premium, the company’s subscription service that provides guided workouts, meditations, and access to more in-depth metrics. The service costs $9.99 per month, or $79.88 per year. And following the launch of the Pixel Watch 4, it’s clear that Google is taking its wearables very seriously as well. The smartwatch features longer-lasting battery life, a more repairable design, and compatibility with Fitbit’s AI-powered fitness coach.
Best Fitbit smartwatch
Google Pixel Watch 4
Score: 8
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The Pixel Watch 4 doesn’t have “Fitbit” in its title, but it falls under the same umbrella because of Google’s acquisition of Fitbit. The fourth-gen watch is a significant update over its predecessors, with a handsome domed display and thinner bezels that increase screen real estate. The watch’s updated design allows you to swap out the display or battery, if necessary, and we were able to eke out between 36 and 42 hours of battery life in our testing, up from 32 hours on the Pixel Watch 3. We also saw a notable uptick in charging speed, allowing us to take the watch from 14 to 97 percent in just 44 minutes using Google’s new proprietary charger.
The hardware upgrades work in tandem with Wear OS 6, which introduces a complete redesign with Material 3 Expressive and brings Gemini to Google’s latest wearable. A raise-to-talk feature lets you access the smart assistant without saying “Hey Google” or pushing a button, while AI features such as Notification Cooldown and Smart Replies — which let you compose personalized replies to incoming messages if you have a newer Pixel phone — put even more functionality on your wrist. Gemini in Wear OS 6 is somewhat hit or miss, to be sure, but the redesign complements the Pixel Watch 4’s size and shape really well.
The Pixel Watch 4 can automatically track a limited number of exercises, allowing you to accurately record your walks, runs, and cycling sessions. Its dual-band GPS was better at tracking runs than the Pixel Watch 3 in our initial tests, but it couldn’t quite keep up with Apple’s pricier Watch Ultra 3. That said, both LTE models share the ability to send an emergency SOS via satellite when you’re in a remote area with no signal. The Pixel Watch 4’s mix of hardware, features, and price make it the best Fitbit, and one of the top Android watches overall.
If all you want is a fitness tracker that looks like a smartwatch, you can consider the $199.95 Versa 4 since it’s the more budget-friendly option. But there’s no real point in the Sense 2 since the Pixel Watch 4 can do all the same things — and more.
Read my full Pixel Watch 4 review.
Best budget Fitbit
Fitbit Inspire 3
Score: 7
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The Inspire line hasn’t always felt, well, inspired. But the $99.95 Inspire 3 is different. With a color OLED display, it’s reminiscent of the Fitbit Luxe of 2021, only with a matte black plastic case instead of a metal one. It’s a great throwback to classic Fitbits for people who only want the basics.
The Inspire 3 doesn’t overcomplicate things. It’s a fitness band. You won’t get built-in GPS, contactless payments, or digital assistants. Still, what it lacks in smarts it makes up for with Fitbit’s advanced sleep tracking, stress management features, and irregular heart rate notifications. The OLED display is also a step up from the Inspire 2’s monochrome screen, and you still get 10 days of battery life. (Though it’s more like two to three if you enable the always-on display.)
The Inspire 3 has a variety of accessories, including a clip attachment if you want to track steps discreetly. There’s even a gold or silver mesh strap if you want to dress it up a bit.
Read our coverage of the Fitbit Inspire 3 here.
Best Fitbit fitness tracker
Fitbit Charge 6
Score: 7
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The Charge series has always been popular, and the $159.95 Charge 6 is no exception. It’s Fitbit’s higher-end fitness band but easily competes with the more expensive Versa 4 on features. It features a color OLED screen plus an EKG and EDA sensor. You also get built-in GPS, NFC payments, and SpO2 sensors — the only thing you’re really missing is a digital assistant.
The only qualm we have with the Charge 6 is the always-on display. While it’s beautiful, it’s a major battery drain. The Charge 6 has an estimated seven days of battery life, but that dwindles down to about two if you have the always-on display enabled. This is the same issue that we had with the Charge 5, but it’s fairly typical for Fitbit trackers these days.
Altogether, though, you’re getting a hell of a lot for the price. It’s the only FDA-cleared EKG wearable you can find for under $200, and the only other Fitbits capable of EKG and EDA readings are the Sense, Sense 2, Pixel Watch 3, and Pixel Watch 4. So, unless you’re dead set on the smartwatch form factor, the Charge 6 is the better overall deal.
Compared to its predecessor, the Charge 6 also adds an improved heart rate algorithm, Bluetooth compatibility with some gym equipment, and a few apps — namely Google Maps, Google Wallet, and YouTube Music. While YouTube Music works well, I’m not stoked that it requires an additional $10.99 monthly subscription. That said, it’s better than nothing, as Fitbit discontinued onboard music a while back.
In terms of hardware, the Charge 6 also features a haptic button instead of an inductive groove. It’s not a physical button, which is a little disappointing, but it’s more reliable thus far than the inductive groove, so I would count this as a net positive.
Read our Fitbit Charge 6 review.
Best Fitbit for kids
Fitbit Ace LTE
Score: 8
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The $179.99 Fitbit Ace LTE isn’t really a traditional fitness tracker, though it does track active minutes. Instead, it’s a smartwatch with a mix of kid-friendly games and activities and thoughtful, family-oriented communication features. It’s a walled garden, but an adorable one.
Instead of rigorously tracking health stats, the Ace LTE tracks “active minutes,” which fill a cute progress meter called a Noodle that runs around the face of the watch. Active minutes earn time with the Ace LTE’s built-in games that, combined with activities, unlock customizations for your kid’s avatar (called an Eejie) that lives in the watch, as well as its little house. You can also unlock different games and virtual items by connecting different watch straps.
With a $10/month subscription, you get real-time location tracking and both voice and text messaging to preselected contacts through the Fitbit Ace app (rather than the standard messaging and phone apps). As of November 2024, that includes other family members with Ace LTE watches, as well as a family group chat between parents and kids.
I like that the Ace LTE is built more like a cross-platform smartwatch for adults than other kid watches we’ve used, like the plasticky Garmin Bounce. It uses the same charger as the Pixel Watch 3, and gets about a day’s worth of battery on a charge. My kids enjoy it but aren’t obsessed with it — though they have been known to run laps up and down the hallway to earn more game time.
Google says the Ace LTE is best suited for kids aged 7 to 11, and that sounds right. My oldest is 10 now, and she’s been using an Ace LTE for about a year. Once she hits middle school, I think she’ll be frustrated that she can’t use it to talk to her friends. But for now, it’s great. We recently got one for our 8-year-old, and it’s wild that they can text each other from their watches. It also means my 8-year-old can spam the group chat with emoji, but that’s fine too.
— Nathan Edwards, senior reviews editor
Read our hands-on with the Fitbit Ace LTE.
Should you even buy a Fitbit right now?
Fitbit officially became part of Google in 2021. Nothing changed overnight, but technically, it’s Fitbit by Google now. The Fitbit-to-Google migration started in the summer of 2023, and account migration will be mandatory — not merely optional — for all users in early 2026. Google angered longtime Fitbit users by shuttering social features like challenges and removing streaks, though the latter returned a few months later. In early 2024 Google laid off roughly a thousand employees from its hardware departments, including people on the Pixel, Fitbit, and Nest teams.
In early 2025, Google released a mandatory software update for Fitbit Versa 3 and Sense users to “reduce the risk of battery overheating,” which had the unfortunate side effect of reducing battery life from as many as six days to as few as one for some users. However, the fact that we’re getting a significantly redesigned Fitbit app and an AI-powered health coach does show that Google is still investing resources in projects under the Fitbit name. The hardware improvements introduced with the Pixel Watch 4 are also a positive sign that Google remains committed to developing compelling wearable hardware, whether it has the Fitbit brand or not.
What’s coming next
At the end of October, Fitbit’s head of product Andy Abramson said that “new Fitbit hardware” would roll out in 2026 alongside the full launch of the company’s new AI health coach, which is now available in beta for Android users who subscribe to Fitbit Premium ($9.99 a month). That said, there are currently no details on what the hardware might be, nor when it will be formally announced.
Update, January 15th: Updated to reflect current pricing / availability. Sheena Vasani and Brandt Ranj also contributed to this post.
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