Switching from a Fitbit smartwatch or tracker to an Apple Watch does means changing the way you view your goals, targets and achievements, and will initially alienate and frustrate Fitbit users switching to the Apple fitness regime.
You’ll get used to it, but Apple hasn’t made it easy for switchers to find a natural match for their beloved Fitbit familiarity. As with getting fit, you need to work at it. In the end, you’ll miss some Fitbit features but prefer the Apple Watch experience.
Apple’s Activity app focuses primarily on Movement, Exercise and Standing rather than Fitbit’s more straightforward Step, Floor and Distance measurements.
Fitbit users will be put out by Apple’s different approach to fitness and health metrics, but there are ways to make the transition easier and force the Apple Watch to behave more like a Fitbit.
Fitbit switchers will have to show some patience and flexibility when moving to the Apple Watch, and may never get the same simple joy they previously enjoyed with Fitbit, but the Apple Watch does offer much better smartwatch functionality and closer interaction with the iPhone.
About me: I’ve been a Fitbit user since the original Classic pedometer in 2009. I have reviewed Fitbits, from clip-on trackers to smartwatches, but it looks to me like now is the time to change to an Apple Watch, despite my love of being a Fitbit user.
WHY SWITCH FROM FITBIT TO APPLE WATCH?
Since being bought by Google in 2019, Fitbit devices appear to have slipped down the new owner’s priority list for new features and enhancements. Indeed, the latest Fitbit smartwatches have actually lost features, and are now more like fitness trackers in a smartwatch shape. The newest versions of the Fitbit Versa and Fitbit Sense (Versa 4 and Sense 2) are not as advanced as their predecessors (Versa 3 and Sense). They have been kneecapped in terms of on-device apps and ‘streamlined’ (Fitbit’s words) on former favourites such as challenges and social groups.
The Versa 4 and Sense 2 basically had their third-party app support ripped out and lost even some of Fitbit’s own functions, such as Music Control and, weirdly for a Google product, Google Assistant.
Google appears to be focusing on its own more expensive Pixel Watch, which incorporates Fitbit health tracking. If you want a proper smartwatch, Fitbit is now the wrong solution unless you choose the Google Pixel Watch. Google even states that the Pixel Watch features “Fitbit’s most accurate heart rate tracking yet” – another slap in the face for iPhone-using Fitbit fans.
As the Google Pixel watch works only with Android, iPhone users must switch to Apple’s Watch for smart features. Fitbit’s trackers do have basic smart features – such as notifications – but if you want a proper watch experience with your iPhone, Google/Fitbit is forcing you to Apple.
The Google Pixel Watch is also more expensive than Fitbit smartwatches – starting at £339 compared to the Versa 4 at £179. That said, switching to the Apple Watch is not cheap either, with Watch prices starting at £219 (SE) and rapidly rising to £799 (Ultra 2).
iPhone users will soon face the inevitable and must look at the Apple Watch as an alternative smartwatch, or just move to the top-end Fitbit trackers rather than smartwatches – such as the more-than-able Fitbit Charge 6.
SETTING UP
As you’d expect from Apple, setting up the Watch is a simple process, where Fitbit set-up can be a bit hit-and-miss over Wi-Fi. Compatible apps from your iPhone are automatically added to the Watch. You’ll have to get used to more than one iPhone app rather than the solitary Fitbit app as Apple spreads the settings and data across three apps: Watch, Health and Activity So far, so good…
STEPS
Counting the number of steps you make during the day is at the core of Fitbit metrics. While the daily 10,000-step target is not based on actual science, it’s well held by medics that even gentle walking to this level is definitely good for your health in many ways.
10,000 steps are about the same as walking four to five miles, depending on your stride, and a number that has been linked to a decreased risk of cardiovascular disease (heart disease, stroke, and heart failure), multiple types of cancer and dementia.
Fitbit uses Steps as itsregard steps as one of its three primary fitness goals (Move, Activity, Stand). Apple instead concentrates its red Activity Move ring on how many active calories you’ve burned, the green Exercise ring on how many minutes of brisk activity you’ve done, andtheblue Stand ring on how many times in the day you’ve stood and moved for at least one minute each hour.
