Best Fitness Trackers to Help You Keep Fit in the UK

Review & Comparison, Last Update September 3, 2024
Get motivated to meet your goals with a tracker that keeps daily stats and shows you time on the display. Get some encouragement for being more active throughout the day. We've reviewed 5 best fitness trackers that will help you lead an active lifestyle. Take a pick! ...Read more ...Read less
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BEST 2024
PROS
CONS
OUR VERDICT
TYPE
DISPLAY
SENSORS AND COMPONENTS
BODY METRICS
BATTERY LIFE
PROTECTION
OS COMPATIBILITY
PACKAGE
WARRANTY
 
PROS

With Active Zone minutes metrics, you'll be able to track your activity through the week and push yourself harder to achieve fitness goals. Besides, featuring a built-in NFC, the band will let you make contactless payments via FitbitPay.

CONS

There are no written instructions. 

OUR VERDICT

The Fitbit Charge 4 is one of the most feature-rich models in the range and one of the best fitness trackers overall. It will not only let you keep an eye on your health and fitness level but also motivate you for new goals. It's an advanced model for avid fitness enthusiasts that stands close to a smartwatch.

detailed parameters
TYPE

Wristband

DISPLAY

Touchscreen OLED display

SENSORS AND COMPONENTS

GPS, Bluetooth, Heart rate tracker, 3-axis accelerometer, Vibration motor

BODY METRICS

All-day activity tracking (Track steps, distance, calories burned, active minutes, floors climbed, hourly activity and stationary time), Heart rate tracking, Auto sleep tracking, Menstrual health tracking, Guided breathing sessions, Active zone minutes, Reminders to move, 20+ Goal-based exercise modes, Payments

BATTERY LIFE

up to 7 days

PROTECTION

Water-resistant up to 50 m

OS COMPATIBILITY

iOS 12.2 or above, Android OS 7.0 or above

PACKAGE

USB cable

WARRANTY

1 year

PROS

Multiple sports modes are available in the Indoor/Outdoor format including running, cycling, walking, free training, rowing, power workouts, and swimming. And Professional Data will provide pro-grade guidance on your training efforts.

CONS

The model doesn't connect to other apps.

OUR VERDICT

If you seek a reliable assistant for your daily workouts that will be on guard of your health and physical activity, you can't go wrong with the Huawei Band 4 Pro fitness tracker. It hits the sweet spot between reasonable price and premium functionality and provides really a lot for its money. 

detailed parameters
TYPE

Wristband

DISPLAY

0.95" AMOLED touchscreen

SENSORS AND COMPONENTS

GPS, Bluetooth, Heart rate tracker, 6-axis motion sensor, Vibration motor

BODY METRICS

Indoor/Outdoor Pro tracking, Smart heart rate tracking, Oxygen saturation detection, Sleep monitor, Life assistant

BATTERY LIFE

up to 5 days

PROTECTION

Water-resistant up to 50 m

OS COMPATIBILITY

Android 5.0 or above

PACKAGE

Charge cable, Clip

WARRANTY

1 year

PROS

The bracelet boasts an impressively long battery life of up to 14 days under the normal workload and up to 20 days in the power-saving mode. And a magnetic charger makes juicing it up a breeze. Besides, the gadget offers remote camera control. 

CONS

Mi Fit app is not intuitive enough to navigate. 

OUR VERDICT

Xiaomi Mi Band 5 is a top choice for an affordable price. It's a new-generation model with an enlarged and upgraded display and an advanced health tracker capable of monitoring your stress level and even provide recommendations of breathing patterns. Overall, the model is durable, accurate, and long-lasting. 

detailed parameters
TYPE

Wristband

DISPLAY

1.1" dynamic colour-display

SENSORS AND COMPONENTS

GPS, Bluetooth, Heart rate tracker, Motion sensor, Vibration motor

BODY METRICS

11 sports modes, 24-hour heart rate monitoring, 24-hour sleep monitoring, Menstrual cycle tracking, Health modes (personal activity intelligence, stress monitoring, breathing exercises)

BATTERY LIFE

up to 14 days

PROTECTION

Water-resistant up to 50 m

OS COMPATIBILITY

Android 5.0 and above or iOS 10.0 and above

PACKAGE

Magnetic charging cable

WARRANTY

1 year

PROS

14 exercise modes available on this model offer not only the most popular activities such as running, walking, or riding a bike but also less popular tennis, table tennis, badminton,  and rope jumping. You can set your goals and get real-time metrics. 

CONS

The screen lacks brightness for outdoor use. 

OUR VERDICT

The TERMINICE ID152 is a functional and stylish fitness tracker that will help you closely monitor your health condition and motivate you for regular workouts. It boasts excellent connectivity and waterproof design and does all the key measurements. As such, it is ideal for multi-sport tracking.

detailed parameters
TYPE

Wristband

DISPLAY

0.96" colour screen

SENSORS AND COMPONENTS

GPS, Bluetooth, Nordic 51832 Chip, HR sensor, Vibration motor

BODY METRICS

All-day activity tracking (steps, distance, calories burned, miles walked, active minutes, sleep status and more), Heart rate monitoring, 14 exercise modes

BATTERY LIFE

up to 15 days

PROTECTION

IP68 waterproof

OS COMPATIBILITY

iOS 8 and above, Android 5.0 and above

PACKAGE

USB cable

WARRANTY

1 year

PROS

Thanks to an adjustable wristband, the tracker is perfectly suitable even for teens and smaller kids. Chargeable from any USB-enabled devices, it is very easy to juice up wherever you are. 

CONS

There is no heart monitor. 

OUR VERDICT

Much slimmer than many other models and available in many bright designs, the BIGGERFIVE fitness tracker is a perfect fit for youngsters and kids. Weighing only 17g, it is hardly sensible on the wrist while adjustable band design will let the device meet the needs of a growing kid.

detailed parameters
TYPE

Wristband

DISPLAY

Touchscreen 

SENSORS AND COMPONENTS

Bluetooth, Vibration motor

BODY METRICS

All-day activity tracking (steps, distance, calories burned, active minutes), Sleep monitoring

BATTERY LIFE

up to 7 days

PROTECTION

IP67 waterproof

OS COMPATIBILITY

Android 4.4 above and iOS 8.0 above

PACKAGE

Fitness tracker only

WARRANTY

Amazon's 30-day return policy

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Fitbit Charge 4

A Feature-rich Champ

When it comes to fitness trackers, Fitbit brand is the industry top-liner. And once the company came up with a new model, it became an absolute hit straight away and for a good reason. An upgrade to Charge 3, the Fitbit Charge 4 stands out for a whole bunch of highly useful features offering a lot both to keen fitness enthusiasts and to experienced athletes.

Along with common for this type of device daily activity tracking, heart rate monitoring, and personalised exercise modes, the Charge 4 provides advanced sleep tracking, menstrual health monitoring, guided breathing sessions, and has a built-in GPS. Thanks to that, you’ll be able to keep a close eye on how you are doing in your favourite sports activities, check and monitor the duration and quality of your sleep, and see you real-time pace and distance for different types of both indoor and outdoor workouts.

An integrated GPS module will let you leave your phone at home and keep an eye on all metrics with a quick glance on your wrist. It works great for such popular activities as running, walking, cycling, and interval workouts and for more specific ones like skiing, surfing, and even kayaking.

Menstrual health monitoring is a great option for women designed to help them track the menstrual cycle and get info on fertility windows, which is a helpful function for baby planning.

Yet another smart Charge 4 benefit that can’t be overlooked is Active Zone Minutes. The device not only displays your real-time heartbeat rates and beeps to inform you when you reach metrics for efficient calorie burning, but also takes record of the time you spend in that fat-burning zone. Good for your body condition, those active minutes are also good for mental and cognitive health. And you can track those minutes on a weekly basis and set up new goals to further up your fitness level.

Review of Fitbit Charge 4 Fitness Tracker with GPS

Added Functions Above All Praise

Exercise shortcuts, colour-coded activity maps, Sleep scores, heart rate alerts, oxygenation rates, and active minutes accrued all target to help you monitor and maintain your body health and maximise your workout results. Yet, apart from that, the Fitbit Charge 4 has some other aces down its sleeve that further elevate the unit functionality.

To start things off, this fourth-generation model comes fitted with Spotify support, the feature that was long-expected by many Fitbit fans. To use it, though, you should have a Spotify Premium account, otherwise, you won't be able to connect it to this music streaming service. One more useful upgrade is the Fitbit Pay that was present only on Special Edition models before. With the built-in NFC, you’ll be able to use contactless payments by simply using your band.

Next comes compatibility. The tracker works with both iOS and Android versions displaying all notifications from your mobile on the screen. On top of that, you can enable additional alerts from other apps if needed.

To cut a long story short, the Fitbit Charge 4 is one of the best fitness trackers overall for now. It has everything you can possibly expect from this type of device and a lot more. Its rich and smart functionality sets it in a row with smartwatches while sleek compactness makes it a perfect match for sports activities.

Fitbit Charge 4 Fitness Tracker with GPS in the use

Additional Info

    Manufacturer

Last updated price £99.00
Stock In stock
ASIN B084CT21P8

 

Huawei Band 4 Pro

Pro-grade Support for All Your Training Endeavours

Huawei gadgets stand strong against headliners in many sectors and fitness trackers are not an exception. If you are not eager to invest more into top-liner models, yet still crave for premium functionality, you’ll hit the spot with the Huawei Band Pro 4. Let’s see in more detail how it stands out among the others.

Unlike many other models in this price range, the Band Pro 4 has a built-in GPS. It will track your route wherever you go and mark it on the map without the need to carry your mobile with you. Notably, the GPS is very accurate and will consistently build correct routes. This function is much loved by runners, walkers, and cyclists for hitting some new routes.

Along with continuous heart rate monitoring, the model also allows measuring blood oxygen saturation or the SpO2 rate that not only provides some general idea about your body health but also enables detecting some abnormalities or diseases at their early stages. Speaking of the heart rate measurement, it’s remarkable that monitoring is performed on a 24/7 basis and pro-grade optical devices paired with a thought-out algorithm deliver maximum accurate results time and again.

To proceed with premium functions, the Huawei Band Pro 4 smart bracelet comes fitted with an intelligent Sleep tracker. TruSleep 2.0 will monitor and analyse your sleeping patterns to give you recommendations on how to improve the quality of your sleep and get rid of the most common sleeping problems.

While analysing your training efforts, this fitness tracker will also give you a sort of professional guidance via FIRTSTBEAT on how to make the best of your endeavours in sports or activity you are engaged in.

Review of Huawei Band 4 Pro Fitness Tracker

Keep It Slimmer, Push It Harder

To say a few words about the Band 4 Pro design, the bracelet looks very neat and modern. It is available in different band colours and offers a number of watch faces to meet different users' tastes and styles. The item is very slim, so you can wear it anywhere and it won’t cause any discomfort while sleeping. In the meantime, the 0.95” AMOLED touchscreen provides good visibility due to high contrast.

Keeping track of your body metrics and training records, the Band 4 Pro is meant not only for analysing your efforts and results but also for motivating you to level up your physical activity and work harder. Thus, multiple sports modes are available in the indoor/outdoor format to provide real-time feedback on your rates and make you push yourself to higher goals.

Initially created to work with Huawei smartphones, the bracelet is still compatible with both iOS and Android via Huawei Health App. But to make use of this application on other smartphones, you need to install Huawei Mobile Services. Though not a dealbreaker, it's something you should be aware of.

To conclude, the tag 'Pro' in the model’s name is not for nothing. Distinguished by sleek modern design, this smart bracelet offers reliable professional fitness support to anyone engaged in sports activities on amateur or pro level.

Huawei Band 4 Pro Fitness Tracker in the use

Additional Info

    Manufacturer

Last updated price £59.99
Stock In stock
ASIN B08179V446

 

Xiaomi Mi Band 5

A Budget Band Boss

Xiaomi is the brand that confidently stands out in its range. So, if you're looking for a budget-friendly gadget combining quality with style, you can’t go wrong with the Mi Band 5 smart bracelet from Xiaomi.

Though built around the basics, the Mi Band 5 has some upgrades that bring it to a new functionality level and make a fave of many customers who previously favoured much more expensive top-liner brands. Thus, the bracelet can take health and fitness records in 11 sports modes including outdoor and treadmill running, swimming, walking, cycling, free-style, and exercise on the elliptical machine, jumping rope, rowing machine, and even yoga. The Mi Band 5 will monitor your heart rate on a 24-hour basis and can translate it into your personal fitness score via PAI (personal activity intelligence) index. In other words, it will help you shift away from specific rates and get a general view of your daily totals and how efficient your training efforts are overall. Some other important records the model keeps track of include sleeping quality and menstrual cycle for ladies.

Mi Band 5 is compatible with all the latest models of Android and iOS smartphones via Mi Fit app. It connects to mobiles smoothly and receives calls and app notifications quickly and without a hassle. Though the band has no inbuilt GPS, it reliably catches on the phone GPS and reports accurate data on your routes to the Mi Fit app. Speaking of which, some customers claimed that the application is not intuitive enough. However, with some degree of practice, you’ll get the hang of it pretty soon.

Review of Xiaomi Mi Band 5 Fitness Tracker

Long-Lasting and Long-Operating

As far as the model’s design is concerned, it looks pretty simple and sporty. Yet, what really gives it an edge over the competition is an oversized 1.1” dynamic colour display with the improved resolution and brightness. Besides, the whole item is solidly built and boasts a 5ATM waterproof rating. So, it can easily withstand whatever you throw at it including immersion in water.

Decently functional and distinguished by superb quality, the Mi Band 5 has one more feature that sets it above even some premium rivals. That is, it has impressively long battery life. On a full charge, the battery can last up to 14 days under the normal workload and up to 20 days in a power-saving mode. Hence, no worrying about charging at all. Besides, the model offers magnetic charging with a charger connecting to it with pins. It means there will be no need to take the tracker out of the band anymore.

All in all, the Xiaomi Mi Band 5 strikes a perfect balance between an affordable price and smart functionality it offers for that price. For the money, it provides surprisingly versatile tracking support and boasts high-quality touchscreen superior to displays of many more expensive models.

Xiaomi Mi Band 5 Fitness Tracker in the use

Additional Info

    Manufacturer

Last updated price £29.99
Stock In stock
ASIN B089NS9JW2

 

TEMINICE ID152

A Reliable Pal for Multi-Sport Tracking

If you are a true sports lover engaged in different types of sports activities and need a reliable and relatively simple wearable to measure and track your body metrics while training and analyse those measurements on a broader scale, we strongly recommend setting your eyes on the ID152 fitness tracker from TEMINICE. What makes this model attractive straight away is a fairly honest price. The other thing is - how much value and practical features if offers for that price. 

First and foremost, the model does all the key measurements by ensuring all-day activity tracking. This includes steps count, distance passed, active time, moving speed, heart rate, and caloric consumption. By wearing the band in bed, you can also monitor your sleep. The unit will estimate your deep, light, and wake sleep phases to give you an idea of your night’s sleep quality and if there is a need for improvement.

Yet, what makes the TEMINICE tracker a real find for active fitness pals is a multi-sport exercise module. As many as 14 exercise modes available on this bracelet cover not only the most popular activities like walking, running, cycling, treadmill, and common fitness but also such specific ones as tennis, basketball, badminton, football, mountaineering, hiking, yoga, and even dancing. So, the tracker will be a helpful companion not only for athletes and fitness enthusiasts but also for active outdoorsmen.

When it comes to design quality, the TEMINICE smart bracelet is no slouch as well. The LCD screen is bright and sharp and boasts high visibility, especially given the product price point. The band is made of flexible and resilient plastic durable and resistant to wear and is available in multiple colour patterns to match any taste. Other than that, the whole unit design has an IPF68 waterproof rate and can be safely exposed to water. Meanwhile, all sensors are highly sensitive and deliver accurate and true-to-life results.

Review of TEMINICE ID152 Fitness Tracker

With Excellent Connectivity

Unlike high-end rivals, the TEMINICE ID152 doesn’t have independent functionality that many users pay for in top-liner models. And in the end, do you really need that? With the TEMINICE, you’ll still get that sort of sophisticated functionality when synchronising the device with your smartphone via the app. And this is where the ID152 really shines. The model offers excellent connectivity. Compatible with iOS (8 and above) and Android (5.5 and above) systems, the tracker swiftly and flawlessly syncs with gadgets via Bluetooth and reveals a full functional potential via the VeryFitPro app, which is very intuitive and easy to navigate. The device will consistently display phone notifications and alerts from all the most widely used messengers as well as push some activity reminders.

One more model’s benefit we'd be remiss not to mention is a strong battery. Charging to the full from any USB-enabled device, it will pack enough power to run a fitness tracker for up to 15 days. So, you won’t have to charge it every now and then, which is especially important if you are somewhere with no access to electricity.

In a word, the TEMINICE ID152 is a reliable workout companion for multi-sport tracking and a decent alternative to pricier branded models. Distinguished by excellent connectivity and super accurate sensors, it does its measuring job just great.

TEMINICE ID152 Fitness Tracker in the use
Last updated price £29.99
Stock In stock
ASIN B07SQ2LGWX

 

BIGGERFIVE (Oiie-935)

A Perfect Choice for Youngsters

Care for the physical health of your kids? Want to put them on the right activity track and keep them exercise-wise from their very childhood? If so, this fitness tracker from BIGGERFIVE will surely catch your fancy.

To start with the design, the model is noticeably slimmer than many of its rivals and comes in several bright band designs that will be favoured by younger users. The strap is adjustable to fit smaller wrists from about 10 to 15 cm in circumference. In the meantime, made of TPU material the band contains no harmful compounds and is nicely flexible and resilient to comfortably sit on the wrist. All in all, the device weighs less than 17g and the kids will hardly feel it on their hands. Besides, distinguished by the IP67 waterproof rate, it is resistant to splashes and sweat and is even safe for bathing and swimming.

In terms of functionality, the BIGGERFIVE doesn’t trail much behind any regular fitness tracker. It will record all daily activities of your kid including steps, moving distance, activity minutes, and caloric consumption. In addition, you’ll be able to track the sleeping trends of your youngster, with the tracker monitoring the child’s sleeping patterns and recording them. The only gripe you might have is the lack of a heart rate monitor. However, this part is not so important for kids we guess since the rest of the measurements still allow getting a deep insight into their activity overall.

Review of BIGGERFIVE (Oiie-935) Fitness Tracker

Great for Building Healthy Habits

Getting a fitness tracker for a kid is a great opportunity for parents to keep an eye on the health-focused lifestyle of their child and for the youngster to build and maintain healthy habits. And the BIGGERFIVE tracker really excels in this concern. Easily connecting to all the latest iOS and Android smartphones via the VeryFitPro app (which is available for free and is a breeze to install), the device will let you view all your kid’s activity data in the app and analyse them. On top of that, the model provides for the ability to set as many as 10 alarms that will help you effortlessly build some healthy habits into the daily schedule of your kid or teen. Thus, you can set moving, drinking, study, or wake-up reminders for your youngster. And teens involved in some kind of professional sport will highly appreciate the ability to use the fitness tracker as a timer to level up their sports goals.

To wrap it up, the BIGGERFIVE is an affordable and high-quality fitness tracker for younger users from 5 to 15 years of age. It will help your kids stick to a healthier lifestyle and let you monitor their activity.

BIGGERFIVE (Oiie-935) Fitness Tracker in the use
Last updated price £22.99
Stock In stock
ASIN B08JPJ24HV

 

Infographics

Comparison of Fitness Trackers to Help You Keep Fit

What Is a Fitness Tracker?

How often have you thought about what kind of lifestyle you lead? Eventually, poor diet, sedentary work, and restless sleep will sooner or later lead to one thought - “It is time to change something!”. Start with yourself! Begin to control your activity using a fitness tracker - a gadget that counts a number of steps and other activity metrics throughout a day. This small but smart device will not only control your physical activity but also motivate you to set and achieve new goals, detecting the time of inactivity and prompting you to do some exercise or simply walk. Some of the trackers come equipped with heart rate sensors that can also monitor your heartbeat, track your sleep and let you share these results on social media later via a mobile phone. Still, to achieve the tangible results you need to have a willpower and always push yourself to the limit.

And of course, don’t forget about a proper nutrition which plays an important role in everyone’s life! We recommend adding protein bars to your diet that can help you achieve positive and quick results. If you are an active person that loves sports, make sure to read the review of the best running watches.

What Features to Compare

Design

To buy a fitness tracker that you’d like to use and wear, consider its design. The market today offers the devices of all sizes and shapes to fit a wide audience. Some of them can be worn on clothes, clipped to belts or pants or just worn in a common way, on a wrist. Fitness trackers that are most favoured by the customers today are those that resemble a bracelet with a small information display. There you can find a lot of useful readouts on your daily activities and receive alert notifications. The most advanced activity trackers support the following metrics - calories burned, distance walked, the number of steps, and some weekly statistics on your performance. For sportsmen, all these functions would be of great use, no doubt.

Features

In general, all trackers are capable of calculating the number of steps, distance covered, and calories burnt but some can do even more. People who suffer from trouble sleeping would appreciate using a feature on tracking their phases of sleep to know exactly what to correct in their lifestyle to solve this issue. Some trackers feature a smart clock that would wake you up only when you are in your light phase of sleep so that getting up isn’t such a chore. Or you can set this time yourself, knowing at what time you feel fit to get up. There are trackers with a GPS-function and altimeter; they’ll come in handy for runners and other sportsmen who’d like to trace down their speed. People who do exercises to burn fat and need to monitor their heart rate in order to make training more effective should check out a Heart Rate feature (although most modern models have got one). Basically, there are two options available - one that can “sense” your pulse with an infrared sensor and the other attached to the chest to sense the heart muscle. For a complete analysis of your physical performance, the tracker can sync via Bluetooth with your smartphone or PC via a special app. This allows you to set a profile and track your results as well as share them with your friends on social networks. When synced with a smartphone, some activity trackers can display information on incoming calls or notifications from your phone. This feature is useful for people who do not want to use the phone constantly but rather take a quick glimpse on the wrist to know whether to bother or not.

Usability

An activity tracker is a device that will always be with you wherever you are and whatever your condition is. Therefore, it is necessary to pay attention to the usability of the device since it ought to include protection against dust and moisture. For example, if you wear a fitness bracelet on your wrist all the time, you get sweaty when exercising and, as a result, sweat might damage the electronics. So, choose the device that is fully protected from moisture. Some models are highly water-resistant, so you can even swim or take a shower wearing them. The functionality and design of the tracker will affect its battery life. The majority of modern trackers should be charged at least once a week. And we probably don't need to mention that the device with a colour display must be charged every 3-4 days, but in any case, it will be less frequent than charging a smartphone. If you pick a device that can do nothing but only count steps, it won't consume a lot of energy at all, even if you sync it with your smartphone to send statistics.

Did You Know?

Back to the Roots

A modern fitness tracker or activity tracker primarily implies a wearable device that will help you monitor and record fitness-related metrics and even analyze your fitness activities. Coming in a whole variety of types and designs, including such as a GPS fitness tracker, a fitness tracker for swimming, fitness tracker for running, and a health fitness tracker for general use, this device is a common thing for many hardcore fitness buffs and healthy lifestyle followers. But have you ever wondered what stands behind this little gizmo?

It is interesting that the whole concept is based on spreadsheet style computer logs that were used for monitoring the athlete's activity metrics. At the beginning of the 21st century, an impressive rise in technologies allowed automating this process and integrating it into a new-generation wearable that helps you hit your step count per day. Yet, a fitness tracker is not that simple and there is a number of technologies that back up its functionality aligning it with modern fitness needs. To give you a deeper insight of how a fitness tracker actually works, let’s come back to the roots of its technology.

The Origins of Your Fitness Tracker's Techs

Do you know where the benchmark of 10 000 steps per day found in all trackers comes from? The standard was introduced in 1965 by the Japanese professor Yoshiro Hatano who studied obesity problems in Japan. He made a conclusion that this is an optimal regime for efficient weight control and realized it in a Manpo-kei pedometer. However, the forefather of a modern wristband tracker is the Sports Tester P200 from Polar that was created in 1982 and came fitted with a chest strap heart rate monitor to measure heart rate during training. No need to say that GPS tracking was initially confined to military tasks and was later opened for civilian use as well by the president Bill Clinton in 1996.

Another basic feature of the latest fitness trackers is 3D accelerometer delivering a more accurate reading of calories burnt and distance covered during exercises. But this motion sensing technology is not new. It appeared in 2006 and was first applied in Nokia 5500 phone recording the movement in three different axes.

Gamification Trend

It’s not a secret that the majority of fitness bands are accompanied by special smart apps revealing the maximum potential of these little gadgets and giving access to all the features and functions they come packed with. Nothing special for an average user today. But what is really interesting is that these apps were build using the same principles that work in computer games. It is a so-called process of gamification. By applying the principles of reward and motivation, individual goal setting and levelling-up, the apps appeal to our basic needs, pushing us to optimise our performance and work towards our goals.

FAQ:

Q: What are fitness trackers used for?
A: They are used to keep track of your physical activities but these gadgets do a lot more than that. Thanks to the smart sensors and software, an activity tracker not only tells you how much you move during a day but also monitors your sleep, counts calories you burn, and even wakes you up in the morning with a gentle vibration. In a nutshell, this device helps you keep fit.

Q: How does a fitness band know how much I move?
A: Any activity tracker is equipped with a 3-axis accelerometer that detects your movements in any direction. Bases on this data, the software counts an approximate number of calories you've burned. Some models also have a gyroscope that measures orientation and rotation. The most advanced models also have an altimeter that tracks the height you are currently at. Trackers may also be equipped with heart rate sensors. The more sensors there are, the more functional the device will be and the more information it will output. Needless to mention, the more sensors, the higher the price.

Q: Do activity trackers have displays?
A: It depends on the model. In general, activity trackers work via a special app installed on a portable device (a smartphone, for example), so they don’t need a large display (unlike smart watches). However, most of these devices have a screen that shows you the time and some other basic functions.

Q: How to connect an activity tracker to a smartphone?
A: These devices are paired with smartphones via a Bluetooth connection. Turn the Bluetooth on on your phone and wait till it detects the tracker. Then, finish the pairing process. Before doing so, download and install the appropriate application. Each manufacturer develops the app for its own line of fitness bands.

Q: Can I take shower or swim wearing a fitness tracker?
A: It depends on the model you use. The majority of activity trackers are sweat-, rain-, and splash-proof, however, they aren’t waterproof. It means you shouldn’t use them while taking a shower, swimming, let alone diving (in the latter case special dive watches are required).

Q: What smartphones are activity trackers compatible with?
A: The majority of activity trackers are compatible with most of Android and iOS smartphones but you should still check what versions are supported. For example, if a device requires at least Android 4.4, whereas your smartphone has Android 4.0 or one of the earlier versions, the two gadgets will not be compatible.

Q: Can I receive calls and messages using a fitness tracker?
A: No. Some models support notifications, which means they can show you the caller id and vibrate in the case of an incoming call. Yet, you still need to use a smartphone to receive a call.

Q: How long can an activity tracker work on a single charge? How do I charge them?
A: It depends on the model. Most gadgets can work for about 5-7 days on a single charge. Most activity trackers are charged through a USB port. Therefore, you can easily connect a tracker to your laptop, computer, or any other device with a USB port.

Sources:

1. David Nield How to Buy a Fitness Tracker: Everything You Need to Consider, Wareable. May 16, 2016.

2. Valentina Palladino Fitness Tracker Buying Guide, Tom's Guide. February 10, 2015.

3. Fitness Tracker Buying Guide, Consumer Reports. August 2016.

4. How to Choose the Right Fitness Tracker, SkinnyMs.

5. Anick Jesdanun How to Choose a Fitness Tracker When They All Sound the Same, Phys.org. July 20, 2016.

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Publish Date: 2017-11-22 09:05:14