wrote an article last year about how my life has totally changed since I bought a Fitbit and that fact remains true. I wore my gorgeous little Fitbit One nestled snuggly in between by boobies for almost three whole years and I nearly cried whenever I left the house without it. I knew it would take something pretty special to stop me from wearing it and turns out the Apple Watch is it. I ordered one in April because Mr Smaggle is an app developer and he needs me to be onboard with new stuff for testing so I thought I’d give it a go. I had no idea it would soon replace my Fitbit or that I would get so used to wearing a watch so quickly. I literally haven’t worn a watch since I got my first iPhone in 2009 and now I feel totally naked without it. I’m really, really loving the Apple Watch but to condense it’s awesomeness down to a particular category, I’ve written my verdict of Fitbit vs Apple Watch.
Things my Apple Watch does that my FitBit doesn’t
It tacks calorie burn according to my heart rate, movement, weight and height. The Fitbit can estimate a calorie burn but it can’t differentiate between active calories and passive calories. The Apple Watch tracks my exercise calories which the Fitbit couldn’t do. You could manually enter active minutes but you still had to estimate your calorie burn. The Apple Watch just figures it out and it’s awesome.
It taps me to stand up when I’ve been sitting down for too long which was something I was desperate for my Fitbit to do. It’s made such a difference to the way I feel at the end of the day because it reminds when I’ve been idle for too long.
It reminds me to drink water. I’ve tried water reminder apps on my phone before but my phone is often on Do Not Disturb mode. I can set my watch to only let health related notifications through so I have the peace and quiet of my phone being off but I don’t miss out on my stand up and water reminders. This is actually game changing, I’ve been waiting years for something like this.
It has a three-fold goal process. There’s a calorie goal, movement goal and stand goal for each day which I prefer to the basic goal of 10,000 steps. The Apple Watch can account for days where you do an exercise class and burn a lot of calories but you may not have completed your steps which is excellent because this is something that always frustrated me on low step days when I’d been to the gym when using my Fitbit. I do try my hardest to do my full 10,000 steps every day but if I’ve done a step class but only walked 7000 steps the Apple Watch won’t give me grief about it, it just intuitively understands that I’ve moved enough and raised my heart rate enough and grants me my movement goal.
Fitbit doesn’t sync natively with Apple Health. Which is fair enough because they’re a competitor but I may have continued using it if they had.
Things my Fitbit does that my Apple Watch doesn’t
Allows me to share data with friends – the one thing I really miss about my Fitbit is not being able to see and share step goals with friends. It is very motivating to keep my steps up when I know people can see them! I feel it may only be a matter of time before this is an available feature on the Apple Watch though.
It also wasn’t a conscious choice to stop using my Fitbit. I used both for at least a month and I realised all of a sudden I’d gone three days without wearing it my Fitbit. It also just seemed silly to keep using my Fitbit when my Apple Watch did everything it did and more. I mentioned in my previous article that I would never buy a wrist step tracker and I stand by that but I love the Apple Watch is so stylish and does so much more than just track steps, I can’t see myself ever caring about wearing it somewhere fancy, even weddings.
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Do you have an Apple Watch or a Fitbit? Are you considering getting either? Or swapping from a Fitbit to an Apple Watch?
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P.S I have a mailing list. Perhaps you’d like to join it. There’s almost always Beyonce in it and sometimes there’s Benedict Cumberbatch too.
26 Comments
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I so wanted to get a Fitbit after your post last year, but I could only find the wrist ones, which I didn’t want. Not sure about the apple watch. Will reserve judgement until I’ve seen one in the flesh. But I love the things it can do – and I’m sure what you’ve summarised here is only scratching the surface of its capabilities. More reports to come? x
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I would never have got a wrist Fitbit, the just weren’t my bag and I knew I’d forget to wear it! It think once you see one in the flesh you’ll love it. Everyone gets excited when they have play with mine.
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I’m sorry, I just can’t let “Everyone gets excited when they have play with mine” go without a massive THAT’S WHAT SHE SAID.
As you were.
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Very interesting and something I had been wondering about. I definitely want the apple watch… having massive FOMO actually. But its on the birthday wishlist! Till then… Fitbit it is! Xx
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Oh fingers crossed! The sport version is about $600 I think which is really reasonably priced for what it can do!
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You got me onto the Fitbit thang although I went for the wrist option, ugly as it is, there’s way too much going on in my bra department! I totes love it and although it’s ugly and it doesn’t take into account the gym stuff etc, I love it so. That apple watch takes it to a whole new level though, doesn’t it?! You’re such an enabler, Smags! An apple watch is totes going on my Wish List!
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Yay! I’m so glad! I loved having mine in bra – it was just always there and no one could see it. I’m pretty terrible… I’m a bit gadgetry whore!
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I never jumped onto the fitbit bandwagon, but after I got back from my OS holiday this year I decided I wanted a tool to help me keep motivated and inspired to do things and get fit. I simultaneously was overdue for a new running watch so I gravitated towards the Garmin VivoActive. Like an Apple Watch, but not. I absolutely LOVE it!! It doesn’t have the stand up and drink things (although I’ll check their app store for something like that, they may actually have it and I like the idea of the water one, especially when I’m not at my desk with my water right in front of me) but I’m finding the get up and move prompts to be really good. Plus the 10,000 steps is working for me at the moment and I just mentally tick off doing extra things if I know I’ve been active sans steps.
It amuses me that the features I cared least about – phone notifications on my watch – are some of the features I now find *most* helpful though! I can just glance at my wrist to gauge if a message or incoming call requires my attention and I love that 🙂
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I thought that would be annoying but its’ just not I love it. Another thing I love is that the watch can give me directions. I get lost all the time so I just put my destination into my phone and it taps me on the wrist when I need to change directions!
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That’s amazing! Could you pre-set a particular route that you want to walk and get your watch to tell you when to turn so that you end up making one of those penis drawings with your walks about town?? Because that would be the single best use EVER.
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The Apple Watch won my heart when I felt your man’s heartbeat. Awwwwww! x
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I know it’s sweet isn’t it? I love the heart beat feature we use it all the time. It’s weird though I only send my heart beat to Ben. It’s a bit weird sending to anyone else.
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Wow, that all sounds amazing!
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I’m going to do a proper review of it next week!
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I want one so badly…….. I currently have Garmin Vivofit and it’s fab but I love Apple products and I’m dying to get the watch. My partner doesn’t get it though and thinks it’s overpriced…. he’s mad I know…… I’ll keep working on him!
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My partner is the opposite! He kind of forced me to get it but I have no regrets. It’s awesome!
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I have a Fitbit Charge HR, which has a heart rate monitor in it, I adore it! I couldn’t put things down my boobs, they might never return! x
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I love the HR monitor ones! But my Apple Watch has that too. 🙂
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I just got an Apple Watch a few weeks ago. My husband took me to the Apple store and wanted to buy me one as a birthday present. Initially I wasn’t interested but once I saw the things it did, I relented. I think he got it for me as I never picked up his calls or SMS as my phone was / is always in my handbag!
I’m still figuring it out but so far so good. I also had a Fitbit Force but had stopped wearing it a month or so before I got the Apple Watch – purely because I had started ignoring it, and wasn’t completing my steps.
Like you, I love that the Watch actually tells me to stand up – something the Fitbit didn’t do. I also love having the weather easily accessible. Oh, and the fact that I managed to answer a call on my watch while in the kitchen, even though the phone was in the bedroom!-
I’ve very sold on mine. I’ve only left the house without it once which is a great track record so far. I also love the heartbeat thing. Mr Smags and I send them to each other all the time. It’s just an awesome way to let each other know that we’re thinking about each other but we don’t actually have to say anything.
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I have a fitbit flex and love it. But I agree it’s not that convenient about reminding stuff like hey drink water, hey you need to move and so on. BTW I love the sleep counting function. xx cathy
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I loved that on mine too! The Apple Watch charges at night so there’s no sleep talking yet but I think it’s only a matter of time. Although another commenter had a point that she knows when she hasn’t slept well and I agree. I’d like for the FitBit to offer solutions as to WHY I didn’t sleep well rather than just tell me that I didn’t sleep well.
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I love my Fitbit flex. I’d like to get a Fitbit HR (it includes heart rate etc) at some point. I am motivated very much by being able to track things and set goals. If I’m not wearing it, I feel like I’m wasting my time (even though I know I’m not and I’m just being silly). I am not quite convinced that I need an Apple Watch just yet, but like with everything, I will reserve any judgment until it’s been around a while longer x
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Good post. What app do you use for the water reminders on the watch? TIA
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