10 Life Hacks Every Fitbit Edge User Should Know
The Fitbit Edge fitness tracker is perfect for those who want a minimalist fitness tracker but still want a screen to display the time and workout data. Here are my tips on how to get the most out of it, including hidden features and unexpected uses.
Create a collection of watch faces right from your phone.
It’s not very noticeable on the watch itself or in the app, but you can change watch faces, and if you use the app on your phone, you can change color schemes and sometimes even widgets.
On your watch, tap and hold the middle of the watch face. This will bring up a carousel of your selected watch faces in the app. On the final screen of the carousel, a button will appear to open the watch face library on your phone. This is the fastest way to access it, but you can also go to your device settings in the app.
From here, tap “All Watches” and browse the available watch faces. After installing a watch face you like, tap “Customize” to choose a color scheme and specify additional elements to display (such as your daily step count or the weather). Unfortunately, the “Share” button doesn’t work—it leads to a broken link to the old Fitbit website—but it’s not a bad idea.
Turn it over to avoid accidentally pressing the button.
The Fitbit Edge fitness tracker is designed with the side button on the right. However, if you wear other jewelry or a watch with it, or if you wear it low on your wrist and find that the button is pressed when you bend your arm, you can change this position.
Simply go to your device settings in the Google Health app, tap “Device Settings,” and then change the orientation of the tracker so the button is on the left instead of the right. This will flip the display, so remove the watch and rotate it to view everything correctly again.
Disable AI analytics.
The AI-powered Health Coach feature is both the best and the worst thing about the Google Health app. Fortunately, it can be turned off. Furthermore, Google has added a feature that allows you to disable unauthorized recommendations, while still allowing the AI to be available when you need it.
Tap your profile photo in the app, then select “Google Health Settings,” then “Coaching,” and select “No Coach Comments .” The pop-up messages (and notifications) will stop appearing throughout the day, but you can always tap the “Ask a Coach” button if you have a question or want to use the AI-powered nutrition or workout tracking feature.
Send your heart rate data to Strava to track laps and view maps.
The Fitbit Edge workout app is fairly minimalist and not customizable, but you can get more information during your workouts. Swipe down from the top of the Fitbit Edge screen and tap the heart-shaped Wi-Fi icon. This will enable heart rate data sharing.
Then, open the Strava app, tap “Record” to start a workout, and swipe up from the bottom of the screen to see workout options. Select the Fitbit Edge as your heart rate sensor, and your phone will now be able to track your workout using your Fitbit’s heart rate data. The Strava app has a lap button and can display your previous lap times; it also shows a map of your location and where you’ve been.
Stop counting your steps too often.
Fitbit devices have always been a bit overly active in counting steps compared to other wearables, and they know it. Hand and arm movements can be erroneously counted, but there’s a way to adjust the device’s sensitivity. If you wear the device on your dominant hand (for example, your right hand if you’re right-handed), go to “Device Settings” in the phone app and set the “Wrist” setting to “Dominant Hand.”
If you already wear the device on your non-dominant hand, this method may still be useful. Wear it on your left hand (if you’re right-handed) and still change the preferred mode to your dominant hand. This will cause Fitbit to slightly undercount your steps.
Save battery life by changing GPS settings.
The Fitbit Edge fitness tracker can use either its built-in GPS or your phone’s GPS. By default, it automatically switches between signal sources depending on which it deems most suitable.
But this can be changed. Go back to “Device Settings” and select “GPS Settings.” If you always carry your phone with you and prefer to conserve your Fitbit’s battery, set the device to always use your phone’s GPS. On the other hand, if you want the Fitbit to use its own GPS rather than constantly connect to your phone, set it to use the built-in GPS.
If you have an older phone model, switching to built-in GPS will likely provide more accurate distance and speed measurements than using the standard mode. If you have a newer model, choose the mode depending on which device you want to save battery power on.
Replace with Fitbit Air
With the release of the Fitbit Edge, Google enabled the app to work with multiple Fitbit models. If you sometimes prefer having a screen on your wrist and sometimes don’t, you can easily switch between the Edge and Air (and even the Pixel watch, if you have one). No additional steps are required—just set up both devices and wear the one that’s most comfortable for you.
Adjust the magnification so you can see what’s displayed on that tiny screen.
Small screens can mean less visibility, but there’s a setting that helps. In your device settings , select “Magnification” and enable it. Now, triple-tapping the screen (three quick taps with one finger) magnifies what you’re looking at. You can use your finger to move the image around the screen and see different parts—for example, to better see the number under the step count on some watch faces.
In this section of the app, you can also choose whether the zoom-in gesture will zoom in by 2x or 3x. To zoom out, simply triple-tap the screen again.
Charge it for five minutes a day.
The Fitbit Edge charger (like the Pixel Watch ) is incredibly fast. If your watch is low on battery and you don’t have time to wait, just plug it in for five minutes. Google claims this lasts all day, and my experience confirms this. Just three minutes of charging brought my watch from 31% to 41%.
If your Fitbit Edge battery lasts about a week, you’ll need about 15% to get through the day. I prefer to use the always-on display (AOD), so the charge lasts about three days. If you use the five-minute charge mode because the battery is low, turn off AOD if it’s enabled, and the charge will last until the end of the day. But if AOD is always on, you can develop a habit of charging your Fitbit for about five minutes every day—maybe 10 minutes every now and then—and you’ll never have to leave it for an hour, as is the case with most wearables.
Show your “coach” the workouts you’ve completed offline.
I don’t follow the workouts the AI coach gives me, but it can be useful to have a record of what I did. So, I take a screenshot of my workout in Hevy or a photo of my training log and show it to the coach.
You can do this using the “Ask a Trainer” button in the lower right corner of the app. Specify which workout you want to assign the exercises to (for example, “Log this for my strength training from last night”), and the app will automatically add the exercises to that workout’s summary. Previous workouts can be viewed in the “Fitness” tab.