You can use a Fitbit without a smartphone. You’ll have access to useful features built into your smartwatch or fitness tracker, but you’ll need to sync the device to access recent data about your health and fitness.
Without your smartphone nearby, your Fitbit won’t have access to streaming services, in-depth sleep stats, and connected GPS. However, the daily live fitness and activity tracking should work smoothly.
Do I Need a Smartphone to Use a Fitbit?
I’ve been a Fitbit member for a while. And I know from my experience that the best way to see my health and fitness stats is via the Fitbit app. However, it doesn’t mean you need a smartphone all the time to use a Fitbit smartwatch or fitness tracker.
To be clear, a Fitbit fitness tracker or smartwatch is not a standalone device. It requires you to have an Android smartphone or an iPhone, the companion app, and Bluetooth connection for the initial Fitbit set up. Then you can use the wearable without your smartphone nearby.
How Do I Use My Fitbit Without a Smartphone?
To use your Fitbit without a smartphone, complete the setup, wear the device, and use it for health and fitness tracking.
You’ll get a summary of your stats on the watch, including steps, calories, current heart rate, and distance. And you’ll need to sync the device to your smartphone within a 30 feet range to access a detailed report in your Fitbit dashboard.
1. Set Up Your Fitbit
The first step is to set up your Fitbit. This is where you connect the device to your smartphone via the companion app. The initial configuration logs your profile information, syncs the current time based on your time zone, and gets your Fitbit device ready to use.
2. Wear Your Fitbit for Fitness Tracking
The second step is to wear your Fitbit and use it to collect health and fitness data. Your Fitbit bands should not be too tight or too loose. They should fit to a snug so the optical heart rate sensors make contact with your skin to monitor your vitals.
Now use your Fitbit to count steps, monitor your heart rate, calculate calories burned, and track total distance covered during a workout. This information is available on your Fitbit, so you don’t need your phone to see it.
3. Sync to Fitbit App
Your Fitbit will work well without your phone after the initial setup. However, it won’t give you an in-depth report about your health and fitness. Plus, you can’t access your activities’ history on the watch.
To get a more detailed report about your health and fitness, sync your Fitbit to the companion app via Bluetooth.
What Fitbit Features Require You to Use a Smartphone?
Connected GPS, calls and message alerts, synchronization, and sleep stats view are the four main Fitbit features that require you to use a smartphone.
Connected GPS
You need to have your smartphone nearby to map routes, calculate pace, and account for distance covered if your Fitbit doesn’t feature a built-in GPS.
A Fitbit device such as Versa 2 relies on connected GPS. For the connected GPS to work well on Fitbit Versa 2 and return reliable result, the smartwatch has to be in close proximity, usually a 30-feet range, with your smartphone.
Calls and Message Notifications
Call and message notifications on Fitbit allow you to stay up to date with the most important things in your life.
The notifications could be a concern from a friend, an issue from a loved one, a notice from work, or really just anything you consider so important you wouldn’t want to miss.
So if you use a Fitbit device to help you get these alerts, you need to have your smartphone nearby and Bluetooth connection active all the time.
Synchronization
Your Fitbit won’t sync automatically if you don’t have your smartphone nearby. Additionally, Bluetooth has to be active on your phone, as this allows you to transfer recent activity data from the watch or fitness tracker to the Fitbit app.
The phone and Fitbit device have to be within range to synchronize data in seconds. Moreover, Fitbit sync data automatically, so you don’t have to do so manually unless your device freezes in the middle of the synchronization process.
Sleep Stats View
Every Fitbit tracks sleep in stages, but it’s tedious to view your sleep stats directly from the device because you have to swipe the screen a lot.
Using the Fitbit app to access sleep stats is the most convenient option. What you do is open the app and tap the Today tab to access your sleep information.
You’ll see up to 7 days of sleep data in the Fitbit app, making your smartphone a necessary device to use in this case.
Does Fitbit Needs to Be Near a Phone to Work?
Your Fitbit device doesn’t have to be near a phone to work. Live fitness and activity tracking usually work seamlessly, as long as you wear the device well.
There are only three instances when your Fitbit has to be near a phone. That’s during the initial set up, when syncing data, and when you want to use connected GPS.
Can I Use Fitbit Without the App?
You can use your Fitbit smartwatch or fitness tracker without the Fitbit app, which means you don’t need to have your Android phone or iPhone with you all the time. However, you’ll need to sync stats from the device to the app if you want to see a detailed report of your recent stats.
Can I Use Fitbit Without Internet?
Yes, you can use your Fitbit fitness tracker or smartwatch without internet. The device uses Bluetooth to connect to Android and iOS. Additionally, the smartwatch or fitness tracker uses Bluetooth to synchronize your health and fitness data to the Fitbit mobile app.
It doesn’t tell you how to use the watch without a smart phone. All I want is heart rate – pedometer and distance. But I am no wiser after reading this information sheet.
Hello Peter,
Quite an interesting observation.
I will have a guide added to this post on how to use a Fitbit without a smartwatch.
That notwithstanding, I’m assuming you’ve already have your Fitbit device setup.
To see your hear rate, swipe the Fitbit’s display left until you see the heart rate tile. On the tile is your current heart rate, as well as a historical graph of your recent data on the same.
I hope this helps.
I think what we want to know is do we have to get the app and sync the Fitbit, or can we just use it to track our steps and heart rate. If that is possible, how do we do it?
Step by step please.
Hello Mary,
I’m working on updating the post to include a section that show exactly how to use your Fitbit device without a smartphone.
To respond to your question, though:
1. You first have to set up your Fitbit device. This post https://apelostudio.com/how-to-set-up-a-fitbit/ shows you how to do that.
2. Wear and use your Fitbit without necessarily bringing your phone with you, or activating Bluetooth. You should be able to track your steps and monitor your heart rate.
3. You must sync the Fitbit device to the app to get an update on your health and fitness tracking metric in your Fitbit dashboard. For this, your smartphone will be a requirement. And it must be in close range with your Fitbit.
I hope this helps.
Thank you!
I have no desire too share my statistics with anyone. I wish to keep track of my own step count, heart rate, and anything else the charge5 is capable of. But I’m 55yrs old and im SICK of online accounts, and more pass words.
I can’t even post this without more of that bs.
Have a nice day.
Hello Rick,
I’m not sure I understood you correctly. But I hope your Fitbit Charge 5 is working well for you.
The data you get on the watch and in the app is accessible only to you – unless you want to share that information with someone else.
Have a great day, too.
Michael Jonathan.
I am interested in getting a Fitbit charge 5 watch and would like to know I can just use an iPad to connect to it as I don’t have a smart phone.
Hello Alan,
You can get a Fitbit Charge 5 and use it with your iPad, as long as it runs on Apple iOS 15 or a higher version.
To learn how to set up the device, please see this guide.
Thanks Michael.
Hey Alan,
You’re welcome. Glad this helped.
Is there a Fitbit app for a Charge 5?
Yes, there is. And it’s called Fitbit, available for download on Google Play Store (for Android) or App Store (for iOS).
Correction to my previous question: Is there an app for Kindle for the Charge 5?
I’m not so sure about that to be honest.
But I found a video that can give you a walkthrough on how to get Google Play Store on the Kindle Tablet, from which you can get the Fitbit app.
Here’s the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tlWlPEx_1o
Hello
I believe what we are asking is,
With out creating an account, downloading an app or with out linking any data anywhere. Is it possible to set up the watch so the time is correct and it will show the steps / HR / correct time on the device?
Thank you
Hello Adam,
Let me summarize this for you in a way that’s easy to understand:
1. You need the Fitbit app for the initial set up. This is where you do the initial configuration, including setting time.
2. After the set up, you can use your Fitbit device without necessarily bringing your phone with your wherever you go. Your Fitbit will show the correct time, count your steps, and monitor your heart rate.
3. The data won’t sync to your Fitbit account until your smartphone, iPad, or tablet are in range with the Fitbit. And you must have Bluetooth activated for this to work.
I hope this helps to answer your questions.
I love my Fitbit, but I don’t have a smartphone or computer to use it with. I’m glad to hear that there are other ways to use it!
I also love how flexible Fitbit has made its wearable architecture. And that versatility makes it incredibly easy to use.
Glad you found the post just as useful.
Cheers.
So if I understand previous questions (FAQs)
you have to have a smart phone to initiate the use of a Fitbit.
I purchased a Fitbit 3 and have attempted to download the app, however it says my phone (Samsung S-6) is not compatible for the app. So is there one available that either does not use the app or is compatible for my S-6.
Hello Philip,
What Android OS version is your Samsung S-6 running on?
TIA
Frustrating! My mom does not have a smart phone or a late model computer. I could not sync her Fitbit to either the Google account I had to open just for Fitbit, nor the computer app. The app wants me to buy a new Fitbit, which I finally did. I could not even use my own Fitbit account because Fitbit won’t allow more than one device per account. All she wants is the time, not the stats or functions. No more Fitbit for Mom!
Hello Marie,
So sorry to hear how frustrating your experience is. I can only imagine what it is like to be in such a situation in the first place. Let me point out a few things that I think might help you to fix this problem.
1. First, the initial Fitbit setup requires you to have a smartphone, which can be an Android 9 or higher, or iOS 15 or higher if you’re using an iPhone.
2. Second, check if the Fitbit app is up to date. Sometimes the sync problem occurs because the app is obsolete.
3. Third, you indeed can’t have more than one device per account. The best workaround is to create a separate account for mom on your phone and use it to set up the Fitbit for her. I’m certain this will work. After this, your mom should not have an issue reading the latest time.
I hope this helps, because mom does deserve to get a Fitbit if she really needs one.
Please let me know how it goes.
I love my Fitbit, but I don’t have a smartphone or computer to use it with. I’m glad to hear that there are other ways to use it!
Hey there,
Glad to know this helped. Although I’m not so certain there is a sincerity in your comment.
Curious to know, though. Did you actually read the entire post?
Cheers!
I use a laptop PC running Windows 10, which I understand should be compatible with the rehomed Fitbit Inspire 2 that I’ve just been given to help monitor my heart rate.
But I cannot identify and download whatever application would be needed to install the Fitbit system on my laptop. The Fitbit Setup at https://www.fitbit.com/global/us/setup only allows for one to do this using a smartphone.
I do not have (or want) a smartphone. So how exactly do I download whatever I need to set up my computer to link with this Fitbit?
Hello Diana,
Happy New Year, 2024.
I hope you’re well.
Unfortunately, Fitbit Connect was discontinued a long time ago, so you can’t connect your Inspire 2 from a Personal Computer. The only way around this is to get a smartphone for the initial set up.
I hope this helps.
Not really. If I had access to a smartphone, I wouldn’t have asked how to set up the Fitbit without one.
All that this tells me that I can’t actually do what I (and the kind donor of this Fitbit) were told a few weeks ago that I could do to set it up. How maddeningly unhelpful of Fitbit!
But https://fitbit-connect.en.lo4d.com/windows – which is only dated by a copyright claim for 2012-2024 – assumes that Fitbit Connect does still work, albeit only in the last version published before it was discontinued, and states expressly that the download does work.
It did download, and my computer could and did install this .exe programme, but then it displayed this message:
“Download the Fitbit app for Windows 10. With new features including Challenges, Bluetooth syncing and improved performance. This update will replace Fitbit Connect.”
This looks like the right Windows app: https://fitbit.en.softonic.com/?utm_source=bing&utm_medium=paid&utm_campaign=bing_itunes_sb&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=paid&utm_campaign=bing_itunes_sb&msclkid=b6c4c03183cc12c724c3a5a8c68770db and clicking on the download button takes me to the Microsoft Store site – but, although the search facility there recognises “Fitbit for Windows 10”, I can’t find anything matching that term – or even for just “Fitbit”.
Can you help me to find the right app on the Microsoft Store?
Diana,
As much as I appreciate the information you’ve provided above, it helps a lot to save time by checking Fitbit’s official set up guideline, which, by the way, is up to date.
To be honest, you’re wasting your precious time because all Fitbit users no longer have the ability to sync their devices with computers. I doubt that modified, third-party apps made to look like Fitbit Connect can make a difference, if any.
I still insist that you get access to an Android or iOS smartphone for the initial setup. And moving forward, keep in mind that Fitbit trackers and smartwatches only work with iPhones, iPads, and Android smartphones and tablets.
For more information, click here.
There’s no point your “insist[ing]” on my doing something that I cannot do, cannot afford to do and do not want to do.
Instead of scornfully dismissing “modified, third-party apps made to look like Fitbit Connect”, it would really help anyone already in possession of a rehomed Fitbit if you would try to answer my previous question.
The more restrictive the range of gadgets with which Fitbit is or becomes compatible, the fewer people will choose Fitbit and the bigger the market for alternative gadgets will become. Anyone who develops a Fitbit-equivalent with a far more sustainable approach will reap big rewards.