Fitbit Edge Review

The Fitbit Edge hits that perfect middle ground of excellent 7-day battery life, proper GPS tracking for your runs and bike rides, and actually excellent heart rate and sleep tracking. And it costs just $180.

Google has been on a roll with wearables recently. It launched the screenless $100 Fitbit Air a few months ago, and the Pixel Watch 5 earlier, which offers super fast charging and two-day battery life, while Samsung’s Galaxy Watches and Apple Watches can only last a single day.

The company has also really transformed its Google Health app and now offers a sensible AI-powered premium option, which can dive deep in your data and give you meaningful insights.

Disclaimer: I've written this review after wearing and actively using the Fitbit Edge for four days, paired to an iPhone 18 Pro. PhoneArena purchased the review unit, which was not provided by Google.

Whether we purchase a device ourselves or receive it from a manufacturer, our reviews remain independent and impartial. Our goal is to share an honest account of the real-world experience, highlighting both the strengths and shortcomings of a product rather than pushing a particular narrative.

So why am I so impressed with the Fitbit Edge?

Well, first, like most people, I want a proper smartwatch with week-long battery life. The Fitbit Air delivered the battery life, but with no screen, you can’t really track your runs or workouts. The Fitbit Edge does that.

1. Battery life

On a regular day with only light walks and no longer sessions, the Fitbit Edge lost about 10% of battery life in a single day, and I mean a full 24-hour period with sleep tracking during the night. That is excellent. If you are not the most active person in the world, this little tracker can theoretically last you nearly 10 days, even better than Google’s official 7-day promise.

If you log more GPS workouts, I would expect around 6 or 7 days, which is still excellent. You can take the Fitbit Edge on a weekend trip without bringing a charger.

Battery anxiety is a real problem with smartwatches, and the Fitbit Edge solves that, so you don’t need to worry whether you have enough charge to track your sleep.

I have to say that you only get this kind of seven-day battery life without the always-on function. That’s how I used the Fitbit Edge, but if you choose to have the display on all the time, your battery life drops to roughly 2 days. That’s practically on par with the Pixel Watch 5.

2. Design and bands

The Fitbit Edge is also incredibly petite and lightweight, much more so than a smartwatch. I think the design leans a bit feminine, but of course you can change that with something like the Metal Links band. Speaking of straps, Google has a good selection of bands. They are super easy to swap, just press here and then clip a new one back on.

I always use fabric bands with smartwatches, so I went for the Steph Curry edition, which ships with a performance loop band included. Otherwise, you get the regular rubbery Active Band, and you need to spend an extra $50 for the Performance Loop band. Your other choice of bands includes the perforated Sport Band for $40, the Magnet Band for $60, and the Metal Links band that costs almost as much as the tracker at $150.

I’m sure we’ll see cheaper third-party bands soon.

The charger comes in the box, but if you want a second one, that will cost you $25.

Speaking of the charger, here is what it looks like; it has magnetic pins, and Google says a 5-minute top-up gives you enough juice for one day. A full charge takes around 90 minutes.

3. Intuitive UI

Here is what the interface looks like: long press on the watch face to swap to a different one, and you can have six different watch faces. Here is the whole selection, and it’s a decent one. You can also customize the complications on a few of those watchfaces, but one thing is notably missing: there is no photo watch face. I think many people love to put a photo of their loved ones or a pet as a watchface, and sadly, you cannot do this on the Fitbit Edge.

Next, you can swipe left or right to switch between different tiles. The Focus Metrics shows you an overview of your essential fitness stats; you also have sleep, heart, weather, media controls, timers, and of course, you can add more or swap the places via the app.

Swipe down from the top for your quick settings, or swipe up from the bottom for your missed notifications.

One advantage of the Fitbit Edge is that it works with both Android and iPhones. I have it paired to my iPhone 18 Pro, and it can deliver notifications as well.

4. Workouts and running

Now, I mentioned that the Fitbit Edge has GPS and support for dozens of workouts. You can really find practically everything on it, it’s a very long list, for example, I occasionally go ice skating, and there is even an ice skating mode here.

But most people I know care most about tracking their runs, and the Fitbit Edge does that very well. You have this neat interface where you can set either goals or targets. You can set a simple goal like running for 30 minutes, or you can fine tune your running pace with a pace target. It’s a simple and intuitive interface, and it remembers the values you’ve entered for your next run, but there is no way to save a couple of workout targets and quickly get to them.

And that’s basically everything this tracker can do.

What's missing?

But the Fitbit Edge also clearly has some limitations, especially compared to a smartwatch. 

There is no microphone or speaker here, so you only get a notification about incoming calls, but can’t answer a call on the Fitbit Edge itself.

There is also no Gemini on board, which means you have to manually set timers, and there is no way to set reminders via the Fitbit Edge.

2. No Google Pay

It also lacks NFC, so you cannot pay with it. This is a feature I rarely use, but some people may miss it.

3. Only turn-by-turn nav

Google Maps is also only partially supported with turn-by-turn navigation, while on the Pixel Watch 5 you can get the full maps experience.

4. Other limitations

And of course, the whole interface on the Fitbit Edge is simpler. This can be good, but it’s also limiting. 

My biggest annoyance has to be that you need to enable sleep mode manually every time you go to bed (at least when paired to an iPhone). Most smartwatches can see if you have sleep mode on your phone, and use that as a cue to automatically enter sleep mode, but not the Fitbit Edge.

And there are smaller things too. For some reason, you can only see the weather forecast for the next few hours, but not for the next few days.

I also really wish I could see my last workout stats on the wearable itself, and not just in the app.

So… what’s my final take on the Fitbit Edge? 

Despite its few shortcomings, I think the Fitbit Edge strikes an excellent balance of battery life, features and price. 

We’ve all been asking for a wearable with a week long battery life, a screen and the ability to track both workouts and sleeping accurately, and while Samsung and Apple seem to think that will jeopardize their smartwatch sales, Google just did it. And it made it affordable too. 

Come to think of it, this might just be my favorite wearable of the year.