Fitness trackers like Fitbit are simple devices that track various health-related metrics. They ensure an active and healthy lifestyle by keeping you up-to-date with your fitness and well-being statistics. These small devices intelligently collect information about your activity and sleep cycle and transfer it to your phone for detailed viewing. But will your Fitbit work if it is away from the phone?
A Fitbit with an integrated GPS still works away from a phone. The Fitbit only needs to be close to a phone when syncing data with the Fitbit app, or when you want to track your location and your Fitbit needs to use the connected GPS.
Even when it is away from the phone, your Fitbit will track and store your daily sleep and activity metrics. It will continue to do so until midnight of that day. Therefore, you should make sure to connect it to the phone before midnight; otherwise, the Fitbit will reset itself, and you will lose your day’s progress.
So does it mean that you have to have your phone near your Fitbit all the time? Or is syncing the collected information once or twice a day enough to keep your data updated? Find the answers to these queries and more below.
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Do You Have to Have Your Phone Near Your Fitbit?
A fit only needs to be close to your phone, to sync data to the Fitbit app. You can go as far as you want from the phone, if your Fitbit is charged it will save your Fitbit data until midnight, although you must be close to your phone to correctly sync the data.
There is only one instance when having your phone near your Fitbit is a must; when you want to use the location service on some of the models.
Some Fitbits rely on your phone to track your exact location. This type of GPS is called connected GPS. Fitbit wirelessly connects with your phone and uses its GPS to determine your location and route using this feature. Of course, you have to have your phone on you for this feature to work flawlessly.
Other Fitbit models have built-in GPS, so they can track your location independently without needing the connected GPS support from your phone. These devices don’t necessarily need to have the phone nearby. You can only connect them when you want to transport your activity data onto the phone.
Just make sure that your Fitbit is sufficiently charged before doing so. If it switches off before you have the chance to transfer your data, you will end up losing it.
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Does Fitbit Versa Work Away From Phone?
The smartwatches in the Fitbit Versa family, except Versa 3, do not have built-in GPS, if you want to track your location, most Versas will need your phone. But if you’re going to use it for fitness tracking without GPS, the Versa will work fine even when away from your smartphone.
The Fitbit Versa family consists of Versa 1, Versa 2, Versa Lite Edition, and Versa 3, with the rumors of Versa 4 coming out soon. Out of all these devices, only Versa 3 supports built-in GPS. The rest of the devices in the lineup rely on connected GPS to track your location.
So if you want to use location services with any of these, you have to have your phone nearby. But with Versa 3, it is not necessary. This smartwatch supports built-in GPS, which can detect your location independently.
However, you need to sync your phone with the device to view the GPS map in your Fitbit app. Currently, no Fitbit can display the map on its screen. So you’ll need your phone to view the location map on your Fitbit app. The rest of the functions work well even when the Versa is disconnected from your phone.
It is also possible to turn off the location on your Fitbit. If you want to learn how, check out our post discussing how to do it.