Top Tips for Fitbit Users

By Tracey Dowdy

Fitbit is so much more than just a step counter. If that’s all you’re looking for, save your money because your smartphone already does that. However, if you’re looking for a device to motivate you, challenge your friends, and better monitor your health, it’s a great option.

Fitbit is compatible with many of the fitness apps you’re already using, like MyFitnessPal, Weight Watchers, and Walkadoo. Syncing allows you to keep all the features you love best and ensures you have a comprehensive health and fitness information in the palm of your hand. Open the app, go to your settings, and follow the prompts to connect. There’s a complete list of compatible apps here.

Since nothing drives us more than a little friendly competition, Fitbit allows you to challenge your friends to “See who takes the most steps today” or “See who can get the most steps in this weekend.” Open the app, scroll to the bottom, select a challenge and ask up to ten people to join you.

If you find your battery is running down too quickly, turn off All Day Sync. Open the Fitbit app, select your device, and toggle off All Day Sync. Voila! Your battery won’t run down before you do. The downside is that you’ll now have to manually sync your device each time you open the app.

Are you right handed or left handed? Fitbit wants to know. You move your dominant hand more than the non-dominant one, so it’s important to let Fitbit know on which wrist you’re wearing your device. Open the Settings menu in the app, select Wrist, then Dominant or Non-Dominant to improve your Fitbit’s accuracy.

MobileTrack allows you to use your phone as a mobile tracker on days you forget to wear your Fitbit. Using your phone’s mobility sensors, you can still track your steps, distance and even the number of calories you’ve burned. To link, open the Fitbit app, go to Account, choose Set Up a Device, and select MobileTrack. Confirm your device is supported by Mobiletrack here.

Its Multi-Tracker Support feature will automatically switch modes when it detects you’re up and moving but your Fitbit is still sitting on your nightstand.

What’s the first thing you check on your Dashboard? The number of steps you took? The amount of water you drank? The fact that for once you said no to Netflix and got enough sleep? You can customize your dashboard so the stats most important to you are at the top of the list every time you open your app. On an Android phone, open the app, select the stat you want to move by touching and holding, then drag it to where you want it to be on your dashboard. If you don’t want to see it at all, drag the button to X to hide. On an iPhone, tap the Edit button and drag up or down the list. To hide a button, simply uncheck.

Tracey Dowdy is a freelance writer based just outside Washington DC. After years working for non-profits and charities, she now freelances, edits and researches on subjects ranging from family and education to history and trends in technology. Follow Tracey on Twitter.

Comments:

  1. My brother recommended I may like this website.

    He was entirely right. This submit actually made
    my day. You cann’t consider simply how so much time I had spent
    for this info! Thank you!

  2. It’s a pity you don’t have a donate button! I’d most certainly donate to this outstanding blog!
    I suppose for now i’ll settle for book-marking and adding your RSS feed to
    my Google account. I look forward to new updates and will share this blog with my Facebook group.
    Chat soon!

  3. Hello, i think that i saw you visited my website thus i came to “return the favor”.I’m attempting to find things to improve my website!I suppose its ok to use
    some of your ideas!!

  4. Whats up very cool web site!! Man .. Beautiful ..
    Wonderful .. I’ll bookmark your web site and take the feeds additionally?
    I’m happy to find numerous useful information right here within the publish, we’d like develop more strategies on this regard, thanks for sharing.
    . . . . .

  5. Wow, marvelous weblog structure! How long have you ever been running a blog for?

    you made blogging glance easy. The overall look of your web site is
    excellent, let alone the content!

  6. Today, while I was at work, my cousin stole my iphone and tested to see if it can survive a thirty foot drop, just so
    she can be a youtube sensation. My apple ipad is
    now broken and she has 83 views. I know this is entirely off topic
    but I had to share it with someone!

  7. hi!,I love your writing so much! proportion we keep up a correspondence extra approximately your article on AOL?

    I require an expert on this space to solve my problem.
    May be that is you! Looking forward to see you.

  8. Quality content is the secret to attract the people to pay a quick visit the site,
    that’s what this website is providing.

  9. With havin so much content do you ever run into any issues of
    plagorism or copyright violation? My site has a lot of unique
    content I’ve either written myself or outsourced but
    it seems a lot of it is popping it up all over the web
    without my agreement. Do you know any methods to help prevent content from being stolen? I’d truly appreciate it.

  10. Have you ever thought about writing an e-book or guest authoring on other websites?
    I have a blog centered on the same ideas you discuss and would really
    like to have you share some stories/information. I know my subscribers would enjoy your work.
    If you are even remotely interested, feel free to shoot
    me an email.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *