Charging a premium for advanced health metrics isn’t anything new, but it’s new to Fitbit. Last year, the San Francisco-based company launched Fitbit Premium, a paid membership service that offers Fitbit diehards detailed insights into their fitness and health metrics. Daily reminders, tips, advanced sleep stats, and a plethora of workout videos and training plans are all offered with a Fitbit Premium membership. However, that’ll cost you $10 a month. So, is Fitbit Premium really worth it?
What is Fitbit Premium?
Fitbit Premium is Fitbit’s, well, premium subscription service that provides additional data, guidance, and exercise routines to Fitbit users. Think of it like any other freemium service you might use — everyone can download and use the Fitbit app for free, but it’ll cost you a monthly fee if you want everything the Fitbit ecosystem has to offer.
Fitbit devices already collect plenty of fitness and health stats throughout the day. The goal with Fitbit Premium is to help you understand how those stats affect various parts of your daily life. In Fitbit’s own words, Premium “turns stats on your wrist into personalized guidance.”
Fitbit Premium offers three main benefits that aren’t available in the standard Fitbit app: guided programs, a plethora of workout videos, and personalized insights based on your health and fitness level. We’ll dive into each one of these later, but for now let’s answer some of the most frequently asked questions.
How much is Fitbit Premium?
Fitbit Premium costs $9.99 per month in the US and £7.99 per month in the UK. If that’s too expensive, you can save by purchasing a yearly subscription for $79.99 or £79.99.
At the time of this review, Fitbit is offering a free 90-day trial to new users for a limited time. You can sign up right here on Fitbit.com or in the Fitbit app. The standard free trial is only seven days, so you’ll definitely want to take advantage of this deal while it lasts.
Fitbit Premium availability
Fitbit Premium availability is dictated by language, not by country. Currently Fitbit Premium is only available in English, so if your device is set to the English language, you likely have access to it.
Fitbit is working to expand the service to other languages like German, Japanese, French, Spanish, Italian, Swedish, and Dutch. We will be sure to update this article as more languages are added.
Which devices work with Fitbit Premium?
Fitbit Premium is device agnostic. It connects to the Fitbit smartphone app — not your wearable — so it works with any and all Fitbit devices you can buy today. That includes smartwatches such as the Fitbit Versa 2, Versa, and Ionic, as well as fitness trackers such as the Fitbit Inspire HR, Charge 3, and the new Fitbit Charge 4.
Our Fitbit reviews:
Fitbit Premium features: Are they worth the price?
As mentioned, Fitbit Premium gets you access to guided programs, dynamic workouts, and personalized insights.
Guided Programs
Available in the Discover tab of the Fitbit app, Guided Programs are special workout and health plans available exclusively to Premium subscribers. Plans include a variety of topics ranging from beginner to intermediate. I’ll list a few of them below to give you a better idea of what’s offered here:
- Get Active: A two-week plan that encourages you to start becoming more active by offering bonus video workouts and stories and tips
- Push-Up Prep: A three-week plan that will help you strengthen your arms, create core strength, and master the art of the push-up
- Run Training: A three-week plan that will help you increase speed and endurance by offering a structured workout plan, cross-training video workouts, and daily tips
- Beginner Bodyweight: A three-week program that will teach you the basics of fitness while helping you increase strength and mobility
- Intro to HIIT: A three-week program that will teach you the basics of high-intensity interval training (HIIT) and challenge you with cardio and strength workouts
Some of these plans are incredibly useful, especially for beginners. Push-Up Prep, Intro to HIIT, and Run Training would be beneficial to someone who is just starting out on their fitness journey.
You’ll notice the lack of advanced plans. Fitbit Premium’s guided programs don’t offer anything for intermediate athletes who are looking to move to the advanced level. So, if you can already run a fair distance and have a pretty good idea as to which foods to avoid to stay healthy, you may not get much out of these programs.
In stark contrast, Garmin offers training plans in its Connect app… for free! Garmin Coach plans help you set a running goal and achieve them over a months-long period of time. These plans actually helped me run my first half marathon last summer. I understand Fitbit Premium plans might be for a more general audience, but it really surprised me that everything was so basic.
There are a few other programs available in the app that, to be frank, are only a Google search away for anyone curious about health foods or how calories work. “Understand Calories” is a prime example: For two weeks, Fitbit will send you recipes and lessons on how people lose weight. It also encourages you to log your food for two weeks and weigh in every week to see your progress (two things already available for non-Premium users).
Another program called “Kick Your Salt Habit” will tell you which foods have the most sodium, how to spot sodium, how to make meals without salt, and how to crave less salt. All good advice, sure, but is that really something that should be touted as a Guided Program? I would rather find that info on a website instead of paying Fitbit to tell me those things.
Plans are customizable, though, which helps tailor them to your specific needs. Once you select one, it’ll show up in the main Today page of the Fitbit app. For instance, the “Get More Sleep” program will ask you some questions about your sleeping habits, how often you fall asleep while watching TV, and more. After that, you can choose to have the program either help you add more sleep or keep up with your same amount of sleep. This is a nice touch, as it ensures you’re taking part in the program that’s right for your habits and lifestyle.
Ultimately, I think Premium’s Guided Programs are a good start, but there’s just not enough there at the moment. Luckily, it’ll be easy for Fitbit to add more programs down the line to make it appealing to more users.
Dynamic workouts and relaxing audio tracks
Also available in the Discover tab are step-by-step workouts covering a variety of styles. There are workouts you can complete in under 15 minutes, easier cardio workouts, dance and kickboxing workouts, yoga videos, abs and core workouts, and more. Many of these videos are from popular fitness companies like Barre3, Down Dog, Physique 57, Popsugar, and more.
There are also videos mixed in here from Fitbit Coach. Coach was the company’s subscription service that launched in 2017Â and provided Fitbit-made workout videos on the web and in a separate app. Now, if you pay for Fitbit Premium, you get access to all the Fitbit Coach videos, too.
There are dozens of workout videos available in all, and there’s such a variety that there’s bound to be something here for everyone. You can also do most of these at home, which means they’re perfect for when you’re social distancing.
These are all dynamic workouts, too, so they’ll automatically adjust based on your feedback after each workout.
If you’d rather relax instead of work out, navigate to the Mindfulness tab. Here, you’ll find dozens of audio tracks to help you meditate for relaxation, meditate before bed, meditate to relieve stress, and more. There are also relaxing sound audio tracks — some lasting 45 minutes — if you need to listen to something while you fall asleep.
Personalized Insights
If you’ve used the Fitbit app in the past, you’ve probably seen little “insights” crop up from time to time. Insights are bits of analysis found around the Fitbit app that tell you how you’re doing, what you could be doing better, and more. Fitbit Premium users will see more of these insights show up, and they’ll be more personalized based on your health and fitness data.
These personalized insights are generally pretty helpful. Whenever I’m not using Fitbit Premium, I tend to dismiss insights more often than not. A simple “Try getting more sleep” message from Fitbit is hardly helpful, but putting my actual sleep data into context makes a world of difference. “On days that you get more than your average 22 minutes of exercise, you also get an extra 7 minutes of deep sleep,” one insight read. That’s useful!
Speaking of sleep, Fitbit Premium users also get access to a more detailed sleep score breakdown. Sleep data available in a free account is already quite useful, but a Premium plan, again, helps make more sense of the data.
If you’re constantly struggling to fall asleep at the right time or struggling to stay asleep, the Fitbit app will suggest you enroll in a Guided Program to improve. Premium users also get a useful sleep restoration graph that shows your sleeping heart rate, and a percentage for how much you’re tossing and turning each night.
While these features are useful, non-Premium users really aren’t missing out on a whole lot in terms of sleep data. Non-Premium users can already use Fitbit’s Sleep Score feature, as well as a breakdown of their sleep stages (REM, light, and deep) throughout the night. However, the more advanced sleep data coupled with handful of Guided Programs for getting more sleep could be quite handy.
Wellness Reports
One feature tucked away in the Discover tab is a wellness report that you can print off and give to your doctor. Your Fitbit wellness report will give you a sharable overview of your health data, including your sleep, daily activity, and heart health data. The report is generated in a PDF, so you can easily email it to your doctor’s office or print it out and bring it in during your next visit.
You can read more about Fitbit wellness reports here.
Fitbit Premium review: The verdict
Is Fitbit Premium worth it? After all, $10 a month is no small fee — that’s more expensive than Netflix!
Fitbit Premium has the beginnings of a powerful health platform, and it’s hard not to see the potential here. Having access to guided health programs and workout videos from top-tier companies will be invaluable for some.
However, Fitbit Premium feels like a young product. The list of guided programs is small, and there’s not much here for intermediate or advanced users. Combine that with the fact that you can find a lot of these things — workout videos, health tips, food recommendations — online for free, and Fitbit is driving a hard bargain.
Luckily the cost of entry is incredibly low right now. Fitbit is currently offering a 90-day free trial of the service, so you really don’t have anything to lose. Sign up at the link below and give the Premium features a shot. And hey, if you don’t get much out of it, cancel after those 90 days are up.
Have you used Fitbit Premium? What are your thoughts on the service? Do you think it’s worth the $10 a month? I’d love to hear from you in the comments.
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