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As a Pixel Watch 4 owner, I really love (and hate) the new Fitbit Air

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Why This Matters

The Fitbit Air's compatibility with the Pixel Watch 4 highlights Google's commitment to seamless device integration, offering users flexible fitness tracking options without sacrificing notifications or convenience. This development benefits consumers by providing more personalized and unobtrusive health monitoring, especially for sleep tracking. For the tech industry, it signals a move toward more interoperable wearable ecosystems, encouraging innovation and user-centric design.

Key Takeaways

I’ve worn a Pixel Watch on my wrist since the original dropped in 2022, and have moved through all four models of Google’s smartwatch. Before that, I had worn a Fitbit for many, many years, starting with the original Fitbit One and moving through the Flex, Alta, Charge, Blaze, and more. I love the product line, and it’s no surprise to say that I’m really, really excited about the new Fitbit Air.

It is quintessentially the Fitbit experience I grew to love with the screenless Flex, but brought into the modern day with a sleeker design and updated capabilities. As a Pixel Watch user and fan, I absolutely love that the Air exists, but that doesn’t stop me from hating a few things about it.

Pixel Watch or Fitbit Air? Which one do you prefer? 7 votes Pixel Watch 43 % Fitbit Air 43 % Why not both? 14 % Neither 0 %

The Fitbit Air is the perfect companion to a Pixel Watch

Google

Although the Fitbit Air was built by Google to be a standalone fitness tracker that can track your exercise, sleep, and heart rate throughout the day and sync with the new Google Health app, the small tracker can also serve as an excellent companion to the Pixel Watch 4.

We’ve been begging Google to add multi-tracker support for years now, just like Samsung lets you use a watch and a band or ring at the same time in its app. It’s finally happening. If you have a Pixel Watch, as I do, you won’t have to remove it from the Google Health app to add the Fitbit Air. You can have both paired simultaneously, and Google told me you can specify in the app which order of preference the data should follow for each metric.

That means I could wear my Pixel Watch 4 all day long, prioritize it for activity tracking and heart rate data, and still receive all my important notifications. Then, come nighttime, take off the large watch and switch to the thinner, lighter Fitbit Air, prioritizing it for sleep tracking. No notifications, no screens, no disturbances — perfect for sleep. Plus, it has silent smart alarms to wake me up in the morning. For heart rate, I could tell Google to prioritize data coming from the Pixel Watch, but since I wouldn’t be wearing that to bed, it should pivot to the secondary data stream from the Fitbit Air at night.

Google has made switching between a daytime Pixel Watch 4 and a nighttime Fitbit Air nearly seamless.

All in all, this seems like the perfect two-tracker solution that balances features and comfort, connectivity and disconnection, and offers greater versatility. Maybe I’m going on an adventure where I might scratch the Pixel Watch; I could switch to the Fitbit Air and not worry about that. Or maybe I’m looking for a screenless bracelet so I can wear a classic analog watch on my other wrist. The Fitbit Air allows that.

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