How to receive messages, send replies from your Fitbit

Fitbit’s early smartwatches lacked some elements of the “smart” aspect. Messaging was a blatant omission to begin with, but in 2018 the company addressed that by introducing messaging capabilities for the original Versa and Ionic. Now, messaging support through quick replies and voice responses is standard across multiple Fitbit devices. This guide shows you how to set up messaging on your Fitbit, how it works, which devices it supports and much more.

See also: Fitbit Buyer’s Guide: Everything You Need to Know

Fitbit messaging: how does it work?

Fitbit’s messaging features remain relatively rudimentary, but they’re still very useful. Unlike Wear OS, Fitbit users can’t type long answers on their devices. The devices lack dedicated keyboards. Instead, Fitbit uses quick replies, which allow users to quickly respond to messages through pre-made replies or emojis. Fitbit also supports audio-to-text replies, but only a handful of devices support this feature.

How to turn on message replies on Fitbit

Now that you know how Fitbit handles messages, it’s important to know what you need to use. For starters, Fitbit’s messaging system relies entirely on notifications. You can’t initiate a message on a Fitbit, but you can reply to messages you receive through notifications. If you don’t turn on notifications, you won’t be able to use Fitbit’s messaging features.

To turn on notifications on your Fitbit:

• Open the Fitbit app on your smartphone.
• At the top left of the screen, tap your profile picture.
• Choose your smartwatch or fitness tracker.
• Tap Notifications.
• This page lets you choose primary apps for Text messaging, Calendar events, and E-mail. You can also choose individual apps for which you want to receive notifications.

Fitbit shows notifications for all apps that support notifications on Android, but only some apps support quick replies. These are apps that support responding to notifications on your phone. Hence, any app that offers the ability to reply from your phone’s notification shade should work with quick replies. This includes WhatsApp, Google Messages, Facebook Messenger, Slack, and other chat apps. Some social networking apps like Twitter also support the function.

Quick replies are automatically turned on for supported apps. When you receive a notification from a supported app, you can choose from five standard replies, multiple emojis, or use a voice message to reply directly from your Fitbit.

For unsupported apps, you still have the option to open the app on your phone by tapping to open in the Fitbit notification.

Read more: The best apps for your Fitbit smartwatch

Which devices are supported?

While more modern Fitbits offer messaging support, not every device does. For example, Fitbit devices without a screen don’t support the feature, while some of the older models of Fitbit don’t pack it either. According to Fitbit’s documentation, the following devices are supported:

Some older devices such as Fitbit Charge 2 and Fitbit Surge can receive text messages but don’t support message replies. Fitbit also notes that the feature is only available for devices paired with an Android phone. However, those who use an iPhone can still respond to a limited number of Fitbit app notifications, including “messages, cheers, ridicule, and friend requests.”

How do I use quick replies on my Fitbit?

Each Fitbit device processes quick responses differently. This largely depends on the display size of the tracker and the UI layout.

To use quick replies for Sense and Versa 3:

• Tap the notification on your watch. You can also scroll down from the top of the display to access recent notifications.
• Tap the Text symbol (three horizontal lines) to choose a quick reply.
• Tap the Emoji icon Reply with an emoji.

To use quick replies on the Fitbit Luxe:

• Tap the notification on the Luxe. You can also scroll left or right in the notifications app to access recent notifications.
• To reply to a message, tap the Text symbol (three horizontal lines) to choose a quick reply.
• Tap the Emoji icon Reply with an emoji.

How to use quick replies on other Fitbits:

• Tap the notification on your device or swipe down from the top of the screen to see recent notifications.
• Tap reply or answers depending on your device and choose a quick reply.
• You can also tap more answers or more emojis to see more options.

If a response option isn’t available for a particular app, that app doesn’t support quick replies. Also, if you don’t see a reply option on your device, your Fitbit doesn’t support messaging.

Can I edit and customize my quick replies?

Fortunately yes. Although your device comes pre-installed with five useful standard entries, each can be customized.

To customize your quick replies:

• Open the Fitbit app on your smartphone.
• At the top left of the screen, tap your profile picture.
• Choose your smartwatch or fitness tracker.
• Tap Notifications.
• Tap fast answers.
• Tap Standard answers to change the universal quick replies used by all apps.
• If you want specific strings for specific apps, tap the app you want to tweak and edit your answers accordingly.

Fitbit also lets users customize the emojis that are used in responses. To do this, tap Standard answers or select individual apps. Tap the Emoji Tab next to the text Tab at the top of the page. Customize your emojis accordingly.

Voice responses on Fitbit

If you find quick answers too restrictive, the Fitbit Sense, Versa 2, and Versa 3 have a voice response feature that uses their built-in microphones. It also does a relatively good job of translating speech to text. This makes it an excellent answer option when you’re on the go or with longer answers in mind.

To use voice responses with Sense, Versa 2, or Versa 3:

• Tap the microphone Icon instead of the text or emoji icon in a notification.
• You will then be asked to speak your answer.
• Then tap send or to repeat to re-record your message.
• You can also tap cancel within three seconds to cancel the message.

The nice thing about voice responses is the ability to switch between languages. On Fitbit Sense and Versa 3, you can tap language to switch between them. On the Versa 2, this option is hidden behind the three-dot menu icon next to the currently selected language.

Are you having problems with the messaging functions of your Fitbit? Let us know in the comments below and we’ll do our best to help you.

Next: The most common Fitbit problems and how to fix them