Fitbit Charge 6 review: Our favorite Fitbit for everyday health tracking

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Fitbit's Charge series has long been the Goldilocks of the brand's fitness trackers — not quite a smartwatch, but far more capable than a basic step counter. With the Charge 6 (released in 2023), Fitbit brings basic smarts into a just-big-enough package, offering features like GPS, Google Wallet, and on-wrist music control alongside its best-in-class heart rate and sleep tracking.

Since the Charge 6 is still Fitbit's bestselling device, and priced well at $160, I wanted to see if the iconic tracker really lives up to the hype and remains worth the money in 2026. Over the course of four weeks, I tested the Charge 6 through daily life, including during strength training, GPS-tracked runs, dog walks, sleep, and workday wear to see how helpful (or distracting) its notifications and nudges really are.

What I found is an understated but powerful tracker that excels at the basics of health and fitness monitoring. Although it has a few drawbacks and is limited in terms of smartwatch convenience, it cements itself as the best Fitbit for most people. Here's what it's like to use.

What I like most

It's comfortable and discreet

While not as flush-fitting as the Versa 4 or as barely noticeable as the Inspire 3, the Charge 6 is still a comfortable, wear-it-all-day kind of tracker. Its slim profile stays out of the way during workouts and sleep, and I found it more comfortable than most circular fitness watches, which can feel bulky on smaller or bony wrists.

It looks clean and minimal

While the older Charge 5 had a color-punchy interface, the Charge 6 has a pared-down aesthetic, using whites, creams, and yellows on-screen against its deep AMOLED black display. Since the screen is small (1.04 inches), the display keeps the data simple and legible.

While it's not the sleekest-looking watch out there, it's understated, and I found that it blended in well with casual outfits and workout gear.

It delivers impressively accurate fitness data — for the most part

The Charge 6 features Fitbit's most accurate heart rate sensor across its entire lineup. And in my testing, its readings — even during high-intensity interval workouts where your heart rate is changing quickly — matched closely with those of the best Garmin watches and Apple wearables that are double or triple the price. I found the step counts and sleep tracking to be on point as well. The only real disappointment is the built-in GPS (more on that below).

Battery life is solid, if short-lived, for some

Fitbit advertises seven-day battery life, which was consistent with what I found during testing with regular GPS use and notifications on. That said, some users, like those in this Reddit post, report battery degradation after about one year, with the battery only holding a charge for a little over a day. However, Fitbit recently rolled out a firmware update that includes fixes for battery issues, as detailed in this Fitbit forum post, so it's possible this problem has been resolved.

I haven't experienced any battery problems in the few months I've been testing the Charge 6, and it's difficult to determine how widespread this issue is, but it's worth keeping in mind.

You get a surprising amount of tech under the hood

The Charge 6 sits right between the entry-level Inspire 3 and the pricier Versa 4 smartwatch. Its size is right in the middle, and its tech is the best of both worlds. It has all the cornerstones of Fitbit, including automatic activity tracking, 40+ preloaded exercise modes, continuous heart rate tracking, sleep analysis, SpO2 and skin temperature monitoring, and stress tracking. In addition to all that, it also comes equipped with basic smartwatch functions, including notifications, Google Wallet, Google Maps, and music control.

While the app integrations aren't perfect (more on that in a minute), I still appreciated being able to see notifications and call alerts on my wrist. However, keep in mind that you can't reply or answer calls — it's read-only.

Additionally, the Charge 6 is capable of doing a regular ECG scan to identify heart rhythm irregularities (a sign of atrial fibrillation) and an EDA scan to measure your stress levels. You'll need a Premium account to access more detailed stress analysis and Fitbit's library of guided sessions to help reduce spikes.

Fitbit's sleep and activity tracking is top-tier

Like all Fitbits, the Charge 6 excels at tracking sleep stages (light, deep, and REM) and offers visualizations to help you understand trends over time, such as your average bedtime or how often you wake up. Premium members also receive additional breakdowns and a sleep score, although I wish more of this information came standard without the $80/year subscription.

Activity-wise, the Charge 6 features Fitbit's signature Zone Minutes, which track time spent in fat-burning or cardio zones, and provides helpful hourly "Reminders to Move" if you haven't reached 250 steps in an hour. These two features are small, but I found them to be impactful motivators to keep me moving regularly throughout the day.

Where it falls short

You can only see limited training data at once

The display on the Charge 6 is just big enough to preview a text, but not much more. During workouts, it only shows one metric at a time, so you have to swipe through to see your heart rate, pace, or time. That means you're either checking distance or zone heart rate, never both. This may not be a dealbreaker depending on how you train, but I did find this annoying when I wanted to, say, power walk for a specific distance while also ensuring my heart rate stayed at a certain threshold.

You can't reliably leave your phone during a run

The Charge 6 is marketed as having a built-in GPS that allows you to head out for a run without having to take your phone. But I found this feature to be unreliable. My Charge 6 regularly reported that I had walked a shorter distance than what my Garmin or Strava on my phone tracked.

Fortunately, there is a workaround: you can toggle dynamic GPS, which pulls data from your phone's internal chip and provides far more accurate mileage results. It's nice that there is this fix, but it does undercut the "phone-free GPS" marketing point for the tracker.

The smart features are minimal

Fitbit plugs this device as a smart-ish fitness tracker, and it is nice that you can receive text messages and call notifications on the Charge 6. But most of the device's other basic app integrations fall flat. Google Maps directions are barebones and hard to follow when walking. And the music control only works with YouTube Music, which, let's be honest, is used by almost no one as their primary music service (sorry, YouTube!). While this tracker is a great value overall, I wouldn't buy it because of its smartwatch features.

The bottom line

At $160, the Fitbit Charge 6 is a standout choice for anyone seeking a reliable fitness tracker in a minimalist, low-profile package. It's extremely accurate and capable, nailing the fundamentals like heart rate accuracy, step counts, and sleep analysis, while outperforming wearables two to three times its price in those areas. Add in the fact that it's loaded with 40+ exercise modes, helpful movement nudges, and the ability to receive text and call notifications on the wrist, and this tracker offers great value for anyone looking to move more throughout the day.

That said, with limited data visible during mid-workout, this isn't the tracker I'd recommend for training for a race (for that, I love the Garmin Forerunner 265). Additionally, it has other minor limitations that could be deal-breakers for certain users, such as an unreliable built-in GPS, which means you'll likely need to keep your phone with you during walks or runs.

However, as a whole, the Fitbit Charge 6 is a strong performer in its class, surpassing the brand's other offerings as its most well-rounded device. If you're looking for a comfortable, discreet fitness tracker with strong data accuracy, an approachable price point, and a bigger screen than the Inspire 3, the Charge 6 is an excellent midrange pick.