How to Set Up Fitbit Notifications

Use your Fitbit tracker to check your smartphone's notifications

Three women wearing the Fitbit Versa smartwatch on their wrists.

Rich Fury/Getty Images

by James David Frew
James is a freelance technology writer from London, U.K. He specializes in writing about Android, Cybersecurity, and Product Reviews.
Updated December 16, 2018

Activity tracking is the most prominent feature of Fitbit's devices, but the company has also added some other useful features like notifications. In just a few steps, you can enable your Fitbit notifications to mirror some of your smartphone's notifications, allowing you to stay up to date directly from your wrist. 

What Are Fitbit Notifications?

Fitbit has added support for notifications to many of their activity trackers over the past few years, but the level of support varies between devices and depends upon which smartphone you use too. 

The notifications feature does not relate to the Fitbit app's notifications on your smartphone. It's a separate feature that mirrors some of your smartphone's notifications on your Fitbit device. 

Table displaying the notification options for each Fitbit tracker

Fitbit does publish a list of all notification-enabled trackers on their support website, although if you have a Fitbit released within the last few years featuring a screen, it should have some form of notification support. 

Receive iPhone Notifications on Your Fitbit

To receive your iPhone's notifications on your Fitbit, you will need your phone's Bluetooth enabled, Do Not Disturb turned off, and both devices close by each other. 

  1. Any apps you wish to receive notifications for must be able to show notifications on your phone too. To verify this, on your iPhone, navigate to Settings > Notifications and enable your desired apps.

  2. Open the Fitbit app and tap the account icon to begin set up. Navigate to Your Device > Notifications and toggle each notification category you want to enable. 

    Notifications will only be sent from the default app for each category.

  3. If your Fitbit supports app notifications, navigate to Account > Your Device > Notifications > App Notifications. Select each app you want notifications for.

  4. Navigate to Account > Your Device > Sync and tap Sync Now to apply your updated settings to your Fitbit tracker. 

Receive Android Notifications on Your Fitbit

To receive your Android smartphone's notifications on your Fitbit, you will need your phone's Bluetooth enabled, Do Not Disturb turned off, and both devices close by each other. Your phone must also be running Android 5.0 Lollipop or above. 

The Fitbit notification feature is available on Android 5.0 and above. The following instructions also apply to the menu layouts from Android 8.0 and above. On older versions of Android some menu elements may be in different places, but the process remains the same.

  1. On your Android device, navigate to Settings > Apps & notifications > Notifications > On lock screen. Tap Don't show notifications at all if it's selected to disable it.

  2. Any apps you wish to receive notifications for must be able to show notifications on your phone too. To verify this, navigate to Settings > Apps & notifications > See all apps. Tap the app you wish to check and tap Notifications. To enable notifications toggle on Show notifications.

  3. Open the Fitbit app, and tap the Account icon. Under Devices, tap your tracker, then scroll to the General heading and tap Always Connected to enable it. Then tap Notifications.

  4. Tap the notification category you wish to enable and toggle on. All available apps for that category will be shown, and you can choose your preferred app for each category. 

  5. If your Fitbit supports app notifications, navigate to Account > Your Device > Notifications > App Notifications. Select each app you want notifications for.

  6. Navigate to Account > Your Device > Sync and tap Sync Now to apply your updated settings to your Fitbit tracker.