Women’s health is vastly different than men’s health. Therefore, the best fitness trackers for women are probably going to be different than those recommended for men. Most of the lists I came across before doing my own research did not take women’s health into consideration when recommending the best women’s fitness trackers! Yikes!
Women have different sleep, fitness, and monthly cycles. In addition, many of us are going through the pregnancy, postpartum, and breastfeeding stages of life when we are selecting a women’s activity tracker. For this reason, the below trackers are ones that we have identified that cater specifically to these delicate needs of women! This is not simply a list of fitness trackers compiled by a man. At Fit Healthy Best, we have the needs of today’s strong women as our core focus.
The fitness watches and fitness trackers we’ve highlighted below are perfect for women, whether you’re simply tracking your steps or your workouts, or tracking your postpartum health and monthly menstrual cycle.
If you’re just here for our top pick, we agree the Fitbit Versa 2 is hands-down the best fitness tracker for women.
Our Top Picks
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Quick Guide
What are Fitness Trackers for Women?
There are a few different types of fitness trackers on the market now. Each of these trackers helps women achieve their health and fitness goals in similar ways, but each model has different features and options.
- fitness trackers
- fitness watches
- fitness jewelry
Below we will share the best options for women in each of these categories. Later in this article, we will discuss what makes fitness trackers for women different than fitness trackers for men, or why both genders may want to choose the same watch.
What is the Best Fitness Tracker for Women?
After doing extensive research and using many of the above models ourselves, we agree that the Fitbit Versa 2 is hands-down the best women’s activity tracker. The Garmin Vivofit 4 comes in at a close second. You cannot go wrong with these activity trackers for ladies!
The Best Fitness Watches for Women
The below 2 watches are the best fitness watches for women. Fitness watches are a bit more advanced than fitness trackers in that they can act more like a smartphone and can connect to multiple apps rather than just one app.
The major downside is that they’re usually bulkier and need to be charged every day. And while you can use some of the fitness watches to track sleep, it may be uncomfortable to sleep with these watches on.
FitBit Versa 2
The Fitbit Versa 2 is a SmartWatch fitness tracker from the activity tracker giant, Fitbit. The Versa 2 is the most updated version which features heart rate, sleep and swim tracking, plus music and Fitbit’s first-ever Amazon Alexa enabled watch. This is thanks to Fitbit’s first-ever built-in microphone.
As far as women’s health is concerned, all FitBits are equipped with a women’s menstrual cycle app, which tracks your monthly cycle and fertile window. It can help you track your normal rhythms, but it should not be used to prevent pregnancy.
The best part about the Fitbit Versa 2 is that it compares on almost every level to the Apple Watch, for half of the cost! Even better is the fact that the Fitbit Versa 2 features a 5-day battery life (likely more with typical use), whereas the Apple Watch must be charged daily.
Pros:
- 5+ day battery life
- Smaller than the Fitbit Ionic (ideal for women’s smaller wrists)
- Tracks heart rate 24/ 7
- Tracks steps
- Tracks distance
- Tracks calories burned
- Tracks hourly activity
- Tracks active minutes
- Tracks floors climbed
- Plays music
- FitPay available
- Notifications from your phone
- Very fast performance
- Thousands of apps available
- On-device microphone
- Alexa Built-in
- Female Health Tracker on all FitBits
- Spotify streaming
- AMOLED screen for brighter colors and deeper blacks
- Half the price of an Apple Watch with many of the same features, plus 7 times the battery life
Cons:
- Comes in one size
- No LTE option
- Notifications may become annoying (but can be turned off)
- Can feel bulky if your wrist size is very small
Click here to learn more on Amazon.
Related: Calisthenics for Women
Apple Watch Series 5
The Apple Watch Series 5 is the latest and greatest model of this fitness watch. The Apple Watch is a SmartWatch fitness tracker from Apple. This watch features heart rate, sleep and swim tracking, plus music and Fitbit’s first-ever Amazon Alexa enabled watch. This is thanks to Fitbit’s first-ever built-in microphone.
For women’s health, the Series 5 watch now includes the Cycle Tracking app. It will give you the ability to track a number of data points for your menstrual cycle, like basal body temperature, mood changes, cramps, and flow.
You can choose to get notifications of when your next period is coming or when your fertile window is approaching. Kudos to Apple for including an app solely dedicated to women’s health on their Apple products!
Outside of women’s health, the Apple Watch is simply a solid choice for a fitness watch. Apple products are well-known for being made to last. Apple products also feature most of the updates technology along with virtually every basic fitness tracking feature available. While it’s pricey, it’s a great investment.
Pros:
- Includes Cycle Tracking app for women’s health
- Tracks heart rate
- Tracks steps
- Tracks distance
- Tracks calories burned
- Tracks hourly activity
- Tracks active minutes
- Tracks floors climbed
- Tracks standing time per hour (not seen on many other watches)
- Plays music
- Notifications from your phone
- Very fast performance
- Thousands of apps available
- On-device microphone
- Female Health Apps can be paired with this watch
- Reminders for mental health using the Breathe app
- LTE option
Cons:
- Can feel bulky if your wrist size is very small
- Can be too tight on some people’s wrist, causing pain or weakness (a smaller/looser band might solve this problem)
- High price range
- Must be charged daily
- Notifications may become annoying (but can be turned off)
Click here to learn more on Amazon.
The Best Fitness Trackers for Women
The below trackers are the best fitness trackers for women that we identified in our research. Fitness trackers are the most popular of all the fitness tracking devices. They are usually much smaller and slimmer than watches yet they can track just as many data points as the more advanced watches.
In addition, if you’re very interested in sleep tracking or around the clock tracking, these trackers are much more comfortable to wear and sleep in and usually have longer battery lives.
Garmin VivoSmart 4
The Garmin Vivosmart 4 is a slim fitness tracker from the fitness tracker giant, Garmin. The small size is ideal for many women who prefer a less bulky look and feel and for women’s smaller wrist size. The Vivosmart 4 is the most updated version and tracks all the usual activity data like steps, active minutes, intensity minutes, floors climbed, sleep stats, and more.
For an outstanding price, this activity tracker includes advanced sleep monitoring and REM sleep and can gauge blood oxygen saturation levels during the night with the wrist-based Pulse Ox sensor!
This sensor measures your blood-oxygen levels, which can be helpful information if you’re exercising at high altitudes or for people with COPD, asthma or those at risk for heart attacks. However, the device is not a medical device and should not be used for medical purposes.
Pros:
- 7+ day battery life
- Slim, small size, ideal for women’s smaller wrists
- Tracks heart rate 24/ 7
- Tracks steps, distance, calories burned, hourly activity, active minutes, floors climbed
- All-day stress tracking
- Relaxation breathing timer
- Measures Vo2 Max
- Advanced sleep tracking including measures REM sleep
- Measures blood-oxygen levels with Pulse Ox
- Bright, easy to read display
Cons:
- Comes in one size
- No LTE option
- Must manually update the app to see progress on your phone
Click here to learn more on Amazon.
Fitbit Inspire HR
The latest minimalist Fitbit is adored by users and has rave reviews. It’s a steal at just under a hundred bucks and you can even find it as the deal of the day on Amazon pretty often for around 70 bucks. That’s the perfect price-point for someone who is just dipping their toes in the fitness tracking waters and still wants all the bells and whistles of a great fitness tracker.
This Fitbit can do all the basic tracking — steps, calories, sleep, hourly activity — but it also tracks your heart rate all day long. This is on par with the much pricier Apple Watch for a mere fraction of the price.
It also boasts a 5-day battery life and automatically tracks your workouts and your sleep. As with all Fitbits, they have women’s health in mind and you can also track your menstrual cycle within the app.
Pros:
- 5+ day battery life
- Smaller than the Fitbit Ionic (ideal for women’s smaller wrists)
- Tracks heart rate 24/ 7
- Tracks steps, distance, calories burned, hourly activity, active minutes, floors climbed
- Female Health Tracker on all FitBits
- Guided breathing sessions
- REM tracking
- Swimproof up to 50M
Cons:
- May be too bright while you’re sleeping
- Some users had some pairing issues with the app
Click here to learn more on Amazon.
The Best Fitness Jewelry for Women
The below trackers are the best fitness jewelry trackers for women that we identified. Fitness tracking jewelry is very similar to fitness trackers that you wear on your wrist, however, you can wear these trackers as a necklace or clipped to your clothing.
Some people may prefer the convenience of this option. This may also be a nice option for those that don’t want to be continuously looked at their wrist all day long.
BellaBeat Leaf Health Tracker
The BellaBeat Leaf is a type of fitness tracker jewelry. The BellaBeat Leaf is a type of fitness tracking jewelry, rather than a fitness watch. It tracks your steps, distance moved, calories burned, sleep patterns, reproductive health, menstrual cycle, and stress! It’s made specifically for a women’s unique needs.
The BellaBeat Leaf can be worn in many different styles: as a bracelet, necklace, or clipped-on to your clothing.
Pros:
- 5+ day battery life
- Can be worn as a bracelet, necklace, or clipped to your clothing
- Tracks heart rate 24/ 7
- Tracks steps, distance, calories burned, hourly activity, active minutes, floors climbed
- Women’s health tracking: reproductive health and menstrual cycle
- Tracks your stress levels
Cons:
- Some users said it was bulky
- Sleep tracking may be off
Click here to learn more on Amazon.
Fitbit Flex 2 Accessory Bangle
The Fitbit Flex 2 accessory bangle includes all the great features of all Fitbit products but is showcased in a beautiful piece of jewelry. This option is perfect for the girly girl who doesn’t want to look like she’s always at the gym and prefers a more feminine look.
This bangle comes in silver, 22k gold, or rose gold and can track steps, distance, calories burned and active minutes. It includes an LED display to show progress toward your daily goal.
This women’s activity tracker is swim-proof and includes SmartTracker so it can automatically identify when you’re working out. It also automatically detects how long and how well you sleep, which is an improvement from older models where you had to tell it when you went to sleep.
Please note that this product is just the bangle and the actual Flex 2 tracker is sold separately.
Pros:
- Tracks heart rate 24/ 7
- Tracks steps
- Tracks distance
- Tracks calories burned
- Notifications from your phone
- Automatic sleep tracking
- Female Health Tracker on all FitBits
Cons:
- Loose fit may not provide accurate readings
Click here to learn more on Amazon.
What to Look for in a Fitness Tracker for Women
Features like women’s health tracking and pregnancy tracking are extremely important to many women for their fitness trackers, which is why we looked for these features when compiling our list of the best fitness trackers for women.
In addition, many women prefer a more feminine and petite look and feel in their fitness watch. Finally, many women’s wrists are considerably smaller than men’s, which is why they would need a smaller watch and band option.
Read on to find out more about what to look for in a fitness watch for women.
Women’s Health Tracking
Undoubtedly the most important feature for women is a women’s health tracking feature. These features will generally track the below information:
- menstrual cycle
- fertile days
- ovulation
- female health symptoms
- mood
Of course, a fitness tracker should never be used as contraception. However, tracking this information can definitely help a woman understand her cycle and pinpoint days that would more likely lead to pregnancy or avoid a pregnancy.
Even cooler, many fitness watches are improving their data measuring capabilities with each update. For example, pairing heart rate measurements with your menstrual cycle data could pinpoint fertile days even more precisely and more fitness watch companies are incorporating features like these into their watches.
Pregnancy Tracking
Pregnancy is obviously a very important time period during a woman’s life and delicately intertwined with her overall health. Some fitness trackers are now including pregnancy tracking.
The BellaBeat Leaf includes prompts on how stress might affect you and your baby. In addition, if your fitness watch — like the Fitbit Versa 2 or the Apple Watch — includes app functionality, you may be able to receive pregnancy notifications on your watch from your favorite pregnancy app.
Breastfeeding and Baby Health Tracking
Similar to pregnancy tracking, if your fitness watch — like the Fitbit Versa 2 or the Apple Watch — includes app functionality, you may be able to receive breastfeeding and baby health notifications on your watch from your favorite pregnancy app.
Stress Management, Meditation, and Breathing Prompts
Stress management is important for everyone’s health, but high-stress levels can be especially detrimental to a woman’s health. More so, when a woman is pregnant, it’s important for mom and baby that stress levels are managed.
All fitness watches offer their own form of stress management and breathing prompts. Fitness trackers may or may not offer this information.
If you’re specifically looking for prompts to breathe deeply during the day or
Petite Sizing Available
Women’s frames are typically smaller than men’s frames, and, therefore, usually need a smaller band size on their fitness tracker.
Feminine Aesthetics and Band Options
It’s important for many women to own a fitness tracker that looks feminine or sophisticated, or that has options for changing out the band styles.
Safety and SOS Features
Unfortunately, as women, we have to focus on our safety when we are out and about, and, especially, when we are running or walking for exercise.
Sleep Tracking
Sleep is an important component to a healthy lifestyle — if not the most important component. Most fitness trackers have sleep tracking built-in, but not all of them do.
If monitoring this vital health statistic is important to you, then make sure you purchase a tracker with sleep tracking. All of the trackers on our list include sleep tracking.
The Garmin Vivosmart 4, listed above, includes advanced sleep tracking that measures your blood-oxygen levels while you sleep.
Activity Tracking
Of course, activity tracking is a given in the best fitness trackers for women on our list.
Whether you want basic step counting or heart rate monitoring during an intense workout, many of the fitness trackers on the market today can provide extremely accurate results.
Heart Rate Tracking
As mentioned above, heart rate tracking is tied to activity tracking on many fitness trackers today.
On the Apple Watch, your heart rate is continuously monitored. However, while many fitness watches will offer heart rate tracking, not all the more basic fitness trackers will offer this feature. For example, only some of the Fitbit models offer heart rate tracking.
However, this component is not a necessity unless one of your primary goals is monitoring your heart rate or if you have a health concern with your heart rate. I’ve used fitness trackers for years and have only taken note of my heart rate a handful of times as this is a statistic I am not very interested in.
Daily Movement Tracker
Being sedentary has become a silent killer. Daily, regular movement has been shown to improve overall health, decrease all-cause mortality, and improve longevity.
Now, with the help of these watches, we can monitor our daily movement without even thinking about it! This is literally the key to living a long, healthy, happy life. That’s why tracking our movement is so important!
Standing Tracker
We are all well aware of how devastating too much sitting can be for our health (and for our mom butt!). That’s why many people have become interested in tracking their standing habits in addition to their steps.
Phone Notifications
For some, phone notifications may be annoying. Luckily, you can opt to turn off notifications on all of these fitness trackers.
But, for some people, like parents or busy executives, you can’t afford to miss an alert about an important sale or a call from school. You don’t need to hold your phone at all times anymore — just wear your fitness tracker!
Frequently Asked Questions about Fitness Watches for Women
Below are some of the most common questions people have about fitness watches, especially those geared towards women.
Are Fitbits worth it?
As mentioned above, daily, regular movement is vital to our health. This can sometimes be hard to track which is why it’s so nice to have it tracked automatically by a watch like Fitbit. On top of that, Fitbits are so much cheaper than they used to be and can last a really long time. What’s not to love!?
What is the best Fitbit for a woman?
The Fitbit Versa 2 was made with women in mind! This is why it’s our number 1 recommendation. Women can’t go wrong with this watch!
What is the best fitness tracker for small wrists?
All of the watches and trackers above can be used with alternative bands for smaller wrists. Be sure to choose the small/medium options for Fitbit and the 38mm option for Apple Watch.
Still, no matter which option you choose, you can usually purchase a different band on Amazon to fit your smaller wrists. You may want to opt for a fitness tracker or fitness jewelry rather than a watch as the watches can be a bit bulkier.
What is the best women’s stylish fitness tracker?
Many of the fitness trackers and fitness watches for women listed above are stylish! However, if you’re looking for something that looks more like jewelry, definitely opt for the BellaBeat Leaf or the Fitbit Bangle listed above.
However, if you’re simply looking for something less bulky than a fitness watch, try the Garmin VivoSmart 4. It is extremely slim and sophisticated and comes with an insane number of features for the price-point.
What is the best clip-on fitness tracker?
The BellaBeat Leaf is hands-down the best clip-on out of all the best fitness trackers for women.
Final Thoughts on the Best Fitness Trackers for Women
Fitness trackers are an important component of a healthy lifestyle. Women should choose a tracker that is designed for our health including monthly cycle tracking, stress tracking, and, usually, a smaller wrist size since our frames are generally smaller.
We hope this guide helps you choose a fitness tracker that will be perfect for your personal feminine needs and health. Cheers to healthy habits, ladies!
References:
- Daily Sitting Time and All-Cause Mortality Study
- Activity Tracker
- A Brief History of Fitness Tracking Technology
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