Technologies

5 Best Fitbits for 2023: Top Fitness Trackers

How to find the right Fitbit for you.

Fitbit is the go-to brand when it comes to fitness wearables. That’s for good reason: It offers high-quality products at different price points, ranging from budget to premium options. When looking for the best fitness trackers around, it doesn’t matter if you’re a serious workout enthusiast or someone who simply wants to track their physical activity. Fitbit has you covered. We’ve tested out every Fitbit on the market to help you decide which is best for your lifestyle.

CNET’s reviews of Fitbit, the Google-owned brand that’s got so many people excited about tracking their steps, consider features like sleep tracking, activity tracking; heart-rate monitoring; heart rate tracking; and stress tracking. There are even workouts available in the Fitbit app when you invest in an optional Premium membership. Whether you’re shopping for gifts or just perusing the different Fitbit devices out there, here’s a roundup of the best Fitbits available right now.

Fitbit

Fitbit Charge 5

Best Fitbit overall

If you’re looking for a fitness tracker that offers the best available features for collecting health data, while also being comfortable, easy to use (no buttons) and easy to read outside in the sunshine — all at a reasonable price — Fitbit’s Charge 5 wins. In fact, the Charge 5 was recently awarded a CNET’s Editors’ Choice Award.

The Charge 5 tracks things such as your heart rate through an EKG reading app, your stress level through an electrodermal activity sensor, and your blood oxygen level and skin temperature. It also tracks your sleep patterns, including breathing rates, sleep stages and restlessness. The Charge 5 monitors over 20 different physical activities, including swimming (it’s water-resistant), yoga and cycling. It also has a built-in GPS, which is great for runners and has 20 exercise modes.

The Charge 5 is compatible with iPhones and Androids. However, iPhone users can only see notifications on the Charge 5 screen, while Android users may send quick replies.

$149 at Amazon

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Vanessa Hand Orellana/CNET

Fitbit Versa 3

Best Fitbit smartwatch

The Versa 3 is a Fitbit smartwatch that combines the best features of the Charge 5 tracker with the «taking calls on your wrist» aspect of a smartwatch rather than purely a fitness tracker. Although Fitbit’s best smartwatch and best Apple Watch alternative may not be quite as smart as its Apple or Galaxy Watch competitors, it is compatible with both Apple and Android operating systems, and can also be paired with either Alexa or Google Assistant. One of the best features of the Versa 3 is its strong battery life — up to six days without the «always on» display and with moderate use. (The Apple Watch, for comparison, has a less-than-ideal battery life of a day and a half.)

The more expensive Fitbit Sense provides more health data, but the relevance of all the data Sense gives you might be moot, depending on if you know how to read medical charts. You’ll save money and lose little by going for the Versa 3 smartwatch instead.

A note about Fitbit’s Premium subscription: For $10 a month or a one-time payment of $80 for a year, Fitbit’s Premium subscription can give you more insight into your sleep and stress patterns, as well as things such as guided meditation and workouts. The Versa 3 comes with a three-month trial of Premium, and the Charge 5 comes with a six-month period. To find out more about whether Fitbit Premium is worth it, check out this guide.

Fitbit Premium also includes what it calls a Daily Readiness Score, which is Fitbit’s assessment of whether you need to take it easy today or if you should push yourself based on your goals for the week. This is now available for some Fitbit models, including the Versa 3.

$155 at Amazon

$145 at Walmart

$200 at Lenovo

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Screenshot by Sareena Dayaram/CNET

Fitbit Inspire 2

Best budget Fitbit

The Fitbit Inspire 2 is the cheapest device for adults, and it gets the job done. The «easy» Fitbit tracks health essentials that include Active Zone Minutes and heart rate. The Inspire 2 comes with a free yearlong premium subscription so you can unlock personalized health insights and programs to help you improve your nutrition, sleep and other aspects of health.

The Inspire 2 doesn’t have GPS, and it doesn’t include special features such as being able to measure your blood oxygen level, but this tracker is a great (and more affordable) introduction to fitness tracking if you or someone you know is interested in monitoring their health information. The Inspire 2’s included subscription to Fitbit Premium is also far more generous than other Fitbit models.

$56 at Amazon

$80 at Target

$80 at Best Buy

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Fitbit

Fitbit Luxe

Most stylish Fitbit

If you want to count your steps and look like you’re wearing jewelry instead of a fitness device, the Fitbit Luxe is for you. It offers many of the same features as other Fitbits, such as goal-based workouts, but it does so in a smaller and more fashionable form that might be best for smaller wrists. (The design in general is smaller, so the text on the watch’s screen may also be too small for some people to read.) You can also pick it up for $50 off at most retailers right now.

Aside from its sleeker appearance, the biggest difference between the Luxe and other models might be its focus on general wellness tracking over more specific health data. When the Luxe calculates your stress rate, for example, it uses activity levels, sleep and heart rate instead of an electrodermal activity sensor as seen in the Charge 5 and Sense.

$119 at Amazon

$130 at Target

$130 at Best Buy

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Fitbit

Fitbit Ace 3

Best Fitbit for kids

This one is pretty simple: The Fitbit Ace 3 is specifically for kids to help track sleep and activity, two crucial things for young bodies. Goals can be set on the Ace 3 for active minutes as well as reminders for going to bed and staying active. For kids who have their own phone, the tracker can also deliver call notifications (you know, for when you forget to call Mom).

The Ace 3 comes in cosmic blue with green adjusters, black with red adjusters or a «Minions yellow» for kids who are fans of the goggle-eyed animated creatures.

$62 at Walmart

$64 at Amazon

$80 at Target

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Technologies

OpenAI Will Loosen ChatGPT’s Mental Health Guardrails and Allow Erotica for Adult Users

Sam Altman said the company will ease limits for adults after rolling out age verification.

ChatGPT is treading cautiously right now, but the chatbot may become more risqué by the end of the year.

In recent weeks, the generative AI chatbot has been operating under somewhat stringent limitations, as OpenAI tried to address concerns that it was not handling sensitive mental health issues well. But CEO Sam Altman said in a post on X Tuesday that the company would ease some of those restrictions because it’s «been able to mitigate the serious mental health issues.»

Though Altman didn’t elaborate on what tools are being used to address the problem, OpenAI recently announced new parental controls in ChatGPT.

CNET reached out to OpenAI for details, but the company did not immediately respond to a request for comment. (Disclosure: Ziff Davis, CNET’s parent company, in April filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.)

Other changes are also expected. Altman said the company could allow «erotica» for verified adult users as it implements an «age-gating» system, or age-restricted content, in December. The mature content is part of the company’s «treat adult users like adults» principle, Altman said.

Altman’s post also announced a new version of ChatGPT in the next few weeks, with a personality that behaves more like the company’s GPT-4o model. Chatbot users had complained after the company replaced 4o with the impersonal GPT-5 earlier this year, saying the new version lacked the engaging and fun personality of previous chatbot models.

«If you want your ChatGPT to respond in a very human-like way, or use a ton of emoji, or act like a friend, ChatGPT should do it (but only if you want it, not because we are usage-maxxing),» Altman wrote.

Don’t miss any of our unbiased tech content and lab-based reviews. Add CNET as a preferred Google source.

After OpenAI was sued by parents who alleged ChatGPT contributed to their teen son’s suicide, the company imposed an array of new restrictions and changes, including parental controls, alerts for risky behavior and a teen-friendly version of the chatbot. In the summer, OpenAI implemented break reminders that encourage people to occasionally stop chatting with the bot.

On Tuesday, the company also announced the creation of a council of experts on AI and well-being, including some with expertise in psychology and human behavior.

This comes as lawmakers and regulators are ringing the alarm on the risks AI tools pose to people, especially children. On Monday, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed new restrictions on AI companion chatbots into law. Last month, the Federal Trade Commission launched an investigation into several AI companies, including OpenAI.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Strands Hints, Answers and Help for Oct. 15 #591

Here are hints — and the answers — for the NYT Strands puzzle for Oct. 15, No. 591.

Looking for the most recent Strands answer? Click here for our daily Strands hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Today’s NYT Strands puzzle is a fun one, once you understand the theme. Some of the answers are a bit tough to unscramble, so if you need hints and answers, read on.

I go into depth about the rules for Strands in this story.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections and Mini Crossword answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: NYT Connections Turns 1: These Are the 5 Toughest Puzzles So Far

Hint for today’s Strands puzzle

Today’s Strands theme is: Going up?

If that doesn’t help you, here’s a clue: Not an escalator, but…

Clue words to unlock in-game hints

Your goal is to find hidden words that fit the puzzle’s theme. If you’re stuck, find any words you can. Every time you find three words of four letters or more, Strands will reveal one of the theme words. These are the words I used to get those hints but any words of four or more letters that you find will work:

ROTATE, LOBE, NOPE, RATS, STAR, SAME, LOSE, VOTE, BUTTE, SAMS, BAMS

Answers for today’s Strands puzzle

These are the answers that tie into the theme. The goal of the puzzle is to find them all, including the spangram, a theme word that reaches from one side of the puzzle to the other. When you have all of them (I originally thought there were always eight but learned that the number can vary), every letter on the board will be used. Here are the nonspangram answers:

ALARM, OPEN, CLOSE, LOBBY, GROUND, BASEMENT

Today’s Strands spangram

Today’s Strands spangram is ELEVATORBUTTONS. To find it, look for the E that’s three letters to the right on the bottom row, and wind straight up, and then straight down.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections: Sports Edition Hints and Answers for Oct. 15, #387

Here are hints and the answers for the NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle for Oct. 15, No. 387.

Looking for the most recent regular Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle and Strands puzzles.

Today’s Connections: Sports Edition is packed with abbreviations, so if that’s your thing, it’s a good day for you. If you’re struggling but still want to solve it, read on for hints and the answers.

Connections: Sports Edition is published by The Athletic, the subscription-based sports journalism site owned by the Times. It doesn’t show up in the NYT Games app but appears in The Athletic’s own app. Or you can play it for free online.

Read more: NYT Connections: Sports Edition Puzzle Comes Out of Beta

Hints for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections: Sports Edition puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: Hoops.

Green group hint: Are you in a league?

Blue group hint: Alma maters.

Purple group hint: Knock it out of the park.