Is the Fitbit Air a Smartwatch Killer? I Tested It for 2 Weeks to Find Out

Fitbit Air Review: Is It Really a Smartwatch Killer? - CNET

X Tech Mobile Smartwatches Is the Fitbit Air a Smartwatch Killer? I Tested It for 2 Weeks to Find Out Google's $100 screenless health tracker is sleek, but it has a major blind spot. Article updated on May 26, 2026 at 6:01 AM PDT Our Experts Written by  Vanessa Hand Orellana Our expert, award-winning staff selects the products we cover and rigorously researches and tests our top picks. If you buy through our links, we may get a commission. Reviews ethics statement Vanessa Hand Orellana Lead Writer Vanessa is a lead writer at CNET, reviewing and writing about the latest smartwatches and fitness trackers. She joined the brand first as an on-camera reporter for CNET's Spanish-language site, then moved on to the English side to host and produce some of CNET's videos and YouTube series. When she's not testing out smartwatches or dropping phones, you can catch her on a hike or trail run with her family. 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Read more on: How we test Fitbit Air $100 at Best Buy Pros Eight-day battery life Comfortable enough to forget it's there Sleep tracking that actually changed my habits Accessible platform, no learning curve Usable without a subscription Cons Eight-day battery life Sleek and comfortable design Detailed sleep analysis Intuitive App UI $100 price Usable without a subscription After two weeks of having it practically glued to my wrist, the Fitbit Air is starting to grow on me. But I've also experienced some major smartwatch withdrawals. I've lost count of how many times I've glanced down at my wrist expecting to see the time, only to be met with a blank band staring back at me like, "What?" Between that and the fact that it couldn't ping my phone, there were moments the Fitbit Air felt like it was freeloading on my wrist.But the longer I wore it, the clearer it became that this thing isn't out to replace my smartwatch. And once I stopped expecting it to behave like one, I almost forgot it was there. Which, turns out, is its biggest selling point.As someone who first strapped on the original Fitbit Surge when fitness trackers were still a novelty, there's something full-circle about wearing the Fitbit Air. It strips the category back to its original premise: Wear it, forget it, check the app later. Except now the sensors are a lot more capable and can track much more than just steps, the design is more discreet and the AI health coaching (although hit or miss) can be genuinely helpful. The $100 Fitbit Air with the lavender Active band on my 6.5-inch wrist.   Vanessa Hand Orellana/CNETRather than a true rival to the Apple Watch or Pixel Watch, Google's $100 screenless wrist band that tracks your health feels more like an antidote for anyone who ruled out smartwatches because of the noise and bulk. No distracting notifications, no mobile payments, no glanceable data you're expected to act on immediately -- not even the damn time. Just a slim, comfortable band that tracks your health around the clock and gets out of your way.The eight-day battery life meant it rarely left my wrist, so the sleep data felt more consistent and useful than what I typically get from a smartwatch. The readiness score also has an annoying habit of nailing my energy levels for the day, inadvertently becoming the litmus test for how many espressos I'll need to get my day properly started.Google didn't invent the screenless wearable, but the Fitbit Air may be its clearest attempt yet to make the category mainstream.At $100, it sits well below the price of an Oura Ring Gen 4 ($349) or even a year of Whoop membership ($239 a year), both of which offer similarly discreet, recovery-focused tracking experiences. But those platforms are still relatively niche, built around dense performance data and optimization culture. Fitbit's approach leans into simplicity that, while less exhaustive, feels less like homework. Google's new Fitbit Air is a screenless fitness tracker with a built-in coach.  Google/Jeffrey Hazelwood/CNETWhat the Fitbit Air gets rightDesign and comfortThere's only so much you can do with a fitness band, but within the parameters of strapping a sensor to your wrist, Fitbit nails the aesthetic. The bands available at launch, while pricey for a band (they start at $35), are trendy and versatile enough to pair with most casual wear. The woven band looks cool, but takes a while to dry after getting wet. Silicone is easier to maintain but leans sporty. And I'm sure it's only a matter of time until the third-party band marketplace for this thing goes nuts and we even have band options that pass for jewelry, which is totally realistic considering how small and easy to swap the sensor is. It's so comfortable, in fact, that I stopped noticing it (minus the soggy post-shower moments). The sensor is slimmer and lighter than the similarly priced Fitbit Inspire, and roughly half the size of the Whoop band sensor.Battery life and long-term wearFitbit says the Air lasts seven days on a charge, but mine held on for eight days with regular workouts and nightly sleep tracking. For context, the Pixel Watch 4 barely clears a day and a half with an always-on display. The newest Whoop, by contrast, lasts almost two full weeks on a charge. Not having to charge so often meant the Air sat uninterrupted, collecting data on my wrist for eight days -- and more importantly, eight nights -- straight. That's a lot more than I can say about my smartwatch. Some of the most valuable health data such as sleep quality, resting heart rate, HRV and skin temperature is collected overnight, which is exactly when most smartwatch owners (myself included) put their devices on the charger. Missed nights mean gaps in your baseline, and gaps in your baseline make it harder to detect trends over time. The Fitbit Air is one of the most comfortable wrist-based tracker's I've tested.  Vanessa Hand Orellana/CNETApp interface Google's takeover has diluted some of the old-school Fitbit charm, but the core philosophy is still intact. Despite multiple redesigns and a rebrand -- the app is now officially called Google Health -- it still carries that same visually digestible energy, the kind my mom could navigate without calling the family IT (me). That sounds like a low bar, but in a category dominated by dense dashboards, recovery graphs and optimization jargon, simplicity is underrated.It also stays just present enough to be useful without being overbearing. The app sends notifications when sleep scores are ready or when the battery is running low.Where the Fitbit Air falls shortTraining you in the moment For all its strengths as a passive health monitor, the Air struggles the moment you actually start moving. Without a screen, live workout metrics such as pace, heart rate zones and duration require your phone to be in hand and the app open. You can manually start workouts in the app, but most of the time I couldn't be bothered or my phone wasn't on me. The Air's automatic workout detection only reliably recognizes a handful of higher-intensity activities out of the box, which means lower-impact workouts like Pilates often slipped through entirely, even when my heart rate was clearly elevated beyond the norm. The app lets you manually input the workout after the fact, or you can tell the AI health coach to plug it in for you. Google says the detection improves over time, eventually learning to recognize more than 100 activity types based on your habits, so maybe future me will finally get credit for a Pilates workout, but for now it's worth flagging.GPS tracking is also fully phone-dependent, which I learned the hard way during a six-mile hike through Yosemite with a 40-pound toddler strapped to my back. No signal meant no route map, no accurate distance tracking and -- most painfully -- no elevation data. I fully intended to use that elevation gain as my flex medal after the ordeal. The Fitbit Air didn't give me full credit for my six-mile hike through Yosemite (with a toddler on my back).  Vanessa Hand Orellana/CNETThe Air correctly recognized the hike as cardio chaos, logging a cardio load roughly 10 times my daily average. But the constant snack breaks and repeated "Can I take this rock home?" interruptions confused the workout detection enough that it split the hike into three separate walks totaling two hours instead of the actual four. I felt robbed. Women's health: A missed opportunity The biggest miss for me is menstrual cycle tracking. Google has the basics -- a calendar where you log your period manu