Fitbit Charge 6: Release date, price, features, and everything you need to know

The Fitbit Charge series is among the best fitness trackers you can spend cash on. Since 2021, we’ve relied on the Fitbit Charge 5 for the best-of-the-best in the Fitbit tracker world. Now, though, the Charge 5 has been usurped by the Fitbit Charge 6! It takes the throne as Fitbit’s top tracker.

In this article, we will tell you everything you need to know about the Charge 6, including how to get one for yourself.

The Fitbit Charge 6 is about the same size as the Charge 5. In fact, the Charge 5 bands and charger will also work with the Charge 6. In our review of the Fitbit Charge 5, we found it to be a delightful size and weight, so we’re expecting the Charge 6 to deliver a similar experience.

As far as specs go, everything from the Charge 5 carries over. It has the same 1.04-inch full-color AMOLED display and all the same health-tracking sensors. However, it uses AI and machine learning to enhance the heart-rate sensor, which makes it the most advanced ever on a Fitbit tracker and allows for a cool new feature related to gym equipment. See the next section for more on this.

Fitbit doesn’t specifically disclose how much memory there is on the Charge 6. However, it does tell us how much data it can handle:

• Detailed by-the-minute motion data for the past seven days
• Daily totals of your health tracking for the last 30 days
• Heart rate data at one-second intervals during workouts and five-second intervals at all other times

Check out a full list of specs for the Charge 6 below. Do note that you can use a Charge 6 with either an Android or iOS smartphone, but you must connect it to a smartphone for it to work properly.

As mentioned in the previous section, the Fitbit Charge 6 carries over all the features of the Charge 5. That means it includes heart-rate tracking, sleep tracking, onboard GPS, SpO2 tracking, AFib monitoring, an ECG sensor, an EDA sensor, and an accelerometer. Like the Charge 5, it lacks an altimeter, unfortunately.

So how is the Charge 6 different from the Charge 5? Here are the big changes for 2023:

• More exercise routines: The Charge 6 supports over 40 exercise routines; you can access them all right on the tracker. This is different from the Charge 5, which only supports 20+ activities and only received the ability for all of them to be on the tracker in a June 2023 update, roughly two years after it launched.
• Google Maps: You can now see turn-by-turn directions on your fitness tracker. You’ll need your smartphone to be connected to the tracker the whole time and initiate directions using the smartphone app, but direction notifications will appear on your wrist. This will be great for cyclists and runners.
• Google Wallet/Pay: Fitbit Pay is not included with the Charge 6. Instead, you’ll use Google Pay for your contactless payments.
• YouTube Music controls: If you’re playing music from YouTube Music on your phone, you’ll be able to play/stop/pause/skip tracks right from your wrist. You’ll need to start playing your music from your phone, though.
• Gym equipment sync: On certain types of gym equipment, you’ll be able to share your heart rate with the machine. For example, you could connect your Charge 6 to a Peloton and then see your Charge 6’s heart rate data right on the Peloton’s screen. This data is read-only, so it’s even safe to use on public gym gear.
• Google required: You will not be able to use the Fitbit Charge 6 with a legacy Fitbit account. You will need to transfer your Fitbit account to your Google account or create a new Google account. There are no exceptions to this rule.

Here are all the exercises you can track with a Fitbit Charge 6:

The Fitbit Charge 6 landed on September 28, 2023, for $159. That’s a significantly lower price than the Charge 5’s original MSRP, which was $179. Considering the wealth of new features here, that’s great news.

However, $159 is still a lot for a fitness tracker. At that point, you might as well consider jumping up to the Fitbit Versa 4 ($199 at Amazon), which will have many of the same features in a smartwatch form factor. Check out our Fitbit Versa 4 review to read more about this upgrade.

Likewise, you could save some cash and go with a less expensive tracker. The Fitbit Charge 5 ($134 at Amazon) is an obvious cheaper alternative. Meanwhile, the Xiaomi Mi Band 7 ($46 at Amazon) is dirt-cheap and offers all the essential features you would expect. Check out our Xiaomi Mi Band 7 review for more on that.

Still, no other tracker will have all the features you’ll get with the Charge 6. You’ll just need to decide if that’s worth it or not.

The most notable change to the design of the Fitbit Charge 6 is the reintroduction of a physical button. As Fitbit did with the Sense 2 and Versa 4, the Charge series is now back to using a regular button instead of the capacitive groove of previous models. This is excellent news, as pretty much everyone agrees a mechanical control is better than the groove.

Other than this significant design change, though, the rest of the tracker is an exact match to the Charge 5.

The Fitbit Charge 6 itself (without a band) comes in three colors only: Black Aluminum, Silver Aluminum, and Champagne Gold Aluminum. You’ll be able to choose from thousands of different bands from both Fitbit and third-party companies, but those are the only three colors you have for the Charge 6 itself.

Out-of-the-box, the Black Aluminum model comes with an Obsidian Infinity Band. A Porcelain Infinity Band comes with the Silver Aluminum model, and a Coral Infinity Band comes with the Champagne Gold Aluminum variant. You can see how those colors look in the upper left corner of the image below.

Fitbit will also sell Sport Bands, Premium Horween Leather Bands, Woven Bands, Hook & Loop Bands, and Vegan Leather Bands. Check out the image above for more info. Remember, though, that all Fitbit Charge 5 bands work with the Charge 6. If you are upgrading from a Charge 5, you’ll be able to keep using the bands you already own.

Fitbit is promoting the battery life of the Charge 6 as equal to that of the Charge 5. That means Fitbit promises up to seven days of battery life on a single charge.

However, to see that much battery life, you’ll need to limit how you use the tracker severely. The always-on display (AOD) will need to be off; you’ll need to track a limited number of exercises, receive very few smartphone notifications, etc. In our real-world testing of the Charge 5, we saw just three days of battery life under strain, meaning AOD on, brightness to the max, lots of notifications, a bunch of workouts, etc. In other words, you should expect between three and seven days of battery life, depending on your usage habits.

Charging the Fitbit Charge 6 will take two hours to go from empty to full. You charge it using a proprietary magnetic charger — the same one that came with the Charge 5. There is no wireless charging or any other way to charge it other than the proprietary cable.

There is no wall adapter in the box.

The Charge 6 has all the watch faces seen on the Charge 5 (and even a few from the Fitbit Luxe). That includes “Analogish,” “Bloom,” “Continuum,” “Neoflip,” and more. All in all, there are over 25 faces available.