Easiest Hack to Remain Fit And Healthy Even If You Hate The Gym

You need this smartwatch to remain fit!

The health and fitness brand, Fitbit has launched its fitness smartwatch in India. Touted to be one of the lightest metal smartwatches, the Fitbit Versa runs with Fitbit OS 2.0 and features a dashboard with easy access to fitness and health data. At a pocket pinch of Rs 19,999, it is a more inexpensive alternative to the Fitbit Ionic. If you’re one of the lucky ones to have the Fitbit Versa already or are planning to get your hands on it soon, read the tips below to get the most out of your smartwatch.

1. Buttons and Gestures

Quickly navigate around your Versa with either buttons or gestures. The smartwatch has three buttons, one left-button and two buttons on the right. The left button acts as a ‘Back’ button while long-pressing it also opens the quick settings screen.

The top-right button launches the top-left app in the app dock and its long-press reveals your notifications. Similarly, single press the bottom-right button to open the app located in the lower-left corner of the watch face.

Let’s move on to gestures from buttons. There are three gestures available to the Versa user—swipe up to view your ‘Today Feed’, swipe down to open your notifications, swipe left to reveal your app dock.

All the gestures are launched from the watch face.

2. Today Feed

A swipe up will reveal your ‘Today Feed’ which will disclose your daily stats. It also includes specially curated tips for you to keep your healthy lifestyle intact, explanations of your watch’s features, etc.

3. Install and rearrange apps

Fitbit has two different stores from which you can install apps and clock faces. To download and install apps, open the Fitbit app on your phone and navigate to the settings screen for the Versa. In the settings screen, select Clock Faces or Apps to view a list of apps which are currently installed. Swipe left on the clock face to reveal all installed apps.

For rearranging apps on your smartwatch you must tap and hold the app icon till you feel a slight vibration. Following that, hold and drag the app to a spot of your choice. To move apps across multiple screens, drag the app to the edge of the screen.

4. Music

Fitbit Versa has about 2.5 GB space specifically for music storage which is enough memory to store roughly 300 songs. You can sync your watch with Pandora Plus or Deezer or import music, which is without any DRM (i.e. music downloaded from the internet), from your computer.

To sync songs, open the Fitbit app on your device and check the Versa settings. Then select Media to proceed to sync music. However, the entire syncing process is quite slow so, ensure that you're near a Wi-Fi network with your charger nearby.

After you’ve synced your music comes the part of listening to music. The watch doesn’t have a headphone jack so you have to buy a pair of Bluetooth headphones.

/Connect your headphones to the watch by opening Settings > Bluetooth > +Audio Device on the watch. You can pair your headphones from the list of available devices.

5. Guided Breathing

Fitbit devices first launched guided breathing in 2016 and the Versa contains a variant of guided breathing as an app, called Relax. It is powered by PowerPulse Heart Rate monitoring Technology and monitors heart rate. It can help control general anxiety and minor panic attacks, if used correctly.

You might ignore the app altogether but, we suggest you complete a session of breathing exercises for 4 to 5 minutes. The smartphone induces vibrations to aid inhalation and exhalation without you having to keep an eye on the watch.

6. Sleep Stages

The Versa is primarily created to track your daily activities and one of the most important aspects of your daily routine is sleep. The Apple Watch Series 1, which is the closest competitor in terms of price and specifications to the Fitbit Versa, has not yet explored the arena of sleep schedule. Fitbit’s smart sleep tracking algorithms may be just what you need to improve your sleep schedule.

The watch has a feature called ‘sleep stages’ which tracks time spent awake, in light sleep, in deep sleep, or in the REM—rapid eye movement stages of sleep. Your sleep stages are monitored by the PurePulse heart rate technology, complete with motion detectors to accurately determine four stages of your sleep.

If you’re apprehensive about wearing a watch to sleep, don’t be. The Versa’s lightweight ensures you’re not uncomfortable. Furthermore, the watch allows you to set a silent alarm to let your partner or roommate sleep, unperturbed.

7. Fitbit Community

If you feel demotivated to continue your daily activities, then you can take part in activities and challenges in the Fitbit community. Download the Leaderboard app and measure your activities against those of other users, including strangers, friends, and family.

8. Female Health

Fitbit will soon launch a software update which will allow women to track their menstrual cycle and other important female health stats. This will be a boon for women using Fitbit and will eliminate the need to install a separate app on your phone to track your monthly cycle.

The Fitness Versa smartwatch is available from online retailers, as well as several offline stores such as Croma, Helios, Reliance Digital. Did you find this article helpful? Did we miss out any features? Let us know in the comments section. Have a fit and healthy life with your FitBit Versa!