The app Fitbit Flex2

The app Fitbit Flex2

• Packed full of challenges and achievements
• Makes fitness fun
• Lacks statistical depth

The useful auto-tracking described above is all thanks to Fitbit’s app, which has benefited from years of development tweaks at this point. It’s a great little app that’s a pleasure to jump into several times a day, putting all the data you want to see in front of your eyeballs.

There’s nothing like the statistical depth of the Garmin Connect system, which is geared towards improving your performance and letting you see, for example, the variation of pace in your 10km runs. But Fitbit’s app has another kind of depth, one based on motivation.

The Fitbit app is packed with challenges and achievements, similar to the sort of techniques free-to-play games use to keep you hooked. You can challenge other Fitbit-owning friends to face-offs, and there are ‘single player’ Adventures that map your steps onto a (probably) far more exciting trek.

One is the Vernal Falls hike in Yosemite national park. The aim is to walk 15,000 steps in one day between 6am and 10pm. As you rack up steps, you can see how far you’ve made it in the satellite map, and unlock ‘journal’ entries relating to the real-life walk.

In reality you might just be walking around town or your local park, but as with other parts of the Fitbit software it’s about adding a fun dimension to something quite prosaic.

Again, if you’re trying to gear up for a marathon, you’d be much better off with a budget GPS watch like the Garmin Forerunner 35 or Polar M200.

However, a Flex 2 is a good fit if you want a tracker that will give you that extra incentive to be a bit more active in a low-exertion way. It works best if you have friends who also own a Fitbit or use the Fitbit app, though.

At the end of 2017, Fitbit launched a partner to its main app, called Fitbit Coach. This paid app brings more serious fitness and coaching skills to the Fitbit network with 100s of video workout drills you can do, many of which are from the increasingly popular world of HIIT.

Fitbit Coach can be accessed from the main app by way of a Guidance section, where you can choose a workout but you'll need to download Fitbit Coach and this will be launched when you select a workout. Nike takes this multi-app approach where there are distinct apps for strength training and running, but it's a little annoying to have download both apps and be flicked back and forth.

That gripe aside, Fitbit Coach is a serious training partner, recommending personalised video workouts based on your Fitbit activity and making it simple to follow loads of different exercises, not unlike we've seen done with Moov Now. 

There's run and walk coaching too and you can choose your preferred trainer and Fitbit Radio is there to provide musical motivation. 

There are some free workout sessions in the app these are frustratingly hard to find among all those you'll need to pay for a premium account to 

Access to the premium app will still set you back £5.99 per month for £29.99 ($39.99, about AU$50) for the year, though there are some free workout sessions in the app too. These are frustratingly hard to find in the Coach app. 

That said, this is cheaper than a gym membership and great for equipment-free home workouts.

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