Is Fitbit Premium worth the annual subscription?

Best answer: Fitbit Premium is a paid subscription with guided programs, detailed health insights, advanced sleep tracking, and dynamic workouts for a more feature-rich Fitbit app. For people who want to get the most out of their Fitbit tracker and can afford the monthly or yearly fee, it's definitely worth a look.

The big draw to Fitbit Premium is the Guided Programs

There are many different aspects to Fitbit Premium, but the feature we think most people will be drawn to is the collection of Guided Programs.

Guided Programs can be found on the Discover page of the Fitbit app, and you'll find ones that aim to help you with a variety of things, including being more active, learning healthy habits, getting more sleep, eating less sugar, and more. The length of the programs depends on the topic, and after joining one, it'll be present on the main Today page of the app.

All of the programs can be customized, too. For the Kick Your Salt Habit program, for example, you can choose whether you want to focus on cutting out salt at home or when eating out. Similarly, the Run Training program can be customized based on your reason for starting running, what days/time you want to run, and whether you'll be running indoors or outdoors.

Where the Fitbit app on its own has you focusing on hitting things like step counts, active minutes, and calories burned every day with no real variance, Guided Programs aim to mix up your physical activity with set goals and targets for you to reach.

There are currently 16 Guided Programs available, 13 are exclusive for Premium subscribers, and more are regularly added. For example, Fitbit has partnered with Will Smith for upcoming exclusive content, including various health and wellness programs that tap into both physical and mental strength.

There are step-by-step workouts & meditation sessions

If you don't feel like committing to a multi-week program, Fitbit Premium gives you access to a wealth of guided workout sessions that last from under 10 minutes up to over an hour. There are a few different categories of workouts to follow, including:

• Abs & Core
• Ayesha Curry
• Cardio
• For Kids
• Full Body
• Lower Body
• Upper Body

The collection of available workouts is quite large, and when you tap on one, you'll see how long it lasts, how many calories you'll burn, and what muscles the exercise targets. You can watch all of the guided workout videos directly in the Fitbit app, with the workouts provided by Fitbit itself, or through a partner app like POPSUGAR.

If you often find yourself going to the gym without any idea of what you should be doing to get the most out of your time and body, these workouts can be a great place to get some inspiration. The new Daily Readiness Score also helps you determine the best time to exercise, advising when your body is in peak form to get the most out of a workout. You might, for example, find that an early morning workout is best for you instead of after lunch. That particular feature will be available to Premium members with select devices, including the Charge 5, Sense, Versa 3, Versa 2, Luxe, and Inspire 2.

For those days when you'd rather work on your mental health, Fitbit Premium also has a Mindfulness section where you can access various guided meditation sessions. There are meditations for sleep, uncertainty, energy, stress, body positivity, and much more. You cal also access Deepak Chopra's Mindful Method guided sessions, including short sessions on easing stress with emotional awareness or resetting a bad mood.

Premium also gives you more detailed insights into your health

Rounding out the Guided Programs and workouts, Fitbit Premium also gives subscribers access to more detailed insights into their overall health.

Part of this is offered in the form of Fitbit Premium Insights. Every Fitbit user gets insights into the Fitbit app to help them improve their health, but the ones offered to Premium subscribers are much more personalized. You'll see these Fitbit Premium Insights at the top of the Today page, along with a like and dislike button so you can indicate whether or not you found the information useful.

Fitbit Premium members can also access a full Wellness Report, offering deep insight into your overall health. The report shows data and visualizations of your health trends over the last 30 days, and then you can get a digital copy or print the report so you can share it with your doctor for more meaningful checkups.

You can even get one-on-one coaching

A new tier of the membership is called Fitbit Premium + Health Coaching. This includes all of the same benefits of Fitbit Premium in addition to one-on-one guidance/support from a real health coach.

There are a few key benefits that come with having a health coach, including:

• A custom action plan created by your coach, just for you
• An experienced coach to provide accountability and guide you through ups and downs
• Unlimited, direct messaging with your coach
• Personalized guidance, informed by your Fitbit data
• Support around your specific goals

Fitbit Premium + Health Coaching is considerably more expensive at $45 per month. However, you can get started with a free trial (14 days for new subscribers and 30 days if you already have Fitbit Premium).

Multiple ways to pay (and get free trials)

Lastly, let's talk about everyone's favorite subject - price.

You can pay for Fitbit Premium in two ways: either $9.99/month or $79.99/year. The monthly rate is easier to swallow in the short term, but paying for the annual plan will save you $40 every year, or 30%, in the long haul.

No matter which option you pick, you can try Fitbit Premium for seven days for free before having to pay a dime. Speaking of free trials, you can get an even longer one when purchasing a new Fitbit product. It works as follows:

-6-month trial with Fitbit Charge 5- 6-month trial with Fitbit Luxe- 3-month trial with Fitbit Versa 3- 6-month trial with Fitbit Sense- 12-month trial with Fitbit Inspire 2

You'll need to be new to Fitbit Premium to take advantage of these extended trials, but regardless, these are really great offers (especially if you pick up the Inspire 2).

Should you get Fitbit Premium?

As you can see, you get a lot of stuff with Fitbit Premium. As for whether or not you should subscribe, that all comes down to your goals for your own personal health.

People that just want to keep track of their steps and active minutes throughout the day can likely skip Premium and just keep on using the regular Fitbit app since all of its core features are still free.

However, if you're serious about losing weight, building better habits, and/or want to get as much insight into your body as you can, Fitbit Premium is absolutely worth checking out. If the seven-day trial isn't enough time to make up your mind, buy a month for $10, see how you like it, and then upgrade to the $80/year plan if you're getting enough value out of the service. Or if you're in the market for a new Fitbit anyway, buy the Inspire 2 and give it a full year before you need to spend any additional cash. Not only is it one of the best fitness trackers you can buy right now, it's also just a stupidly good deal.

More featuresFitbit Premium

$80/year at Fitbit

Everything you love about the Fitbit app, but better

Fitbit Premium takes the existing Fitbit app and cranks things up to 11. For your monthly or yearly subscription fee, you get guided health programs, step-by-step workouts, and more detailed information about your personal health. If you want to trial the service, you can do so for seven days absolutely free.

Free yearFitbit Inspire 2 - Smartwatch

$99 at Amazon$100 at Best Buy$99 at Walmart

A ridiculously good deal

The Fitbit Inspire 2 is a really fascinating product. On its own, it's a fully-fledged fitness tracker that doesn't cost a lot of money. You get all-day activity tracking, 24/7 heart-rate monitoring, 10-day battery life, and more. The cherry on top is that it comes with a free year of Fitbit Premium, effectively making it free.