Not everyone likes having a smartwatch or a fitness band hogging their entire wrist. Thankfully though, there is a pretty good selection of small fitness trackers on the market. So, if you have slim wrists or don’t want something bulky, you can get one of these relatively smaller trackers, many of which are among the top fitness trackers.
To help, we have handpicked the best to get you started. Our selection includes a mix of dedicated fitness trackers, smartwatches, and even a ring. So there is something for everyone.
Fitbit is no stranger to fitness trackers. The company has an expansive portfolio. But the fitness tracker that really stands out is the company’s Inspire 3, particularly when you want to keep things simple and small. It’s affordable and punches way above its weight class, with an always-on color touchscreen display, tons of health, wellness, and fitness metrics, and a long battery life.
It can track your steps, heart rate, sleep, blood oxygen levels, and workouts. It’s compatible with Android and iOS, and can mirror your phone’s notifications or call alerts.
Unfortunately, like Fitbit’s other offerings, you have to rely on the company’s Premium subscription for long-term data metrics in certain categories. So, you should keep the subscription cost in mind while buying it. Moreover, it lacks a built-in GPS, so it relies on your phone’s GPS for location data, meaning you’ll have to keep your phone with you if you want to track route information, distance, and more during an outdoor run or a walk.
The Charge 6 sits atop Fitbit’s fitness tracker lineup, and for good reason. It builds upon the impressive legacy of the Charge lineup and delivers everything you want in a fitness tracker in 2023. It has a beautiful OLED touchscreen display, built-in GPS, a heart-rate monitor, and more. It can track over 40 workouts, blood oxygen levels, sleep, skin temperature variation, and ECG.
The Charge 6 also brings back the button for easy navigation. Plus, the fitness tracker is compatible with Android and iOS, with support for notifications, texts, and call alerts.
There is a lot of Google inside it, which was expected given that Alphabet now owns Fitbit. For example, you can use Google Wallet and Google Maps with the Charge 6. The former can be pretty handy. Finally, you get a pretty good battery life.
If you are on a tight budget, it’s hard to go wrong with the Amazfit Band 7, which packs all the basics of a good fitness tracker. One of its biggest highlights is the OLED display, which is bright and colorful. So you have no trouble reading the text. Besides, you get fantastic battery life. You can easily get two weeks of uptime if you don’t enable the always-on display. And even with always-on display, you get about one week.
In terms of features, there’s continuous heart rate, blood oxygen, and stress tracking. You also get 120 tracking options. Not all of these are necessarily workouts though – chess is a particular oddity. But almost all possible exercise modes are present. Other features include notification mirroring support, media controls, camera remote, and more.
As you can expect, given its sub-$50 price tag, it lacks a few things you can find on more expensive options. For example, there is no built-in GPS. It also packs NFC payments.
The Garmin Lily 2 carries over much of what made its predecessor a classy take on the modern smartwatch and fitness tracker. More importantly, it’s one of the smallest smartwatches. So if you don’t fancy the other not-so-attractive fitness trackers, Lily 2 should be on your shortlist. Despite the size, you can still track various advanced health and fitness metrics, including heart-rate monitoring, stress tracking, blood oxygen monitoring, and sleep tracking. The watch also allows you to track your menstrual cycle or pregnancy. Plus, there’s 5ATM water resistance if you want to jump in the water wearing it.
Built-in GPS leads to more accurate tracking during outdoor activity, and it also plays a role with fall and crash detection that can work with the SOS feature that sends a distress signal from anywhere in the world — with a connection to a 24/7 support team. You lose out on music storage and a color display, but the Lily 2 can still mirror your phone’s notifications, show weather details and calendar appointments, and more.
Unlike our other recommendations that are worn on a wrist, the Oura Ring Gen 3 is a smart ring, which, as the name suggests, is worn on your finger. It aims to be discreet and is the smallest fitness tracker among our picks. But despite its small size, it packs a ton of sensors to track your activities, heart rate, sleep, blood oxygen levels, and more.
Besides the form factor, the Oura offering differs from other fitness trackers by focusing more on sleep and recovery. While it will track a whole of things, it will share the data in three scores for readiness, sleep, and activity. While you can get some additional granularity with a premium subscription, it still isn’t ideal if you like to dive deep into data – and the subscription adds to the hefty overall cost.
But if you want something inconspicuous and like a hands-off approach to health and fitness data, the Oura Ring 3 is a good option.
Withings ScanWatch Light is a hybrid smartwatch, which, as you might have guessed, combines the elements of traditional and smartwatches. It looks beautiful, and given that this isn’t the company’s first rodeo, the build quality is fantastic. The 37mm case size is relatively small, and you can pick from five different dial colors, some of which come with a gold case and others with a silver one.
One of the biggest highlights of the ScanWatch Light is its battery life. It can last up to 30 days on a single charge. But this doesn’t mean it skimps on health and fitness tracking. You can automatically or manually track your activities and workouts. It also offers 24-hour heart-rate monitoring, sleep tracking, menstrual cycle tracking, and more. But it doesn’t compete with dedicated fitness trackers with more robust health and fitness tracking options. So it’s best for casual use.
Its smartwatch features are also limited as it has a tiny grayscale OLED screen. It can mirror notifications, set up timers, and set alarms. But you don’t get contactless payments.
If you want a hybrid watch, but the Withings ScanWatch Light doesn’t catch your fancy, you can consider Garmin’s Vivomove Sport. It has an elegant design, and thanks to Garmin’s experience with fitness trackers, it offers pretty accurate tracking. Plus, its relatively small size is ideal for slim wrists.
The Vivomove Sport comes with a discreet OLED screen that you won’t notice until it displays something. Among health, wellness, and fitness features, it has optical heart rate and SpO2 sensors, and can continuously track your stress, blood oxygen levels, and respiration rate. It also monitors your workouts and has tracking for the most common ones.
Another positive of Garmin’s offerings is the free access to detailed metrics that you won’t get with Fitbit trackers. It lags behind other hybrids on the battery front, with just five days of battery life, but you can get one day’s worth of battery life by charging it for just 15 minutes.
It also lacks a built-in GPS, local music storage, and NFC for contactless payments.
On a tight budget, the Xiaomi Mi Smart Band 8 is a fitness tracker that offers an alternative without breaking the bank. It’s light enough to wear all day without feeling cumbersome, even if the strap is a bit finicky to deal with at times. It doesn’t skimp out much on tracking, either, with over 150 workout modes available, including some extras runners might like. The module also works independently of the straps, letting you attach it to your shoe, only you will need to find the right accessory to actually clip it on. Surprisingly, it also has 5ATM water resistance for swimming.
On the health side, there’s an SpO2 sensor to monitor blood oxygen, including while asleep, along with menstrual tracking. Battery life is excellent given the size of the device, letting you use it for up to two weeks on one charge. Just don’t lose the proprietary charger.
Xiaomi ensures the Mi Smart Band 8 works with any Android or iOS phone, making compatibility no real concern. Despite its low price, there are still plenty of features to take advantage of while wearing it.
Small fitness trackers are comfortable and convenient. Unlike small smartphones, which are becoming harder and harder to find, there is still a decent selection of fitness bands and smartwatches for people who want something small.
We particularly like the Fitbit Inspire 3. It doesn’t cost a lot but still offers most fitness and health tracking features most people want. The only drawbacks include the lack of onboard GPS and contactless payments.
You can get both of those in our premium pick — the Fitbit Charge 6 – along with an impressive selection of tracking options and more.
But if you don’t want to spend a lot on a fitness tracker or aren’t sure if it is right for you, you can start with Amazfit Band 7, which is quite affordable. It also has a good selection of features, including workout tracking, long battery life, and an excellent OLED display.
The smallest around is the Oura Ring 3, suitable for people who don’t want something to wear on their wrist. As the name suggests, it’s a ring and can track most of what you get a wrist-worn fitness tracker. It’s expensive though, and you will need a monthly subscription to get detailed metrics.
Maybe if we start telling people the brain is an app they will start using it!
