The Best Fitness Trackers for 2020

Providing great value for money and the longest battery life of all the trackers on this list, the Mi Band 4 packs a lot of features in its slim and compact body. The Mi Band 4 works with your phone’s GPS tracking and the Mi Fit app to track your sleep and your exercise data. You can specify the type of workout, too, whether it be running outdoors, running on a treadmill, cycling or swimming. You can also program vibration alarms to remind you to drink regularly or stand up periodically during long work sessions. Aside from heart rate monitoring and sleep tracking, the Mi Band also relays your messages, emails and phone notifications via its touchscreen display.

The Moov Now is a simple-looking device with no screen and only a single button, worn on your wrist or ankle via a comfortable silicone rubber strap. Working in coordination with the Moov Coach app (free on iOS and Android), this tiny tracker features sleep tracking, downloadable workout data, and real-time coaching for cross-training and running via audio prompts on your phone. If you’re looking for a sleek wearable that you can use to monitor and motivate your workouts this coming year, this is it.

The feature-laden Charge 3 easily straddles the gap between smartwatch and fitness tracker, with synced app notifications and onboard functions such as a weather forecast and timer. It features the standard multi-sport fitness tracking capabilities, including swim tracking, all-day heart rate tracking and the ability to track your exercise automatically, so you can just jump right in and start recording workout data without having to fiddle with your watch.

Fitness trackers don’t need to be confined to your wrist, and if you’re looking for a minimalist wearable to help you with your fitness goals, the Motiv Ring is a slim, ultralight, and unobtrusive option. Designed to be worn 24/7, it tracks your fitness through your heart rate and calories burned, and tracks your sleep activity as well. It syncs this through the Motiv app on your phone, or store your activity data for five days before syncing. Waterproof up to 165 feet, this is one fitness tracker you can keep on you wherever you go and whatever you’re doing, all day, every day.

Featuring the Tizen wearable OS and a capacitive digital bezel to help with scrolling through its functions, the Galaxy Watch Active 2 manages to provide smartwatch accessibility in a muted, minimalist form factor. As a fitness tracker, it features heart rate, GPS, altimeter, and sleep tracking functions, and can automatically track different activities, including running, cycling, swimming, rowing, and elliptical workouts. A built-in speaker allows you to not only receive calls but also play music and videos from your wrist, aside from giving you clearer and louder audio notifications from your apps. If you’re looking for a feature-rich fitness tracker that looks more like a regular watch, the Galaxy Watch Active 2 is for you.

Designed for outdoor athletes and runners, the Garmin Forerunner 245 lets you measure and track your long-term training improvements, daily recovery levels, and even your V02 max. The free Garmin Coach app tracks your progress and keeps you on a program, and the Running Dynamics function even analyzes your stride through an optional separate accessory. For all those miles spent on the road, it features onboard music storage, pulled from your personal collection or your Spotify account. And to keep you safe while you’re out, it features incident detection and the ability to share your location with selected contacts, in case you get lost or need help.

Those looking for a smartwatch that has fitness-focused functionality will find it in the latest series of Apple Watches. Despite lacking a sleep tracking function. the Series 5 watches provide very accurate fitness tracking that syncs with the Health app and many other third-party fitness apps like Strava. An always-on display eliminates the need to flick your wrist every time you need to see your data, and a new Compass app lets you navigate your surroundings in conjunction with an updated Maps app. As part of the Apple Watch series, there are many variants: there’s a version with cellular functionality, different case materials, and it even comes in a smaller 40mm version to better match your wrist. If you’re invested in the Apple ecosystem, this watch precludes the need for any other fitness tracker.