Fitness Tracker vs Smartwatch: What’s the Difference?
If you’re thinking about buying something to track your steps or exercise, it doesn’t take long before you’re faced with fitness trackers, smartwatches and an increasingly confusing selection of devices that seem to do almost exactly the same thing.
I’ve used trackers at different points when I’ve been trying to walk more and generally become more active, and I can see why they’re so popular. It can be quite motivating to look at the end of the day and realise you’ve walked further than you thought, especially when you’re starting from a point where exercise isn’t something that comes naturally.
The problem is deciding how much technology you actually need strapped to your wrist. Do you just want to know how many steps you’ve done, or would you like to answer messages, pay for your shopping and control your music from your watch too?
That’s really where the difference between a fitness tracker and a smartwatch starts to matter. I have compared the best fitness trackers for 2026 in a separate article you may find helpful.
What do you actually want to track?
Before looking at particular watches, I’d think about why you want one in the first place. If you’ve decided you’d like to walk a little more each day, you probably don’t need hundreds of pounds’ worth of technology to tell you whether you’ve managed it.
A fairly simple fitness tracker can usually keep an eye on your steps, distance, active minutes and heart rate, with many also recording sleep and different types of exercise. You might get phone notifications and a few other extras, but generally the focus is still on your activity.
Smartwatches have gradually taken on most of those features too, which is why comparing them has become a little confusing. Alongside tracking your walks and workouts, they can offer things like messages, calls, apps, music, maps and contactless payments.
I think the easiest way to decide between them is to ask yourself whether you primarily want something to track your activity or whether you want something that also acts as an extension of your phone.
Would you actually use all the smartwatch features?
This is something I would think about quite carefully because it is very easy to get carried away when you’re comparing watches online.
Suddenly you absolutely need built-in GPS, contactless payments, music storage and umpteen different workout modes, despite originally looking for something that would tell you whether you’d walked 5,000 steps.
If you regularly leave your phone behind when you’re walking or running, some of those features could genuinely be useful. Being able to use GPS, listen to music or even make a call without carrying your phone might make paying more for a smartwatch worthwhile.
If your phone is always in your pocket anyway, you might find you’re paying for your watch to duplicate things your phone already does perfectly well.
I also don’t particularly need every notification that appears on my phone vibrating on my wrist. Sometimes I’d quite like to finish my walk without knowing that somebody has sent me an email!
How much do you need to spend?
There can be quite a difference in price, particularly once you start looking at the more advanced smartwatches.
That doesn’t mean a more expensive watch will help you become more active.
If your main aim is to walk more, a cheaper tracker that you enjoy wearing can be every bit as useful as an expensive smartwatch. The steps don’t somehow count more because your watch cost £400.
I would decide which features matter to you first and then set a budget. Otherwise, it is incredibly easy to start looking at a basic fitness tracker and somehow end up convincing yourself you need something capable of launching a small satellite.
Think about how often you want to charge it
Battery life is one of those boring things that doesn’t seem particularly exciting when you’re choosing a new gadget, but it can make a huge difference once you actually own it.
Simpler fitness trackers can often go for several days between charges, while watches with larger screens, GPS and lots of smart features generally need charging more frequently.
I’d definitely look at real-world battery expectations rather than simply assuming the manufacturer’s maximum figure is what you’ll get. Using GPS regularly, tracking lots of workouts and having the screen active frequently can all use more power.
This becomes even more important if you want to track your sleep. Having lots of clever sleep information isn’t much use if the watch spends every night plugged into the wall.
Do you want a watch or something you barely notice?
Some smartwatches are quite large, and that isn’t necessarily something you appreciate from photographs online.
If you’re going to wear it all day and perhaps all night, comfort matters much more than you might initially think. A slimmer fitness tracker can be easier to forget you’re wearing, particularly if you don’t normally wear a watch.
On the other hand, if you want to read messages, follow directions or use apps from your wrist, a bigger screen is much nicer.
This is one of those purchases I’d try on in person if possible. Something can look lovely online and then feel enormous once it’s actually sitting on your wrist.
What if you mainly want to count your steps?
You really don’t need a fancy smartwatch for this.
Both types of device can track steps, and while the exact number may vary slightly between watches, I wouldn’t get too hung up on whether you’ve done precisely 7,843 steps.
For me, the interesting bit is the pattern.
Perhaps you assumed you were quite active but discover that on days when you’re working at a desk you barely move. Or maybe you realise that taking a short walk after lunch makes a surprisingly big difference to how much movement you get into your day.
That’s information you can actually do something with.
I’ve always thought that makes much more sense than becoming obsessed with hitting exactly 10,000 steps simply because that’s the number everybody talks about. If you’re currently averaging 3,000, gradually getting to 4,000 and then 5,000 is still progress.
Be a little careful with the calories-burned number
This is probably the part of fitness tracking I would personally treat with the most caution.
Your watch can estimate the calories you’ve burned using information such as your movement, heart rate, age and weight, but it is still an estimate. I wouldn’t treat it as an exact figure or assume that because your watch says you’ve burned a particular number of calories, you should adjust your food accordingly.
I also know how easy it can be for numbers around weight loss to take over. I’ve had times when scales, food and numbers became far more important than they should have been, and adding another number that tells you whether you’ve supposedly done enough exercise can feed into that.
For some people, seeing those numbers is really motivating. For others, it can become another thing to worry about.
If you’re in the second group, you don’t necessarily have to stop wearing a tracker. You could simply focus on things that feel more positive, such as how far you’ve walked or how regularly you’ve been getting outside.
Can a tracker motivate you to exercise more?
This was one of the things I liked about using one.
I’m quite motivated by seeing progress, and it can be satisfying when you notice you’re naturally moving more than you were a few weeks earlier. Some trackers also give you badges, streaks and challenges, which can make increasing your activity feel more like a little game.
Where I think it becomes less helpful is when the target starts controlling you.
We’ve probably all either done it or know somebody who has been wandering around the living room late at night because their watch says they need another 300 steps.
If you fancy doing that, carry on. If you’re exhausted and want to go to bed, go to bed. Your watch won’t be disappointed in you.
Which would I choose for walking?
If walking was the main reason I was buying one, I’d probably start by looking at fitness trackers rather than smartwatches.
For everyday walking, I would mainly want steps, distance, heart rate and decent battery life. I’d much rather put the difference in price towards a comfortable pair of walking trainers or somewhere nice to go for a walk.
GPS might change that decision. Some trackers rely on your phone’s GPS to record your route, whereas others have GPS built into the device. If you always take your phone with you, that might not matter at all.
If you’d like to leave your phone at home and still record your route, built-in GPS becomes much more useful. Add music, maps and the ability to make calls without your phone, and suddenly a smartwatch starts making more sense.
What if you do other types of exercise?
This is where I’d stop worrying about whether something is officially called a smartwatch or a fitness tracker and start looking at the individual device.
If you’re a runner, you might want accurate GPS and information about your pace and heart rate. If you swim, you’re going to care considerably more about whether you can wear it in the pool. Cyclists might want different information again.
If, like many people reading JustAverageJen, you’re simply trying to become a little more active and experiment with different types of exercise, you probably don’t need pages and pages of statistics.
Sometimes just being able to look back and think, “I exercised three times this week”, is enough.
What about sleep tracking?
I’ve always found sleep information quite interesting, although I’m not sure I would ever want to become too obsessed with it.
Lots of trackers and smartwatches now estimate how long you’ve slept and when you’ve been awake during the night, with some giving much more detailed information too.
Looking at patterns over time can be interesting, especially if you’re trying to improve your sleep routine. What I wouldn’t do is wake up feeling absolutely fine and then decide I’m exhausted because my watch has given me a terrible sleep score.
It is making an estimate based on what its sensors can detect. It isn’t actually inside your brain watching you sleep.
If sleep tracking is a priority, pay close attention to comfort and battery life because you’ll need something you can happily wear overnight.
Don’t buy one because you think you need it to lose weight
Fitness trackers are so heavily associated with weight loss that it can sometimes feel as though buying one is part of the process. It isn’t.
You can lose weight without ever knowing how many steps you’ve taken in your life, just as owning the most expensive smartwatch in the shop won’t automatically make you exercise.
Where I think they can be helpful is in making you more aware of your habits. If your tracker shows that you hardly move on working days, you might decide to take a little walk at lunchtime. If you notice you’re walking further than you did a month ago, that can give you a lovely sense of progress that has nothing to do with what the scales say.
Having lost a lot of weight myself and then struggled with my relationship with weight, food and numbers afterwards, I’m much more cautious now about the idea that we should track absolutely everything.
If tracking your walks encourages you to get outside, fantastic.
If missing a step target makes you feel guilty, perhaps that particular target isn’t helping you.
So which should you buy?
I wouldn’t start by asking whether a fitness tracker or smartwatch is technically better. I’d start with what you want sitting on your wrist every day.
If you mainly want to see your steps, record walks, keep an eye on your activity and perhaps look at your sleep, I’d probably save some money and look at fitness trackers first.
If you know you’ll use messages, calls, music, maps, payments and apps as well, spending more on a smartwatch could make much more sense.
Whichever you choose, don’t get carried away comparing enormous feature lists and forget why you wanted one in the first place.
If your aim is to walk a little further, move more often or see yourself gradually becoming fitter, the watch is really only there to keep a record of it. You’re still the one doing all the work.
Read NHS advice and information about smart watches and fitness trackers
Frequently asked questions about Smartwatches and fitness trackers
These are some of the questions I have been asked:
Is a Fitbit a smartwatch or fitness tracker?
It depends on the model. Fitbit has produced simpler activity-focused trackers as well as watches offering considerably more smartwatch functionality.
Can a smartwatch do everything a fitness tracker does?
Many can track the same basic things, including steps, workouts and heart rate, but the exact features vary between models.
Do I need a smartwatch just to count steps?
Probably not. If counting steps and monitoring everyday activity are your main priorities, a simpler fitness tracker may give you everything you actually need.
Which is better for walking, a fitness tracker or smartwatch?
For everyday walking, a fitness tracker can be more than enough. A smartwatch becomes more useful if you also want features such as maps, built-in GPS, music, calls or other apps while you’re walking.
Can I use a fitness tracker without my phone?
Some functions can usually work independently, but this varies considerably between devices. Features such as connected GPS, syncing data or receiving notifications may require a compatible phone.
