One of the biggest challenges of fully adopting a laptop is having trouble adapting it to your particular style and aesthetic. Truth be told, many people don’t even need to buy smartwatches anymore. Plus, with the growing popularity of “screenless” wearable trackers, we recently covered everything a Whoop can do that an Apple Watch can’t. But if you’re considering getting a screen-less wearable like the new Fitbit Air, know that there’s a nifty way to customize its appearance and reactivate functionality with a glance that you’ll lose by not using a smartwatch.
Turns out some users of the new Fitbit Air have found a way to get the best of both worlds. In short, many traditional watches (and even some smart watches) can be added to the FitBit Air bracelet. By sliding the Fitbit Air’s tracking sensors onto another part of your wrist, everyone around you will feel like you’re wearing a regular watch. It’s an interesting way to bring a bit of old-school style to your new-school health tracking features. Here’s how to do it and which watches are good candidates.
How to add a watch to your Fitbit Air
Understanding how to add a separate device to the same band as your Fitbit Air starts with understanding how a watch actually connects to a band. Most strap watches use spring bars to attach a strap to the watch case itself. Many watch bands simply wrap around these spring bars to hold them in place. So if you have a watch you like that meets this standard, it’s as simple as removing the strap itself leaving the bars on the watch. Then pass the bottom sides of your Fitbit Air’s bands through the openings between these bars and your watch, and you have now added a watch face next to the tracking module on your Fitbit Air.
Technically, this same process can be done with any fitness tracker, as long as its bandwidth matches the watch’s bars. In this case, it is important to measure the strap opening on your watch, as not all fitness trackers have the same strap size. The Whoop bands, for example, are a bit thicker than the band provided on the Fitbit Air, which measures 18 millimeters. The key here is experimentation. Find out which watches go well with your activity tracker strap and if they fit. It might just give your Fitbit Air a whole new aesthetic identity.
