Jimmy Westenberg / Android Authority
Google’s feelings toward Fitbit smartwatches haven’t been a secret for a while now — those feelings being that the company would like to do without them.
Google’s intent to eradicate Fitbit smartwatches from the face of the Earth is a clear and ongoing plan. But the more the company strips away functionality and crushes any hope for future Fitbit watches, the more it makes me want a Fitbit Sense 3.
Would you be interested in a Fitbit Sense 3?
10 votes
Why the Fitbit Sense was so good
Jimmy Westenberg / Android Authority
I know, I know. The chances of Google releasing a new Fitbit Sense are slimmer than the company resurrecting Google Allo. But even though I know it won’t happen, I can’t help but wish it would.
While the Fitbit Sense 2 was a bit of a dud, the original Fitbit Sense wasn’t. I reviewed the original Sense for Android Central in 2021 and continued using it for a few months after my review was published. Although not a perfect smartwatch, it was a darn good one for its time.
Even though it’s been years since I last used the Sense, I still look back fondly on almost everything about the watch — starting with its design. The Sense’s Apple Watch-like aesthetics may not have been the most creative, but what it lacked in creativity, it made up for in excellent build quality and comfort. The metal frame and glass front felt outstanding, the band system was simple (much better than the Pixel Watch), and the proprietary charger worked well. And original or not, the squircle design lent itself nicely to virtually any setting. With the right watch band, the Fitbit Sense felt at home whether worn at the gym or a night out for drinks.
Jimmy Westenberg / Android Authority
Fitbit nailed other aspects of the Sense, too. The OLED display, while nothing revolutionary in 2025, was a standout in 2021. It had always-on functionality, excellent colors with deep blacks, and a slightly domed shape near the edges. Battery life was equally impressive, easily lasting five-to-six days per charge — far and away better than even the Google Pixel Watch 3.
Finally, as you’d expect from a Fitbit wearable, the Sense had no shortage of health and fitness tracking features. You had the usual suspects like activity and sleep tracking, automatic workout detection, heart rate monitoring, and built-in GPS. However, the Sense also had a couple of unique health sensors for its time: a temperature sensor and an EDA sensor — the latter of which still hasn’t expanded to other smartwatches beyond the Pixel Watch family. The Sense was Fitbit’s first big push into holistic health tracking, and it was something we hadn’t seen from any other smartwatch brand.
The Fitbit Sense marked the beginning of what should have been a promising future.
Is that to say the Fitbit Sense was perfect? Not at all. In fact, the Sense had a fair amount of first-gen product quirks that made it a tricky recommendation. Between poor performance, limited SpO2 tracking, a buggy companion app, and an uncompetitive price, the Sense wasn’t a smartwatch I widely recommended to folks. But for me, it stood out as something special.
The Sense was the best hardware we’d seen from Fitbit up until that point (and I’d argue still to this very day). It marked a new journey into a different kind of health tracking with the temperature and EDA sensors. It was Fitbit’s best smartwatch showing to-date, and it marked the beginning of what should have been a promising future.
Imagining a Fitbit Sense 3 in 2025
Ryan Haines / Android Authority
Unfortunately, as we know now, it’s a future we’d never quite see. While we got the Fitbit Sense 2 just a year later, it wasn’t the successor it should have been. It had many of the same great qualities as the original Sense, but paired with rampant bugs and numerous missing features from its predecessor (including third-party app support and Wi-Fi connectivity), it felt less like a sequel and more like a bizarre downgrade. However, knowing that Google would put all of its resources toward the Pixel Watch from that point on and never return to the Sense brand, it now makes sense.
But what if that wasn’t what happened? What if Google had decided to keep the Fitbit Sense and allow it to coexist with the Google Pixel Watch? What might that have looked like? While we’ll probably never know for sure, I think it could have been something special.
Ryan Haines / Android Authority
Imagine if Google released a Fitbit Sense 3 last year alongside the Pixel Watch 3 or did so later this summer with the upcoming Pixel Watch 4. The Pixel Watch would remain Google’s flagship smartwatch, but the Sense could be there to offer the same health features and significantly longer battery life at the expense of more advanced smartwatch capabilities. Want a smartwatch with Fitbit health tracking, Wear OS, Google apps, and advanced safety features? Get a Pixel Watch. Want the same Fitbit health/fitness features but want to trade the fully-featured smartwatch bits for week-long battery life? Go for the Sense.
For Google, a Pixel Watch and a Fitbit Sense could make for an excellent duo.
While a markedly different approach, it wouldn’t be completely dissimilar from Apple’s strategy with the mainline Apple Watch and its SE counterpart — or Samsung with the Galaxy Watch 7 and Galaxy Watch FE. There’s room for one company to offer multiple smartwatch choices, and for Google, a Pixel Watch and a Fitbit Sense could make for an excellent duo.
The Pixel Watch would be the flagship, the Fitbit Sense would be the more affordable and battery-focused option. Everyone gets what they want, Google gets to sell more watches to people, and the company wouldn’t let an excellent smartwatch brand/foundation go to waste. Win, win, win.
The best Google smartwatch we’ll never see
Kris Carlon / Android Authority
I say all of this as a big fan of the Google Pixel Watch. The Pixel Watch 3 is one of my favorite smartwatches around, and I’m eager to see what comes out of the Pixel Watch 4 later this year. But even so, there will always be a part of me that wonders “what could have been” when it comes to the Sense.
Google’s actions have made it clear that a new Sense isn’t in the company’s plans. If it were, we’d have seen a new model by now. It’s something I came to terms with a while ago.
But with Google bringing the Sense 2 back into the headlines this month — and stirring up memories of the first model in doing so — I can’t help but bemoan the lack of a Sense 3. Its potential for greatness is enormous, and the fact that Google doesn’t seem to see that is a shame for everyone.
