Design and Build: A Refined, Always-On Experience
The Fitbit Versa 4 presents a significant aesthetic and functional evolution from its predecessor. It retains the beloved squircle (square-circle) design language but refines it into a sleeker, more lightweight, and more comfortable profile. Crafted from aerospace-grade aluminum, the case feels premium and durable, resisting the scratches and scuffs of daily wear. The physical button, a hallmark of previous Versa models, has been replaced with a haptic indentation on the left side. This new “inductive button” provides subtle vibration feedback when pressed, contributing to a cleaner, more seamless look and improved water resistance.
The standout upgrade in the display department is the inclusion of a true always-on display (AOD) option. Unlike the Versa 3’s basic always-on mode, the Versa 4’s AOD is vibrant and informative, showing the time, date, and key stats like heart rate or step count without requiring a wrist raise or a tap. The 1.58-inch AMOLED touchscreen is brilliantly sharp, with rich colors and deep blacks, ensuring excellent visibility even under direct sunlight. With increased maximum brightness, checking your stats mid-run is effortless.
Comfort is paramount for a device worn 24/7, and the Versa 4 excels. The silicone sport band is soft, hypoallergenic, and features a new quick-release mechanism, making swaps for different occasions simple. Fitbit offers a wide array of band styles and materials, from recycled elastomer to luxurious leather and stainless steel links, allowing for significant personalization. With a 5 ATM water resistance rating, it’s safe for swimming, showering, and is built to handle intense sweat sessions without a second thought.
Advanced Health and Fitness Tracking: Beyond the Basics
At its core, the Versa 4 is a powerhouse health and fitness companion, leveraging the robust Fitbit ecosystem. It features a new multi-path optical heart rate sensor, promising improved accuracy for both resting and active heart rate readings. This data fuels a suite of health insights available through the Fitbit app, including:
- Daily Readiness Score: This premium feature analyzes your heart rate variability (HRV), sleep quality, and recent activity to suggest whether you’re primed for a tough workout or should focus on recovery. It’s a powerful tool for preventing burnout and optimizing training.
- SpO2 Monitoring: The sensor tracks blood oxygen saturation levels while you sleep, helping to identify potential variations that could be worth discussing with a doctor.
- Skin Temperature Sensing: Each night, the watch tracks changes in your skin temperature relative to your personal baseline. Significant deviations can be an early indicator of illness, stress, or hormonal changes.
- Comprehensive Sleep Tracking: Fitbit remains an industry leader in sleep analysis. The Versa 4 provides a detailed Sleep Score, breaks down your time in light, deep, and REM sleep stages, and offers insights into your sleep consistency and quality, complete with a smart wake alarm that vibrates during a light sleep phase for a gentler wake-up.
For fitness, the Versa 4 automatically recognizes and records over 20 exercise modes, from running and cycling to swimming and yoga. A key hardware upgrade is the inclusion of built-in GPS. Unlike the Versa 3, which required a connected GPS signal from your phone, the Versa 4’s onboard GPS allows you to leave your phone behind and still accurately map your outdoor workouts, viewing pace, distance, and elevation directly on your wrist post-session. The watch also introduces new workout intensity maps, which color-code your route to show where you pushed hardest.
The Active Zone Minutes metric remains a central feature, using your heart rate to measure time spent in fat burn, cardio, or peak zones. This provides a more meaningful measure of effort than steps alone. For guided workouts, Fitbit Premium subscribers gain access to a vast library of audio and video content, from quick 10-minute abs sessions to full-length yoga flows and mindfulness exercises.
Smartwatch Features and Daily Connectivity
While health is its forte, the Versa 4 has matured as a capable smartwatch. It runs on Fitbit OS, which offers a clean, intuitive interface navigated by swipes and taps. The onboard microphone enables Google Fast Pair for easy Android setup and allows for voice-to-text responses to notifications (Android only) and voice-controlled commands via Amazon Alexa or, soon, Google Assistant.
Notifications for calls, texts, calendar alerts, and third-party apps like WhatsApp and Slack are delivered clearly to your wrist, allowing you to stay connected without constantly checking your phone. You can accept or reject calls directly from the watch (though there is no speaker for taking calls). The Versa 4 also supports Fitbit Pay for contactless payments, storing debit and credit cards for convenient, phone-free transactions.
The app gallery, while not as expansive as Wear OS or watchOS, includes essential apps like Spotify (for controlling playback on your phone), Strava, Deezer, and The Weather Channel. The ability to store and play music directly from the watch, however, is a feature that has been removed compared to the Versa 3, a notable omission for some users.
Battery Life and the Fitbit Ecosystem
Battery performance is a defining strength. Fitbit rates the Versa 4 for over six days of use on a single charge, and in real-world use, this is largely achievable with always-on display disabled and moderate GPS use. Even with heavy use, most users will easily get four to five days, significantly outperforming most competitors that require daily charging. A full charge takes approximately two hours.
The true value of any Fitbit device is unlocked within the Fitbit app. It serves as a centralized dashboard for all your health data, presenting it in clear, actionable graphs and timelines. The social features, like challenges and leaderboards with friends, add a fun, motivational layer. The subscription-based Fitbit Premium service deepens this experience with advanced analytics, wellness reports, and the extensive library of workouts and mindfulness content.
Considerations and User Experience
The Fitbit Versa 4 is not without its trade-offs. The removal of the physical button can be a minor adjustment, and some may find the haptic feedback less satisfying. The most significant compromises are the lack of onboard music storage and the absence of third-party app support for music services like Pandora, which the Versa 3 offered. Furthermore, while the interface is simple, it can feel less responsive than more powerful smartwatch chipsets, and the selection of apps and watch faces, though growing, remains more limited.
The user experience is tailored for individuals deeply invested in health and wellness who prioritize battery life and insightful data over a vast app ecosystem or the ability to make phone calls from their wrist. It’s ideal for runners, swimmers, and gym-goers who want accurate GPS and heart rate tracking without the constant anxiety of a dying battery. It seamlessly fits into daily life, providing just enough smart functionality to keep you informed without becoming a distraction.