Fitbit Sense vs. Apple Watch 7: How Do They Compare?

Fitbit Sense vs Apple Watch Series 7: An In-Depth Smartwatch Comparison Guide to Help You Decide

Are you an iPhone user trying to choose between Apple’s popular smartwatch or Fitbit’s new health-focused wearable? Or maybe you use an Android phone but want advanced fitness tracking from your next watch. This 2000+ word guide will analyze how the feature-packed Fitbit Sense and Apple Watch Series 7 compare across 10+ categories to help you pick the right smartwatch for your needs.

I’ll be approaching this buyer’s guide as both an experienced data analyst and tech product reviewer, lending my insight into the strengths of each device based on technical capabilities and real-world usage. My goal is to expand your knowledge of these two versatile smartwatches so you can make the optimal choice reflecting your personal priorities. Let’s dive in!

Fitbit Sense Overview
Released in 2020 as their most advanced health watch, the Fitbit Sense offers holistic wellness tracking via sensors like EDA for stress, ECG, skin temperature and SpO2 oxygen monitoring. Alongside heart health notifications, high/low heart rate alerts and irregular rhythm notifications, the Sense serves as a robust daily wellness coach.

With a subtly curved square watch case design measuring 40.5mm across, the Sense packs a bright touch display into a compact but stylish format with multiple color choices. Weighing under 2 ounces even when paired with its soft-touch infinity wristband, you’ll barely notice wearing this lightweight tracker.

Outlasting the Apple Watch’s battery by over 3X, the Sense promises an impressive 6+ days between charges while still tracking heart rate 24/7 and sleep stages each night. All around strong health monitoring combines with smartwatch conveniences like notifications, contactless Fitbit Pay, music controls and third party app support.

Apple Watch Series 7 Overview
Serving as the ultimate iPhone companion wrist device since its 2015 debut, the seventh generation Apple Watch packs advanced health sensors into a digital swiss army knife blending convenient access to apps, messaging and more. Subtly larger 41mm and 45mm watch cases allow room for nearly 20% bigger screens with crisper text/visuals.

Ranging from durable lightweight aluminum to luxury stainless steel, Apple Watch 7 cases pair with dozens of Apple band options to match your style – alongside thousands of stylish third party straps. Safety focused additions like fall and crash detection provide extra peace of mind to adventure seekers and elderly users alike.

With an always-on LTPO display updating fluidly from 1 to 60Hz, the Apple Watch never leaves you guessing with raise-to-wake convenience to see brightly lit notifications, texts and stats in an instant. Impressively beat only by the Fitbit for battery optimization amongst full-featured smartwatches, expect around 1.5 days of mixed usage from its lithium-ion battery.

Side By Side Spec Comparison

Fitness, Health & Sleep Tracking Compared
As pioneers of easy to understand health metrics for consumers, both Fitbit and Apple have honed accompanying software essential to making sense of collected sensor data. Fitbit adopted holistic wellness early on, anchored by best in class sleep tracking in the Sense. Apple meanwhile focused more acutely on fitness and medical relationships.

Both watches cover the basics like steps, distance, calories burned and hourly movement goals amply. Pure fitness watch buyers may lean toward the Apple Watch for its seamless workout integration and animations paired with metrics on intensity and progress towards closing activity rings. But the Sense catches up quickly with advanced heart health notifications and newer features like a Daily Readiness sleep/recovery score guiding workout recommendations.

For sleep tracking, the Sense pulls ahead significantly; using movement, heart rate variability (HRV) and temperature sensors to categorize sleep stages with fairly impressive accuracy. Apple manages basic sleep cycle charting via motion and heart rate but doesn’t classify stages. Third party Apple Watch sleep apps like Pillow offer stage tracking but lack Fitbit’s integrated analysis.

Where Apple regains some edge is the Health app’s Clinical Grade features utilizing the electrical heart and ECG sensors. Irregular heart rhythm notifications, low/high heart rate alerts and atrial fibrillation detection all integrate neatly with your medical records for sharing worrisome signs. Fitbit’s ECG app and heart metrics are similarly medically validated but currently lack the same medical record integration.

Both provide relative SpO2 blood oxygen tracking during sleep along with resting heart rate, heart rate zones for workouts and cardio fitness levels derived from profile/heart data. Only the Sense adds an EDA sensor for stress tracking and skin temperature sensor to aid sleep analysis and fertility planning.

So for holistic health with more lifestyle context, the Fitbit Sense excels with extra sensors and motivational features. But for more medically focused tracking with tighter doctor integration, give the edge to the Apple Watch Series 7.

Smartwatch Features Face-Off
Shifting gears from health tracking to general smartwatch functionality, the Apple Watch’s deep iPhone integration leaves the Sense looking rather basic in this arena. From wrist phone calling on LTE models to walkie talkie mode to Apple Pay setup in a snap, the Series 7 offers unrivaled capabilities for iPhone owners. Support for thousands of Watch apps adds limitless potential too.

The Sense puts up a reasonable fight on smartphone notification support alongside quick reply messaging options and music controls. Fitbit also matches Apple’s watch contactless payments feature with Fitbit Pay supporting major credit cards and banks. Both handle calendar alerts, weather forecasts and third party app glances or shortcuts as well.

But with Siri handling voice queries, Walkie Talkie chats, App Store access from your wrist and premium features like automatic switching between iPhone hotspots/WiFi plus mobile plan support, the Apple ecosystem enables so much more. Android users unwilling to switch operating systems should stick with the Sense however.

For iPhone owners wanting the ultimate companion device, the Apple Watch Series 7 simply can’t be matched. But Android users sacrifice very little with the Sense, gaining health strengths for a lower price.

App and Dashboard Comparison
Vital to making sense of tracked sensor data and applying insights to improve your health, the companion dashboard apps and websites sync data from both smartwatches seamlessly via Bluetooth. Fitbit adopted holistic wellness early on, anchored by best in class sleep tracking in the Sense.

The Fitbit mobile app and web dashboard interlink sleep data with heart metrics, stress patterns and menstrual health to discover personalized insights. An overall Wellness Report trends all your vitals over time while a Wellness Index score rates your progress. Premium subscribers unlock further analysis like a Sleep Animal profile categorizing sleep patterns.

Apple similarly charts overall fitness/activity trends while the Health app enables deep dives into heart rate patterns alongside respiratory rate and blood oxygen changes. Areas like hearing health, women’s health and mental wellbeing also expand the scope beyond purely physical to encompass lifestyle too. But sleep tracking lacks the depth found in Fitbit’s ecosystem.

Third party health platforms happily receive data exports from both Apple Health and Fitbit to enable further medical analysis if desired as well. And both platforms allow data sharing to aid research broadly. For social motivation, Fitbit still leads with a thriving community element.

Accessories & Customization
With style important for motivating consistent wear, both Apple and Fitbit enable deep customization from watch case finishes to unique watch bands spanning design and material choices. Apple offers three premium Watch case materials to Fitbit’s lone aluminum edition.

Bands match materials from sporty silicone and breathable nylon to supple leather and lightweight stainless steel mesh spanning dozens of colors. Unique collab bands expand options further – unwilling to sacrifice form for function.

For screen protection, glass or film screen protectors minimize scratch risks during rugged use for both Watches. And special charging docks, wireless chargers and portable power banks guarantee you stay powered up for days out and about.

Overall the nod goes to Apple for wider case and band selection alongside magnetically interchangeable straps without tools needed. But Fitbit covers the basics for personalization nicely as well fitting any style.

Fitbit Sense vs Apple Watch Series 7: Pros and Cons

Pros
Fitbit Sense

• Class leading sleep tracking
• Temperature and EDA sensors
• 6+ day battery life
• Lightweight comfortable design
• Affordable price

Apple Watch Series 7

• Tighter iPhone integration
• App Store & Siri access
• More advanced health features
• LTE connectivity (select models)
• Brighter always-on display

Cons
Fitbit Sense

• Fewer apps and notifications
• Smaller display
• No speaker/mic for voice
• iOS-centric features lacking

Apple Watch Series 7

• Short 1-2 day battery life
• Much more expensive
• iPhone required for setup
• Mediocre sleep tracking

Is the Fitbit Sense or Apple Watch Series 7 Best For You?
Bottom line – if you own an iPhone and want the ultimate smart sidekick on your wrist, the Apple Watch Series 7 is extremely tough to beat. Smooth accessibility to contacts, apps and features you rely on daily supercharges convenience alongside best in class health tracking.

For Android users focused on holistic health and less reliant on a robust app ecosystem or phone mirroring during workouts, save $100+ and snag the Fitbit Sense as your personal wellness coach. Detailed sleep data, stress patterns andComplete the analysis with your top choice for:

The New Apple Watch Ultra is perfect for extreme athletes who want to push past current fitness tracker limitations. Featuring the biggest, brightest Apple Watch display yet and a rugged titanium case, the 49mm Ultra watch serves adventure seekers and endurance athletes tracking multi-day events.

With the best Apple Watch battery life yet at 36 hours, it charges from 0 to 80% in only 45 minutes. Precision dual-frequency GPS tracks pace and distance accurately even among skyscrapers and forests thanks to new L5 antenna. Oceanic Plus delivers trackable recreation underwater down to 130 feet taking on dive computers and aquatic sports watches combined.

Three built-in microphones isolate voice in noisy environments while speakers pump sound at high volumes ideal for open water, high speed and windy settings. Backtrack mode traces your exact route showing elevation profiles so you never lose your way.

Rugged construction pairs sapphire crystal display protection with aerospace-grade titanium meeting extreme temperature, impact and corrosion resistance standards so the Ultra Watch endures activities punishing lesser watches.

At $799, the Apple Watch Ultra commands a premium price but takes smartwatch capabilities to uncharted levels perfect for explorers, endurance athletes, aquatic sports enthusiasts, mountaineers and extreme environs. Battery optimizations in WatchOS 9 enhance regular Apple Watch runtime even more too making the Series 8 a compelling mainstream wellness watch for reasonable investment.

So in summary, for those unsatisfied with current fitness tracker limitations pursuing hardcore adventures, the Apple Watch Ultra warrants consideration as the most rugged, capabtemparterns provide a uniquely valuable perspective missing from the Apple Watch currently.

Complete the analysis with your top choice for:

The Apple Watch Series 7 is the best option if you:

• Own an iPhone and want seamless ecosystem integration
• Rely on convenience features like notifications and Siri
• Prefer advanced health tracking and clinical data
• Use LTE connectivity for calls/texts sans phone
• Appreciate a vibrant, responsive always-on display

Whereas the Fitbit Sense makes the most sense if you:

• Use Android and still want robust wellness tracking
• Are highly focused on sleep quality insights
• Appreciate extra sensors like EDA and skin temp
• Want a slimmer watch with 5-6 days between charges
• Are more price conscious for premium features

Hopefully this comprehensive yet readable comparison of all the key strengths of the Fitbit Sense and Apple Watch Series 7 has helped you determine which smartwatch best aligns with your wants and needs. Both pack impressive sets of features into intuitive designs – with some overlap but each having standout advantages.