The Fitbit Inspire 3 has arrived! The latest in the Inspire range is another entry-level fitness tracker designed to nudge you towards healthier lifestyle choices through vibrations and on-screen cues. They're cute, unobtrusive little fitness trackers that can usually be found quite cheaply, and the Inspire 3 is no exception.
Revealed alongside the Fitbit Sense 2 and Versa 4, we’re taking a dive into the Inspire 3’s price, anticipated release date, features, design and battery life, as well as all the rumors and speculation leading up to the device’s reveal.
The Fitbit Inspire 2 was one of the best fitness trackers available, and we're hoping the Inspire 3, with time, lives up to this enviable reputation
Cut to the chase
- What is it? An entry-level fitness tracker
- When it it out? September 2022
- What will it cost? $99.95 in the US and £84.99 in the UK, Australia TBC
Fitbit Inspire 3: Price and release date
An entry-level fitness tracker, the Fitbit Inspire 3 retails for $99.95 in the US and £84.99 in the UK, with no Australia pricing available at this time. The Fitbit Inspire 3 comes with just six months of Fitbit Premium this time - this down from a full year with the Inspire 2, effectively knocking $50 or £40 off the value of the device.
Although pre-orders are currently available on the Fitbit site, the only release date we have is ‘fall’ for the new range of Fitbits. We’re expecting all three to land in September.
Fitbit Inspire 3: Design
Unlike the cosmetic changes to the Versa and Sense devices, the new Fitbit Inspire 3 has been completely overhauled from a design perspective. Taking lots of inspiration from the Fitbit Luxe, the Inspire is now a rounded pebble than a flat part of the band, and can be removed from the band entirely and attached to a different wristband or even clipped onto your clothes like an old-fashioned iPod Shuffle. It packs capsense buttons and a touchscreen, with a 124 x 206px Gorilla Glass screen and plastic casing.
We love this: it’s a great overhaul for the otherwise unremarkable Inspire range. Unfortunately, the alternate wristbands and clip are sold separately, with no word on pricing for those just yet. Nevertheless, it’s a great idea, and adds a lot of flexibility to the Inspire 3.
One of the promotional photos below features a woman strapping on boxing gloves. Whereas most fitness trackers would get in the way, you can clip the Inspire 3 to your shirt instead. However, how good the metrics are when clipped off-wrist remains to be seen, as much of the information collected by the Inspire 3 relies on skin-to-skin contact.
The rounded shape is thin and water-resistant up to 50 meters, and packs an always-on display functionality for the first time. You don’t have to do too much swiping or tapping with the Inspire 3, as active zone minutes are tracked automatically, providing a strap-on-and-forget UX experience.
Fitbit Inspire 3: Features
Speaking of, the Inspire 3 is packing a lot of the same features as its predecessor. Inspire 3 can “capture all your movement, automatically tracking Active Zone Minutes, calories burned, distance, heart rate and steps” according to Fitbit.
The tracker will also gently remind you to move throughout the day, and while doing a workout, it will demonstrate on-screen when you’re in fat burn, cardio or peak zones so you know how hard you’re working. The Insprie 3 will also monitor your oxygen saturation levels, or SpO2, which can help you recover more efficiently.
A purported 10-day battery life from the 78mAh battery means you can wear the Inspire 3 all day and night to take advanced of its stress and sleep tracking. You’ll be able to view your Sleep and Stress Management scores in the Fitbit app, but more detailed historic data is locked behind Fitbit Premium.
The Fitbit Inspire 3 can also tell you your Daily Readiness Score, which provides detailed info on how ready you are to take on demanding workouts or a gruelling schedule. Low Daily Readiness? Then you’ll need to take it easy - maybe today isn’t the day to try for that 10k PB. However, this feature is also premium-locked, so you’ll need to pay extra after the initial six month trial.
A SmartWake alarm can help you wake up when you’re in the lightest stage of sleep within a specific 30-minute window, so you’re not as groggy and a loud alarm doesn’t disturb any sleeping partners. You can also do guided breathing exercises on-wrist, to help you fall asleep faster or get a quick meditation in.
Fitbit Inspire 3 news and leaks
In March 2022, eagle-eyed sleuths at 9to5Google spotted references to three new devices in the install files for the official Fitbit app for Android. We don't know much about the three other than their screen resolutions, but judging by the fact that two of them (codenamed Hera and Rhea) are square, they look likely to be the Fitbit Sense 2 and Fitbit Versa 4.
The third device, codenamed Nyota, has a resolution of 124 x 208 pixels, which is the same as 2021's Fitbit Luxe. This led to speculation that a Luxe 2 might be on the horizon.
The Fitbit Versa 3, Sense, and Inspire 2 all launched on the same day, so it would make sense for their successors to follow the same pattern. The Luxe, on the other hand, isn't due an upgrade yet (in fact, at the time of writing it's still sitting pretty at the top of our roundup of the best fitness trackers) so we'd be very surprised if a follow-up lands in 2022.
Buzz continued in the background for some time that Fitbit was going to launch several new devices this year, including the Versa 4 and Sense 2, of which test model photos and videos were spotted online. As Inspire was due for a new model, it got caught up with these rumors, but we had nothing concrete.
That is, until Onleaks and 91Mobiles released a trio of pictures including the model above, claiming they have leaked renders of the Sense 2, Versa 4, and Inspire 3. No specifications were given, but the Versa 4 and Sense 2 renders very closely matched the leaked photos of the prototypes, giving these renders credence.
This version of the Inspire 3 seemed to be copying the range's Luxe fitness trackers rather than its Inspire brethren, with the distinctive "pebble"-shaped unit.
The Inspire has always been Fitbit's entry-level fitness tracker, so we were not expecting the Inspire 3 to be equipped with the same stress-monitoring electrodermal activity (EDA) and electrocardiogram (ECG) sensors as the Fitbit Sense and Charge 5
