What is Fitbit Pay, how does it work, and which banks support it?

Fitbit is a company best known for its fitness trackers and smartwatches, some of which offer a service called Fitbit Pay, allowing you to make payments from your wrist, as you can with Apple Pay on the Apple Watch and Google Pay on WearOS smartwatches.

Fitbit Pay originally launched on the Fitbit Ionic smartwatch but it is now available on some other newer Fitbit devices, including the Versa 2, Versa Special Edition and Charge 3 Special Edition, all of which have a built-in NFC chip allowing you to make payments anywhere there is a contactless payment symbol without your phone or wallet.

Here's everything you need to know about Fitbit Pay.

• Which Fitbit is right for me?

What banks support Fitbit Pay in the US?

In the US, there are numerous banks that support Fitbit Pay, meaning you'll be able to use your cards to make mobile payments via your compatible Fitbit device.

You can find a full list of US supported banks on the Fitbit site, but here are a few from the list:

• Alliance Bank (Visa)
• American Express
• Bancorp Bank (Mastercard)
• Bank of America
• Capital One - Credit
• Chase Bank (Visa)
• Commerce Bank
• FNB Bank (Visa)
• Freedom Bank (Visa)
• National Bank (Visa)
• North Central Bank
• Providence Bank (Visa)
• Studio Bank (Visa)
• Triad Bank (Mastercard)
• U.S. Bank
• Wells Fargo

What banks support Fitbit Pay in the UK?

There are fewer supported banks in the UK than the US with some key players missing including Barclays, Natwest and Lloyds. Here's the full list of compatibility for the UK, with some highlights listed below: 

• Santander
• boon. by Wirecard
• Danske Bank (Mastercard)
• Starling Bank (Mastercard)
• Revolut (Mastercard)
• PFS (Mastercard)

Which countries support Fitbit Pay?

Fitbit Pay is supported in several countries across the world. Here is the current list of supported countries:

• Australia
• Austria
• Belgium
• Bulgaria
• Canada
• Croatia
• Czech Republic
• Denmark
• Estonia
• Finland
• France
• Germany
• Greece
• Hungary
• Iceland
• Ireland
• Italy
• Latvia
• Liechtenstein
• Lithuania
• Luxembourg
• Malta
• Mexico
• Netherlands
• New Zealand
• Norway
• Poland
• Portugal
• Republic of Cyprus
• Romania
• Singapore
• Slovakia
• Slovenia
• South Africa
• Spain
• Sweden
• Switzerland
• Taiwan
• Thailand
• United Arab Emirates
• United Kingdom
• United State of America

You can find a full list of the supported banks for each country on Fitbit's site here. You'll find some countries only have one bank supported so don't get too excited until you check the list.

How does Fitbit Pay work?

All you have to do is add your compatible card, then go to a store, launch Fitbit Pay on your compatible Fitbit device and hold it to contactless reader at checkout. It's that simple, working like payments on other devices.

Add your credit or debit card

You will be able to add eligible US American Express cards, as well as Mastercard and Visa credit and debit cards to Fitbit Pay but remember your bank has to be supported too.

If your bank isn't supported, you won't be able to connect your card. Both Apple Pay and Google Pay have taken quite a while to get banks onboard with their respective mobile payment technologies, so it may take a while for your bank to be supported on Fitbit Pay.

If your bank is supported, then you add the details in the Fitbit app on your phone. These details are verified before being synced to your Ionic, Versa or Charge 3 Special Edition device.

You'll have to have the watch connected via Bluetooth to complete the process. It is simple, however, and doesn't take long to do.

Go to a store

Fitbit Pay works anywhere that accepts contactless payments, like Apple Pay and Google Pay. Just look for the contactless payments symbol near card readers during checkout.

For those in the UK, using Fitbit Pay is as simple as tapping your contactless card on the reader. If you see the symbol, you then just have to activate payment on the watch and then pay by placing your watch next to the reader. It also works with TfL transit terminals, so you can use Fitbit Pay on the Tube, for example.

When the payment goes through you'll get a tick on the watch display, as well as getting a notification from the Fitbit app to tell you what you've paid for.

As you have to deliberately activate the payment on the watch each time you pay, there's no risk of skimming from your watch without you knowing.

Which Fitbit devices work with Fitbit Pay?

Fitbit Pay works with the Fitbit Ionic smartwatch, Fitbit Versa 2 smartwatch, Fitbit Versa Special Edition smartwatch and the Fitbit Charge 3 Special Edition.

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