We love Obama’s favourite smartwatch too – read our review of the Fitbit Ionic

It’s currently on sale with an impressive 41 per cent off

Friday 26 February 2021 12:18 EST

Spotify/ The Independent (The Independent)

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

UPDATE, 3 March 2022: Fitbit issued a recall of its ionic smartwatch over issues with its battery overheating. See here for details.

Typically we rely on watches to tell us the time, but over the past few decades, they’ve become a piece of smart technology that’s a GPS, fitness tracker and weather report all in one, while simultaneously letting you scroll through Instagram.

Fitbit is one of the most well-known brands in the smartwatch sphere, with a range of models to suit every lifestyle and budget.

Loved by fitness amateurs or established athletes, the latest person revealed to be a proud owner is the former president of the United States, Barack Obama.

He was spotted wearing the smartwatch during a recent recording of his podcast series, Renegades: Born in the USA for Spotify, where he has teamed up with legendary singer-songwriter Bruce Springsteen to discuss issues such as racial inequality and the pandemic’s effect on America.

While it usually will set you back a cool £249.99, we’ve found it on Amazon with a huge 41 per cent off, making it less than £150.

Not only that, but we’ve also tested it too, putting it through its paces, and we can tell you, it’s worth the investment.

Ahead you’ll find our full review and how to get your hands on it before it inevitably sells out thanks to Obama’s popularity.

You can trust our independent reviews. We may earn commission from some of the retailers, but we never allow this to influence selections. This revenue helps us to fund journalism across The Independent.

Fitbit ionic health and fitness smartwatch: Was £249.99, now £148, Amazon.co.uk

This smartwatch claimed a spot in our review of the best running watches for GPS wristwear that will up your training game.

According to our tester, while Fitbit built its name from tracking your activity such as steps and sleep, the ionic model presents the wearer with useful data for runners to measure their performance and create fitness goals.

“For many, the Ionic will represent the perfect balance between meeting the less onerous demands of most amateur runners while being perfect for everyday life, plus the usual activity tracking benefits of a FitBit,” they said.

With a battery life of more than four days on a full charge, you can also operate everyday apps with it such as ApplePay and Shazam and we found the running settings to be simple, providing us with details on distance, time, pace and heart rate during and after our runs.

“It’s very well built – an aluminium build – is very comfortable and features a full colour hi-res touch screen that’s also nice and bright,” they added.

Buy now

If you’re keen to have a more detailed breakdown of your workouts and to make life a little easier, you might enjoy the Fitbit sense (£295.76, Amazon.co.uk) which earned a spot in our guide to the best smartwatches that do much more than just tell the time.

It’s water-resistant and provides you with accurate data. The Independent’s technology writer explained the added features available: “The Fitbit sense has a brilliant range of health sensors including the SpO2 (which measures oxygen saturation), ECG and heart rate monitoring,” he says, adding, “it also has an electrodermal activity sensor which is designed to detect how stressed you are.”

Providing a stress management score, which if it’s high, will encourage you to participate in a meditation session and measure your temperature.

“It also tracks your sleep and has a smart wake feature, which cleverly wakes you when it spots you are going from deep to light in a 30-minute period before your alarm time, aimed to help you wake up feeling refreshed,” they said.