The Fitbit Edge lacks a useful contactless feature

The Fitbit Edge, Fitbit's newest fitness tracker, is essentially an upgraded version of the Charge 6. Despite its sleek design and a small screen, it lacks a useful NFC (Near-Field Communications) chip. This chip is responsible for contactless, tap-to-pay connections between devices, commonly used for payments at coffee shops or subways.

However, Google has revealed that fewer than 1% of Fitbit Charge 6 users utilized NFC, leading the company to prioritize other highly requested features. These enhancements include Health Guardian, which tracks blood pressure and insulin resistance, intelligent activity tracking, improved GPS, and a replaceable battery. The Fitbit Edge also offers media controls and message notifications, but it's missing safety features like fall and crash detection, which are available on the Pixel Watch 5.

While older Fitbit models like the Charge 6, Charge 5, and Charge 4, as well as the Sense and Versa series, do have NFC, the Fitbit Edge does not. Google has cited user data from the Charge 6 to justify this omission. Most users rely on their phones for tap-to-pay, making it more convenient to hold out a wrist rather than a small fitness tracker.

Despite the lack of NFC, many users won't miss this feature, as they use their phones for payments anyway.