How to use Quick Replies on Fitbit Versa and Ionic

By Joe Maring
last updated

Fitbit Ionic
Fitbit Ionic (Image credit: Android Central)
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Improving upon Fitbit OS 2.0, Fitbit recently updated its Versa (opens in new tab) and Ionic (opens in new tab) smartwatches with a brand-new feature called Quick Replies – allowing users to finally respond to text messages and other notifications right from their wrist.

Quick Replies are currently exclusive to users that have a Versa or Ionic paired with an Android phone, and after updating your watch, you'll see a new "Reply" option with certain notifications you receive. Upon tapping this, you'll be taken to a menu with pre-made messages and emojis you can send back without having to pick up your phone.

Fitbit allows for some fairly deep customization of these Quick Replies, and to dive a bit deeper into them, here's what you need to know.

How to customize Quick Replies for all notifications

  1. Open the Fitbit app
  2. Tap your watch icon in the upper-right hand corner
  3. Scroll down and tap on Notifications
  4. Tap Quick Replies
  5. Tap Default Replies

From here, you'll see the pre-made messages available by default with Quick Replies. Out of the box, Fitbit has these set to Yes, No, Sounds good!, Can't talk now, will reply later, and What's Up?.

By tapping on any of these fields, you can type in your own response up to 60 characters.

How to customize Quick Replies on a per-app basis

The above method will change your Quick Replies for all of your supported apps, but if you want to get even more personal, Fitbit allows you to choose which Quick Replies you see based on which app you get a notification from. To do this:

  1. Open the Fitbit app
  2. Tap your watch icon in the upper-right hand corner
  3. Scroll down and tap on Notifications
  4. Tap Quick Replies
  5. Tap on any of the apps shown in the list

Just like before, you'll see Fitbit's default messages and be able to customize them to your heart's content up to 60 characters. However, you can have a different set of replies for text messages, email, Slack notifications, etc.

How to sync your watch

After customizing your Quick Replies, you'll want to ensure that your watch is synced with any changes you've made.

  1. Open the Fitbit app
  2. Scroll down from your Dashboard until you see the Release to Sync message at the top
  3. Let go, wait a second, and you'll see a green indicator near the top-right once the sync is complete

Fitbit Versa vs. Fitbit Ionic: Which should you buy?

Joe Maring
Joe Maring

Joe Maring was a Senior Editor for Android Central between 2017 and 2021. You can reach him on Twitter at @JoeMaring1.

6 Comments
  • Well this would be helpful if my versa was updated
  • Same deal with my Ionic. It says it's up to date but I don't have the Quick Replies option yet.
  • It appears this is a slow roll-out. My wife checked her watch/app many times yesterday and still no update.
  • Waiting for the update myself for the Versa. I have been on the Fitbit boards on this subject and they are currently only rolling this out to 10% of users. They said everyone should have it by end of the month. Pretty long roll-out time!
  • No update yet but lots of press on this new skill. How long do we have to wait?
  • No update in Australia yet. Come on. Hoping stability is added for Ionic. Need quicker firmware updates to make the watch more reliable.