Here’s how to check your ‘Active Zone Minutes’ on your Pixel Watch

Andrew Romero | Nov 7 2022 - 2:30 pm PT

As far as fitness trackers go, the Pixel Watch performs relatively well. With Fitbit’s integrated tracking, one way to keep up with activity is by recording “Active Zone Minutes.” This guide will take you through what those are and how you can keep an eye on them throughout your day.

What are Zone Minutes?

Each fitness tracking platform is a little different. Google Fit uses something called Heart Points to measure activity levels, while the Apple Watch uses an in-depth Heart Rate Zone system to give you an idea of where you stand in your workouts.

As for the Pixel Watch, it uses Fitbit’s Active Zone Minutes system, which is a tool you can use to see how many minutes you’ve spent either burning fat or in a cardio zone. Cardio and peak zones are sections in your heart rate history where you’ve really pushed it, according to your own limits. In fact, Heart Rate Zones vary from person to person, based on your activity history.

For each minute you spend in the fat-burning zone, Fitbit will calculate around 1 Active Zone Minute. For every minute you spend in those peak activity zones – time spent pushing your limit – you earn 2 Active Zone Minutes.

With this system, it’s easy to see how much time of the day you’ve spent in high amounts of activity. Using that info, you can set new goals in order to improve your workouts and wellness.

How to view your Zone Minutes on your Pixel Watch

Activity tracking is no good if you can’t see your current status along with your history. With the Pixel Watch, you can check where you’re at in terms of Zone Minutes count, as well as your goal for the day or week.

Checking Zone Minutes on your Pixel Watch

On your Pixel Watch, press the crown.
Scroll down using the crown or by touching the screen until you see Fitbit Today. Tap it.
Scroll down and look for Active Zone Minutes.
Tap it to get detailed information.

Checking Zone Minutes on your phone

On your phone, open the Fitbit app.
Under your summary for the day at the top, tap Zone Mins.

On your Pixel Watch, you’ll get all the important tidbits of information you need on the fly. From your phone, you can see a much more robust view of that day’s activity, as well as previous days and weeks. Zone Minutes on your Pixel Watch is truly a fantastic tool.

How to set new Zone Minute goals

If you feel you already hit the default Active Zone Minute goals pretty regularly, you can always adjust them so they fit your needs. In the Fitbit app on your paired device, you can change how many Active Zone Minutes you need per day, which will reflect on your Pixel Watch when you look in the Fitbit Today app.

On your paired device, open the Fitbit app.
Tap the Active Zone Minutes circle.
Tap the settings cog at the top.
Tap Activity Goals.
Under either Daily Activity or Weekly Activity, tap Active Zone Minutes.
Enter a new amount.
Hit OK.

With that, you’ll see a new goal per day and week for you to hit. This works in the opposite direction, too. If you feel Fitbit’s pre-set goals are too much, just drop them down a bit. There’s nothing less helpful than setting goals that aren’t within reason.

Active Zone Minutes on the Pixel Watch really deserves its own spotlight. The feature is extremely useful and such a big part of Fitbit that it’s worth covering taking some time to adjust it to your needs. Setting goals and then reaching them is a lot of work, but the Fitbit-powered Pixel Watch helps keep you on track.