Who doesn’t like getting awarded for good behavior? Quite a lot of people love accumulating Fitbit badges. Badges are an instant recognition of hitting certain milestones in your Fitbit fitness and wellness activity. Plus, your badges are easy to see (and show others) in your Fitbit app!
Currently, Fitbit offers badges for your step-based activities (like walking, running, hiking, and so forth), floors climbed, and weight goals. Unfortunately, at this time there are no cycling or swimming badges and any distance traveled on your bike rides or while swimming doesn’t count toward your Fitbit badge progress.
And of course, any activities you manually log into the Fitbit app do not count toward Fitbit Badges.
While Fitbit includes quite a lot of badges (more than 100 badges) to motivate you every day or every week to achieve specific goals, the most prized Fitbit badges are called “lifetime badges.”
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What are Fitbit’s lifetime badges?
Lifetime badges are acknowledgments of long-term fitness achievements! Fitbit offers lifetime badges for achievements in total distance traveled for steps.
You get a lifetime badge when you reach a pre-set milestone in your fitness journey with your Fitbit. All you need to do is wear your Fitbit every day!
Lifetime badges include all activity logged with your Fitbit ID since joining Fitbit!
It doesn’t matter which Fitbit you use or used to use, as long as you exercise, wear your Fitbit, and use the same Fitbit ID, all your step-based activity counts towards your lifetime badges.
What’s the difference between Fitbit badges and trophies?
You earn Fitbit badges as you complete the different distance and climbing goals established by Fitbit–such as earning the London badge by walking or running 250 miles total since joining Fitbit.
Fitbit hands out Badges automatically–you don’t need to set anything up!
You get Fitbit trophies in challenges by coming in the first place, for achieving a personal best, or for making your step goal for each day of the challenge.
Trophies are awards for challenges.
Challenges are user-created–Fitbit does not automatically create challenges and award trophies. For most challenges, you need at least 2 people. However, you can create a solo challenge for Goal Day and Solo Adventures.
Challenges are made between Fitbit members including friends, families, and other Fitbit users. These challenges include:
- Daily Showdown—who gets the most steps today?
- Weekend Warrior—who accumulates the most steps over the weekend?
- Workweek Hustle—who steps the most during the workweek (Monday through Friday)?
- Goal Day—how many participants reached their daily step goal? You can challenge just yourself or include others
- Family Faceoff—who in your family makes the most steps Monday through Friday?
- Solo Adventures—this is a great challenge you can make on your own
- Adventure Races—you challenge friends to a real-world finish line!
There are even virtual challenges for folks signed up with Fitbit premium subscription service!
How do you earn Fitbit lifetime badges?
Just wear your Fitbit! 
Your steps count whether your walking, running, hiking, or moving around your home, the office, or at the shops! Make sure you put your Fitbit on at the beginning of the day so all your activity counts.
It’s that simple.
Then, when you reach Fitbit’s set milestones, a badge appears honoring your achievement.
Why doesn’t my manually logged activity count toward a Fitbit lifetime badge?
Badges are designed to reward you for step and stair activity when you wear your Fitbit device.
So if you forgot to wear your Fitbit device for the day or the activity, you can manually add it using the Fitbit app.
But since your device wasn’t able to automatically log that activity (and verify it,) manually entered data doesn’t count toward step and climb (floor) badges.
What are the names and goals needed to get a Fitbit lifetime badge?
There are currently 18 Fitbit lifetime badges for distance and 9 lifetime climbing (floor) badges. These badges are for step-based activities like climbing stairs, walking, and running only.
Each badge is based on completing a real-world achievement since joining Fitbit–like walking/running/hiking 26 total miles, the same miles as a regular marathon.
Fitbit’s lifetime distance badges explained
All Fitbit smartwatch and tracker models count steps. You gain those steps when walking, running, hiking, or any similar activity.
- Marathon
- Walked 26 miles
- Penguin March
- Completed 70 miles
- London Underground
- Traipsed 250 miles
- Hawaiian Islands
- Finished 350 miles
- Serengeti
- Completed 500 miles
- Italy
- Moved 736 miles
- New Zealand
- Trekked over 990 miles
- Great Barrier Reef
- Hit the road for 1,600 miles
- Japan
- Traveled 1,869 miles
- India
- Was on the move for 1,997 miles
- Monarch Migration
- Roamed for 2,500 miles
- Sahara
- Marched 2,983 miles
- Nile
- Traveled 4,132 miles
- Africa
- Explored 5,000 miles
- Great Wall
- Toured 5,500 miles
- Russian Railway
- Legged it for 5,772 miles
- Earth Diameter
- Pounded the pavement for 7,900 miles
- Pole to Pole
- Hit the trail for 12,430 miles
What happens after you reach Pole to Pole and hit 12,340 miles?
Fitbit’s lifetime climbing (floor) badges explained 
While all Fitbit smartwatches and trackers count your steps (distance), not all Fitbits count stairs and floors climbed.
In order to track stairs/floors, your Fitbit must include an altimeter to determine your altitude. This altimeter sensor detects when you go up in elevation and counts 1 floor each time you climb 10 feet or 3 meters.
Models like the Fitbit Versa & Versa 2, Charge, and Ionic support counting stairs and floors climbed while the popular Inspire and Alta Series as well as the Versa Lite do not support climbing.
If you have a model the supports floor climbing, you get these additional climbing badges. And of course, if your Fitbit model does not support stairs tracking, then you won’t get this data.
- Helicopter
- Completed 500 floors
- Skydiver
- Reached 1,000 floors
- Hot Air Balloon
- Soared 2,000 floors
- 747
- Ascended 4,000 floors
- Cloud
- Rose 8,000 floors
- Spaceship
- Topped 14,000 floors
- Shooting Star
- Mounted 20,000 floors
- Astronaut
- Scaled 28,000 floors
- Satellite
- Clambered 35,000 floors
Where can I see my current Fitbit lifetime badges?
No matter your Fitbit device, you can always see your badges in the Fitbit app and your Fitbit account’s online dashboard.
And for certain Fitbit smartwatches, like the Ionic and Versa Series, you can also view the badges you are on track to earn (but have not yet earned.)
How to view all your badges using the Fitbit app
- Open the Fitbit app’s Today tab
- Tap your profile picture or icon
- Select your Fitbit username or name and tap View Your Profile
- Tap Badges and Trophies
- Tap Badge Collection to see your collection of earned badges
- Under each badge, you also see how many times you’ve earned that badge
- Under each badge, you also see how many times you’ve earned that badge
How to view all your badges using Fitbit’s website
- Open your Fitbit account dashboard using a browser of your choice (Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and so forth)
- In the dashboard, locate the badges tile which showcases your current top badge
- Tap on the badge tile and click the forward or back arrow to see more of your top badges. Or hover on the badge tile to see additional options for Quick View and See More
You can also see all your recent Fitbit badges and trophies by tapping your account profile picture or icon. 
To see all currently earned badges and trophies, tap the button See All Badges & Trophies 
Check the badges you are currently working on with your Fitbit Versa or Ionic
- Swipe up from the clock face to Fitbit Today
- Locate the badges tile. Swipe up to find it
- If you don’t see the badges tile, swipe up and tap Settings at the bottom of Fitbit Today and turn on the badges
- Swipe left on the badges tile and you see up to 4 of your upcoming but not yet earned badges
I want bragging rights! How can I showcase and share my Fitbit badges with others?
In order to share your Fitbit badge accomplishments with friends and family (or anyone), you need to make your badges visible to others.
You can change the setting to make badges visible using either the Fitbit app or Fitbit’s online dashboard
- In the Fitbit app
- Go to the Today tab and the choose your profile picture or icon
- Scroll down and tap Privacy
- Choose Badges & Trophies
- Change your privacy setting to Friends, Public, or Private
- Press Save the update your setting
- Using your Fitbit online account
- Open your Fitbit account dashboard using a browser of your choice (Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and so forth)
- Tap the Settings icon (looks like a gear)
- Choose Settings
- From the sidebar, select Privacy
- Select Badges & Trophies and tap the downward arrow next to your current privacy setting
- Change your privacy setting to Friends, Public, or Private
How to share your Fitbit badges with friends and others
- To share your badges, follow the steps to see your badges and then select a badge you want to share
- Tap the Share button
- Add any description or statement in the text field, then tap Next
- Choose a Fitbit community group to share with and tap Post
- Or tap Share Elsewhere for other options like sending it via text, email, and other sharing methods outside of the Fitbit app and community
Great blog post, helped me understand my Fitbit badges and achievements and how to get them (or clear them.) Thanks.