Before using your Vital Bracelet, you should be aware of the following points of caution:

• This device is not waterproof, so do not wear it in the shower, in the rain or while swimming. In addition, you may want to take it off to wash your hands, and avoid leaving it in the bathroom while showering since the steam buildup could become a problem. Normal amounts of sweat should not be a concern, but if you are worried that you may sweat too much, wearing a wrist-band on your forearm before the Vital Bracelet will help prevent sweat from reaching your wrist.
• Do not use chemicals, including alcohol, to clean your device. This will damage the screen, so use a dry cloth instead.
• Dim cards are intended only to fit in one direction, so make sure to insert them into your device with the image on the Dim facing you, to avoid damage. Also make sure to leave them in until the device instructs you to remove them.
• Do not toss Dim cards after you use them for the first time, they are required for swapping areas and for reloading Digimon from the app. You can also continue to use them to start new eggs.
• On the original Vital Bracelet Digital Monster, Dim cards are locked to the first device they are inserted into. They will not work with other Vital Bracelets after that. Factory resetting the device will not alter the Dim card association. If necessary, Bandai Support may be able to assist with locked Dim cards, so make sure to keep all documenation related to the purchase of your device. This limit was increased to 3 devices per Dim card for the Digivice -V- and Vital Hero Digimon.
• For best battery longevity, try to keep your device between 80% and 20% charged if possible. A Micro USB cable either plugged into a computer USB port or a standard USB charger that outputs 5v or less of power should be used for best results.
• This device can have trouble reading certain skin tones, especially darker ones. If you find that your device can't get a pulse, one solution has been to place a small piece of white/beige masking tape between the sensor and your skin.
• The device does not have a particularly strong taste, but don't eat it anyway.

Before you start using your device, it’s important to know what its buttons are.

• Select Button - Located on the right side of the device, above the Micro USB port. This button is used to change the current selection on the screen. Pressing it while on the Home Screen will bring up the menu. Long pressing this button when an enemy Digimon is revealed will let you run from the battle.
• Confirm Button - Located on the right side of the device, below the Micro USB port. Confirms the item currently in focus. Also initiates battles when they occur. Long pressing this button will take you out of the current menu.
• Power Switch - Located on the back of the device. Turns the device on and off.
• Micro USB Port - Located on the right side of the device, used to charge the battery. It should take 4 hours to reach a full charge. The battery is stated to last 18 hours, with 1 hour of activity on average, but your results may vary.
• Dim Port - Located on the left side of the device, this is where Dim cards are inserted. Always make sure the image on the Dim is facing you when inserting.

When powering on your device for this first time, you will be asked to set the date and time. Use the Select Button to change the values, and the Confirm button to set them. To save battery, your device screen will turn off on its own. It can be woken by pressing either the Select or Confirm button.

The Vital Bracelet is nothing but a weird looking watch without Dim cards, these are where the actual Digimon come from. Normal Dims contain 17 Digimon to raise, though some special variants contain fewer. It is very important to keep in mind that once you insert a Dim, it is no longer usable with other Vital Bracelets, it can only be reused with the first one it was inserted into. To load a Dim, follow these steps:

1. Make sure your device is sufficiently charged
2. Turn on the screen
3. Insert the Dim with the image on the Dim facing you
4. Do not remove the Dim while data is transferring, as this can potentially corrupt data
5. Do not power off the device while data is transferring for the same reason
6. The transfer should complete after about 50 seconds, and an accepted message will appear
7. When the device shows an arrow pointing to the left, remove the Dim

After the first Dim has been loaded, inserting any Dim again will load a new egg if there is an empty slot on the Vital Bracelet. If there is no empty slot, you will be prompted to delete the Digimon in backup to continue. The same Dim card can be used an unlimited number of times on the same device.

Note that the above steps do not apply to the VS Dim, which will be covered later. If at any point a failure message appears, remove the Dim as instructed and re-insert it when prompted.

The Digivice -V- is an updated version of the Vital Bracelet Digital Monster, released alongside the Digimon Ghost Game series, and appears within the show as the characters' Digivice. While the hardware is overall indistinguishable, there are several changes to functionality. The Vital Hero Digimon is the Enlgish localization of the Digivice -V-, and is functionally identical. Please reference this page for a complete list of differences between models.

• The evolution timer decreases while your Digimon is asleep
• You can put your Digimon to sleep at any time by holding both the Select and Confirm buttons simultaneously on the Home Screen
• Digimon no longer fall asleep on their own
• You now earn 4 Vital Values every 50 Miles instead of 1*
• The conditions that activate the Untethered status have been reduced, preventing drastic drops of Vital Values while wearing the device*
• The threshold for your Digimon to be in Walking status has been greatly lowered, requiring just 1 Mile.*
• Setting your resting heart rate now defaults to 80 if it fails to check your pulse
• Dim cards that were previously used with the original model can be reused on this device
• Dim cards can be used on up to three different devices (The number of times per device is still unlimited)

*Changes marked with an asterisk are also present on later releases of the original Vital Bracelet Digital Monster

The Vital Bracelet BE is the next generation of Vital Bracelet, and will be receiving its own page in the future. Please reference this page for a complete list of differences between models.

After the first Dim has been loaded, you will be prompted to wear the Vital Bracelet on your wrist if you aren't already. This will allow the device to check your heart rate. A Digitama will appear on screen, and will hatch once the process is complete. From there, you will be taken to the Home Screen.

The Home Screen is the primary view for the Vital Bracelet. Here, you can see the following:

• Digimon - An image of the Digimon you are currently raising and its current status. The statuses are as follows:
  • Neutral
  • Happy - Indicated by a sun icon above the Digimon. Happy Digimon get a +1 Attack bonus in battle.
  • Upset - Indicated by a gray cloud icon above the Digimon. Upset Digimon get a -1 Attack penalty in battle, and will only earn 1 Vital Value every 100 miles.
  • Running - Indicated by a running animation.
  • Training - Indicated by a weight lifting or wall breaking animation.
  • Walking - Indicated by a walking animation.
  • Sleeping - Indicated by a bubble icon above the Digimon. Sleeping Digimon do not need to put to bed, but cannot gain Vital Values, do Missions or fight Battles. Digimon on the Vital Bracelet Digital Monster will fall asleep on their own at set times, and will sleep for 12 hours. The specific time they fall asleep can be found in the Evolution Guide. On the Digivice -V- and Vital Hero Digimon, Digimon will not fall asleep on their own, but can manually be put to sleep by holding both buttons simultaneously.
  • Injured - Indicated by a skull icon above the Digimon.
  • Treatment - Indicated by a green first-aid icon above the Digimon.
  • Boosted - Indicated by a two arrow icons above the Digimon. Will appear if the Digimon is currently using an item from the app.
  • Untethered - Indicated by a gray cloud icon above the Digimon while you aren't wearing the Vital Bracelet. This means your Digimon cannot sense your heartbeat, and will die if left this way for 24 hours.
• The current time
• Vital Values - Your Digimon feeds off of these. Vital Values are earned from earning miles and winning battles. They gradually deplenish on their own over time when you aren't active, and will also decrease after losing a battle. When your Digimon is happy, it will get double the Vital Values it normally would. If it is upset or injured, it will gain half as many. If you go 5 minutes without wearing your Vital Bracelet while your Digimon is awake, you will lose 50 Vital Values. You will get a +2 HP bonus in battle for every 25% of your total Vital Values currently filled, up to a +6 HP bonus total.
• Miles - Each step you take while wearing the Vital Bracelet counts as one Mile covered for your Digimon.
• Approximate battery life

Your current fitness stats can be found here.

• Vital Values - Same value as shown on the home screen, but you can also see a meter indicating how full your Digimon is. Each evolution stage has a specific maximum number of Vital Values it can hold. When your Digimon is happy, it will get double the Vital Values it normally would. If it is upset or injured, it will gain half as many. If you go 5 minutes without wearing your Vital Bracelet while your Digimon is awake, you will lose 50 Vital Values. You will get a +2 HP bonus in battle for every 25% of your total Vital Values currently filled, up to a +6 HP bonus total.
  

  Stage	Maximum Vital Values
  Child	2,500
  Adult	5,000
  Perfect	7,500
  Ultimate	9,999

• Heart Rate - Your resting and last recorded heart rate. If you think your resting heart rate is incorrect, you can long press both buttons to use your current heart rate as your resting heart rate. The device checks your heart rate every 5 minutes, and will change your activity level depending on whether it is lower, the same, higher or much higher than the resting heart rate. As a note, this heart rate isn't necessarily medically accurate, and has a minimum value of 65.
• Miles - How many steps you have taken in your current session. Every 50 miles will grant 1 Vital Value, which gets checked every 3 minutes. This number will reset anytime the clock is changed.

Your Digimon's current stats can be found here.

• Name - The Digimon's name, in Japanese
• Type - The Digimon's attribute, either Vaccine, Data, Virus or Free. Vaccine Digimon are stronger than Virus, Virus Digimon are stronger than Data, and Data Digimon are stronger than Vaccine. Free Digimon have no advantages or disadvantages, and some Digimon don't have an attribute at all. For the purposes of this guide, Digimon without an attribute are classified as Free. Keep this in mind when determining whether or not to accept battles, as attribute advantage will increase your chance to hit you opponent, while being at a disadvantage will reduce that chance
• Days - The number of days the Digimon has been alive
• Previous evolutions - While on the name screen, press the Confirm button instead of the Select button to view the Digimon that your current on evolved from.
• DP - Digimon Power, which is how likely your shots are to connect. The star value does not actually represent true DP, which can be found on the detail card for each Digimon on this guide.
• HP - Hit Points, which is how much damage your Digimon can take before losing a battle. HP is increased by 2 for every 25% of your total Vital Values currently filled, up to a +6 HP bonus total.
• AP - Attack Points, which is how much damage your shots will deal to your opponents. Each tally mark on the device represents one half point. AP is increased by 1 when you your Digimon is happy, and decreased by 1 when it is upset.
• Win Percent - The percentage of how many battles you have won out of the total number you have participated in. Higher win percents are requred for some evolutions.
• Trophies - Your current number of trophies, which affects evolution.

The various types of missions are accessed here. The available missions will update each day as the clock goes from 23:59 to midnight. Manually changing the clock to 23:59 and waiting one minute will force the available missions to update.

• Normal Mission - Functions as a daily goal. You will receive a trophy once you have cleared that goal. Possible metrics are Miles, Vital Values, Battles or Wins.
• Hard Mission - These are all quick sets of specific exercises, either Squats, Crunches, Punching or Sprinting. You can do each mission once a day, and depending on how many reps you do in each time period, you will either receive 1 or 2 trophies. You can reset the available Hard Missions by changing the clock to 23:59 and waiting for it to become midnight.
• Special Mission - With the closure of the Vital Bracelet Lab app, it is no longer possible to receive Special Missions Additional missions that can be acquired by interacting with the companion app. To receive them, attach the desired special mission to your Digimon before you transfer it to your Vital Bracelet. The mission will begin as soon as the transfer is complete. Upon completion, you will earn 3 trophies.
• Adventure Mission - These missions give you a set number of steps to walk, and will have you encounter an enemy Digimon at the end. You will need to start with the 1st stage, and will unlock more as you clear them. There are 15 areas for each Dim, and clearing the 15th will allow evolution into a previously inaccessible Digimon on that Dim (which will be noted on the evolution guide). After clearing are 15, the "ADV Mission" text will turn red to indicate that you have cleared it. You can stop your current Adventure Mission by long pressing the Confirm Button.

The Vital Bracelet can store up to two Digimon at once time. If you would like to backup your current Digimon to raise a different one, you can use this menu to do so. While in backup, your Digimon does not age and its stats remain frozen. If you already have a Digimon in backup, you can swap it out with the Digimon currently being raised. If you don't have a Digimon in backup already, your Home Screen will be left blank after backing up. You can insert a Dim card to load a new egg at this point. If you insert a Dim when you already have two Digimon on the device, you will be prompted to delete the one in backup to make room for the new one.

The Vital Bracelet Lab App has been closed, you will need to use the Vital Bracelet Arena App moving forward. This section is no longer relveant, but will be kept as is for historical purposes. Please click here for details on interfacing with the new app. By installing the Vital Bracelet Lab app on supported smartphones, you can transfer your Digimon to your smartphone to gain access to additional features. As of this moment, The app is currently available in Japanese and English on iOS and Android. If the app is not available in your region, you may need to create an account in another region, or sideload using a service like QooApp.

I won't be going over full details on using the app here, as most features are described within the app itself, but I will at least describe the most important pieces.

Transferring Digimon

1. Open the Vital Bracelet Lab app.
2. If you have an active Digimon in the app, back it up first.
3. Choose the Vital Bracelet to App option
4. Go to the transfer tab, which is the first icon on the lower left of the app.
5. On your Vital Bracelet, select the App icon and press the Confirm button. Your device should now say "Touch".
6. Follow the prompts on the app until it asks you connect the Vital Bracelet
7. Touch the NFC point of your phone (usually found on the back near the top, but this may vary) to the front of the Vital Bracelet.
8. Wait for the Digimon to appear on your phone.
9. Separate the device from your phone.

Retrieving a Digimon from the app follows a few more steps.

1. Open the Vital Bracelet Lab app.
2. If the Digimon you wish to transfer is not currently active, retrieve it from the app's backup tab.
3. Go to the transfer tab, which is the first icon on the lower left of the app
4. Choose the App to Vital Bracelet option
5. On your Vital Bracelet, make sure you have an open slot either on the Home Screen or in Backup, otherwise you will be prompted to delete the backed up Digimon.
6. Select the App icon and press the Confirm button. Your device should now say "Touch".
7. Follow the prompts on the app until it asks you connect the Vital Bracelet
8. Touch the NFC point of your phone (usually found on the back near the top, but this may vary) to the front of the Vital Bracelet.
9. Wait for the app to display a prompt for the next step.
10. The Vital Bracelet may now prompt you to put in the appropriate Dim, do so now and wait for the device to prompt you to remove it. Do so.
11. Press the button in the middle of the app and bring the devices together again.
12. Wait for the app to display a prompt for the next step.
13. Press the button in the middle of the app and bring the devices together one more time.
14. Wait for the transfer animation to occur.
15. Separate the device from your phone.

App Features

Here are some of the more notable features that you can do with the app:

• Store Digimon - You get a few storage capsules to start, but will quickly gain more as you register new Dim Cards in the app.
• Battle Online - You can fight ghost copies of other Tamers' Digimon, or fight raid battles. During raid battles, you will be assisted by other Tamers that are doing the same raid at the same time as you.
• Acquire Special Missions - These missions can be attached to your Digimon on its status screen. They will activate as soon as you send that Digimon back to the Vital Bracelet, as long as it is awake
• Use items - Some items are specifically for app functions, but any item with an image of a Vital Bracelet next to it is used by selecting it while sending your Digimon back to the Vital Bracelet, but only if it is awake
• View Evolution Requirements - Wait no, that's what I'm here for, how dare they
• Check Evolution Time - You will be able to see how many hours and minutes are left until your Digimon will attempt to evolve

Tips

• The app will display the total number of Battles and Trophies for your Digimon's entire lifespan, so do not rely on this for evolution requirements. Only the Battles and Trophies gained in its current stage will count toward evolution. If you want to know how many Battles or Trophies your Digimon has in its current stage, check its stats on the Vital Bracelet rather than in the app.
• You cannot use Evolution Timer items in the app, you must send them back to the Vital Bracelet with your Digimon in order for them to activate. You also cannot send items to the Vital Bracelet while your Digimon is asleep.
• The Arena closes once a week, so do not panic if you cannot see it. Just check again in a few hours, it will usually be back within half a day.
• I hear putting [DH] at the beginning of your Tamer Name is a really cool thing to do.
• Arena Battles count toward evolution, and since you can pick your opponent, these can also be a great way to increase Vital Values (Practice battles do not count).
• Unused special missions can be removed from a Digimon if it is transferred back to the app before starting the mission.

As it says on the tin, this will let you change the settings on the device.

• Time (Clock icon) - Change the time on the device.
• Background (Rectangles icon) - Choose from one of three solid colors, or the special background for the current Digimon being raised.
• Brightness (Sun icon) - Change how bright the display is. Higher brightnesses will make the screen easier to see in sunlight, but will use more battery.
• Sound (Speaker icon) - Turn the sound on or off.
• Factory Reset (X Egg icon) - Delete all content from the device and return it to original settings. Do only as a last resort.

In addition to its Attribute, each Digimon specie has a specific Activity Type. This type determines when it does its Super Hit in battle, as well as when it sleeps. Your Digimon's mood will also be affected by how much you exercise, based on these types. It will be happy and gain Vital Values if you keep up with its execise preference, but will lose Vital Values if you don't follow its preference. For example, a Lazy Digimon will be unhappy if you exercise too often, while a Stoic Digimon will be unhappy if you don't exercise often enough. There are 5 types in total.

Battles occur when you touch your device with the screen on to a host NFC source, when you accept a VS Dim from another player, or when you reach the end of an Adventure Mission. Battles can only be done by Digimon that are Stage III or higher. Regardless of how they are initiated, battles all play out the same way. First, a warning message will appear. Pressing the Confirm button will display the Digimon that is challenging you. Pressing Confirm again will start the battle, or long pressing Select will allow you to flee. After the battle begins, it will play out automatically, with the Digimon exchanging up to 5 shots with each other. The first Digimon to lose all their HP, or the Digimon with the least amount of HP left after 5 rounds, will lose. You will gain or lose Vital Values depending on the outcome of the battle, which is described in the table at the bottom of this section. Battles outcomes are affected by the following stats. If you click on a Digimon in the evolution guide, you can see its base stats.

• DP - Digimon Power, which is how likely your shots are to connect
• Attribute - If your Digimon has an attribute advantage, it will be more likely to hit its opponent
• HP - How much damage the Digimon can take
• Vital Values - HP is increased by 2 for every 25% of your total Vital Values currently filled, up to a +6 HP bonus total.
• AP - How much damage each hit will do. Super Hits get a +2 Attack Bonus.
• Status - AP is increased by 1 when you your Digimon is happy, and decreased by 1 when it is upset

For more details about the specifics of how the battle system works, please check out GMMan's breakdown here. Below is a chart detailing how your Vital Values will change after each battle, depending on whether you win or lose. The first number in each cell is the number of Vital Values gained if you win, the second is the amount lost if you lose.

To use the VS Memory Dim card to battle another Vital Bracelet, follow these steps:

1. Insert the Dim in the first Vital Bracelet.
2. Wait for the data to transfer.
3. Remove the Dim when prompted.
4. Insert the Dim into the second Vital Bracelet.
5. After the data transfers, the battle will begin. Leave the Dim in during the duration of the battle.
6. Remove the Dim when prompted.
7. Insert the Dim into the first Vital Bracelet.
8. Wait for the data to transfer.
9. Remove the Dim when prompted.

If you do not follow the steps above, you can temporarily lose your Digimon. It should come back on its own after 10 minutes, but it is possible to also lose your Digimon if something is done wrong.

If your Digimon loses a battle while it is Upset, it will get injured. Getting injured four times in one day will kill your Digimon. You Digimon can still be injured again if it is already injured and you lose another battle while still Upset. To heal the injury, remove the device from your wrist so that it enters the Treatment state. Your Digimon will heal over time, with it taking 10 minutes for the first injury, 30 for the second and 60 for the third.

Evolution will occur at set times, based on when the previous evolution occurred. When your Digimon is ready to evolve, it will make a noise and show a pulse on the screen. Press the Confirm button to proceed with evolution, or long press the Confirm Button to Cancel evolution. The times are as follows:

If a Digimon has fulfilled its specific requirements for reaching the next stage, it is guaranteed to do so. On the original Vital Bracelet Digital Monster, the time your Digimon spends sleeping will not count towards its evolution timer. This was changed for the Digivice -V- and Vital Hero Digimon so that sleep time would still count. Time it spends in backup doesn't count towards evolution regardless of device model. Turning the Vital Bracelet off will also pause all functions, including the evolution time. Also keep in mind that not all Stage VI Digimon can evolve further. If you do not meet the requirements by the time the evolution timer finishes, or if you choose to stop evolution, the evolution timer will reset. Evolution conditions will be checked again after the same amount of time the initial timer was set for.

When evolving from Stage IV to V or from Stage V to VI, your device will check if you have a Digimon in backup of the same evolutionary stage but a different attribute. If so, your Digimon will Jogress, allowing it to evolve into a different Digimon than normally available. Some Dim Cards do not support Jogress, so make sure to check the Evolution Guide to see if your Digimon has Jogress options. When evolving via Jogress, only the active Digimon evolves. The Digimon in backup remains in backup exactly as it was, and does not influence the stats of the evolved Digimon. Some Stage VI Digimon can also evolve to another Stage VI form, which will take 3 hours if evolving via Jogress, or 24 hours if not.

Your Digimon will die under the following conditions

• Getting injured 4 times in one day
• Not wearing your Vital Bracelet for 24 hours (time spent sleeping or in backup does not count towards the 24 hours)
• Doing extended strenuous exercise while injured