Lost Mode - Owner ID for Lost/Found Fitbits

[maehoosadie]

I recently lost my Fitbit Flex on my university campus of 30,000+ students. My quest to find it has taken me to several departmental lost and founds as well as the Central Stores department where all lost things go to be sorted and auctioned.

My Flex was in a black band, and thus is completely indistinguishable from any other Flex in the same color band. At Central Stores they have two black Flexes, and I have no way of knowing if either band is mine.

I think there should be some sort of user/owner profile that can be activated when a tracker is lost, so whenever the tracker is synced or charged in a computer again, the owner's contact info is displayed. This way, people in search of their Fitbits could easily identify their own, and people who find them have a way of reuniting them with their owners.

On my search for my Fitbit I ran across at least ten other fitness trackers that had been lost in the last month, and the guy at Central Stores had little to no hope of ever getting them back to their owners. He says he wished their was a way of telling them apart so he could report them found.

Moderator Edit: Added Labels

[LynseyTwinMum]

I'd love to have the Owner Name or ID displayed on my ChargeHR. My husband and I both have the large black ChargeHR, so it would be great if along with the time, steps, heart rate etc you could could also have some kind of ID/Name/Fitbit ID/Nickname to identify the bracelet, so we don't get them mixed up! It would also be helpful if it got lost, someone could just check the name/ID of the owner to help return it to them!

Moderator edit: format, title for clarity and added labels. 

[Al-Pal]

You should add a tracking device in the Fitbit or GPS so if Fitbit is lost or you can't find it you can pull it up on a map and find it

[Sandybit]

I loved my Flex fitbit and feeling the vibration when I hit 10,000 steps each day!  Great device to make sure I kept moving and hit my goal daily.  The clasp on my fitbit was quite difficult to secure, and it fell off a couple of times.  A few weeks ago, I got home from walking my dog and noticed it was no longer on my wrist.  I had taken pictures of my neighbors dogwoods and made a telephone call on my way home; so when I looked at my tracking online, I was able to know almost precisely  where I was when I lost it.  Great news to me, but I searched that area for days and posted a lost sign in my neighborhood to no avail.  All this to say I wish the clasp wasn't so hard to secure.  

[SunsetRunner]

Why not have an option for the user to set up an "I belong to ...." identification on screen? After owning my charge for 6 weeks it fell off ... I tracked my last step to a coffee shop and dry cleaners parking lot. But never recovered my fitbit. Maybe someone would have pressed the button and called xxx-xxx-xxxx if they had found it...

[RoseMaryT]

YES PLEASE

[Picrite]

This is not a bad idea IMO.

One way would be to display a user defined message when charged (prior to the battery level).

[cndncat]

I think some sort of alarm that can be activated to find lost fitbits would be helpful. I lost mine at work and it took me a week to find it as there is no way to track it.

[Seamonkey]

This does give me the idea to mark my CHARGE HR in some way so I could identify it if I lost it and found one.. this would work for any of these devices.  Hmm, now, how to mark it? 

[Bellflower]

Sea monkey, you could write your name on the inside of the band with a Sharpie. If you find one in lost and found, turn on the app on you phone then move with it. If it syncs, it's yours. A clunky solution that won't shorten your look, but it could help for now.

[Bird989]

That would be great because I have lost my Fitbit before and it would be very convenient if it had an owner ID feature

[AriesG]

I liked my One because it actually would display my name after being inactive.  It would be nice to have that option built in.

[BlairP]

When you lose your IPhone, you can go to Icloud and have it send an ping/alarm to make the phone make noise...usually a high pitch ding.  Adding this feature into the Fitbit would be extemely helpful, as it works wonders to help me find the IPhone when it blends into the counters or gets dropped in the couch.

[PureEvil]

Two observations:

• If you have the Fitbit App, set a silent alarm to go off shortly (in two minutes), sync your Fitbit (hopefully it's one of the two).  See which one buzzes.  That's yours.
• Label your Fitbit, I label all of mine and even one as small as the Flex can be effectively labeled.

[ShaggySS]

Love the idea but not sure how that could be implemnted.  

[BonitaJones]

Totally ticked....the Charge Clasp Sucks, As a business woman I have suit jackets and every time I removed a jacket the clasp would catch and the Charge would fall off. Caught it ost times.....till Friday....now I have lost it and I am not happy so wished they would make all Fit Bits qwith acctual clasps like the HR "Watch Bands" that you don't have to worry about losing....

[BonitaJones]

Totally agree with you, just happened to me this week...not sure about tracking the steps thanks for that idea I will check...

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@SunsetRunner wrote:
Why not have an option for the user to set up an "I belong to ...." identification on screen? After owning my charge for 6 weeks it fell off ... I tracked my last step to a coffee shop and dry cleaners parking lot. But never recovered my fitbit. Maybe someone would have pressed the button and called xxx-xxx-xxxx if they had found it...

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@SunsetRunner wrote:
Why not have an option for the user to set up an "I belong to ...." identification on screen? After owning my charge for 6 weeks it fell off ... I tracked my last step to a coffee shop and dry cleaners parking lot. But never recovered my fitbit. Maybe someone would have pressed the button and called xxx-xxx-xxxx if they had found it...

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[Mcore]

I appreciate you posting your request. I believe this is a great and helpful idea and I see that other members have supported it. Lets hope it can be taken into consideration in the future. Thank you!

[Neefer]

A more universal, and likely simpler solution could be to simply add an optional feature of "vibrate tracker to confirm sync has completed".  Just a little buzz-buzz on your wrist to say "ok, all done". 

As long as you don't have two people, at the same lost-and-found, with the exact same device/color having been lost, syncing at the same time -- the one that buzzes is thus the one you lost.

[mudbug70]

Yes please!

[SunsetRunner]

That would be great as I previously lost my Fitbit!

[tedhowell]

Here are my suggestions to Fitbit:

1. Do not allow a Fitbit that has been reported as lost to be paired to a new account

2. Notify a user who is trying to pair a known lost Fitbit that it has been lost and offer to provide a prepaid envelope to return it to Fitbit.

3. Even go so far as to allow users who have lost a Fitbit to post a reward for it's return, all done annonymously 

4. Program the Fitbit app and devices to work like the other bluetooh trackers on the market. Users could opt in to help other users if they loose their Fitbit. Imagine at the airport a notification pops up "A Lost Fitbit has been spotted near you" It would be a fun game to play - Find the Fitbit! If there were rewards it would motivate players and unite a community of Fitbit users. Instead we have a dark and almost criminal community that encourages people to essentiall steal a Fitbit.

[Gamacleod]

It would be beneficial if Fitbit Support could search the User dbase for devices by serial number. Scenario: my Flex was recently stolen. It would be helpful if Fitbit could determine if the device was re-paired. This info could then be used by Authorities to address the offender.

This would also address Fitbit supporting stolen devices.

It would also deter criminals from stealing the device. As it is, anyone, can register any device without any concern as to how it was come by.

Lastly, this lack of security concerns me. When working with your Customer Support Team regarding my stolen Flex, who were Excellent, it became apparent my account was potentially in jeopardy with no safe guards. Thus we deleted my account. And I am without my Flex but suspect “someone” else is now enjoying it. Thank You for consideration with my concern.

[SunsetRunner]

What if someone buys the tracker from the thief without knowing it's stolen, and pairing to the account while reported as stolen? Then someone innocent would be labeled as the thief.

What if reported as stolen to fitbit, when the one who has your tracker, gets a message on the tracker: 'this fitbit has been lost/stolen, please return to fitbit'.. the tracker will be locked.. 

There'd be of course a money issue, as the new owner would have bought the tracker honestly, needing to return, and loosing money.. in case it's bought instead of found. 

[Gamacleod]

Hello Mystique_Goalie,

I like your idea of a message coming up indicating a lost/stolen device!!

I think “buyers” should always be concerned about where the device is coming from, and if there is any warranty. As it currently stands, a stolen device can be re-paired with no questions asked and it’s supported by Fitbit, thus rewarded for stealing it....whereas the person had “lost” it gets nothing.

[SunsetRunner]

Agree that something could be done, to make stealing a tracker pointless, when lost, a higher chance of getting back, as the finder not able to use either.