Ace guardians in divorced/separated families

[nor1]

I’m new to this Ace stuff, so forgive me if I’ve made an error of understanding. 

My query is around children’s Fitbit accounts and the idea of the “Main Guardian”. There are increasingly children affected by broken families, including those who have ongoing domestic abuse (coercive / psychological etc) between the two parents. For the two parents to view the childrens’ stats, one has all the power (see where I’m go going with this?) and also compulsory access to the ex partner’s Fitbit account as they have to be “friends”. I’m deeply concerned and would appreciate a response for from fitbit team. Not a rush job but a proper, considered/nuanced tesponse and a plan to resolve this outstanding issue.

Thanks.

[Julia_G · Accepted solution]

Hi, @nor1, the parent who sets up the Family account and the child's Ace has control over who is added to the Family Account.  If you as a residential / custodial parent do not wish someone (especially if there are issues of abuse or control!) then you can prevent that.

Alternatively, if the other parent sets up the account they may not want you to be part of the "Family" and in that case you would not be able to see the stats.

The point is, the main adult guardian has the control.  Another adult cannot add themselves in without the initial parent's agreement. This was obviously designed to protect children.

If there is agreement between separated parents, then of course they can both be "guardians", but only one person can be the main guardian -- this would usually be the adult who first purchased the Ace for the child and set up the account.

I hope this helps.  If you have other issues, or want further clarification, please do post again.

[nor1]

Thanks for the speedy reply and explanation.

How can I encourage Fitbit to consider improving the functionality of the
Ace interface such that there can be TWO main guardians (ie that one can’t
revoke the other’s access) and that those guardians do not need to be
“friends”/“followers” on Fitbit?

I absolutely appreciate that you designed this with functional
families/parents in mind, but unfortunately that’s not the reality for many
children and their guardians. So now the issue has been raised, how can
fitbit respond to address this issue?

Many thanks

[SunsetRunner]

Hi @nor1. You can post your suggestion in the Feature Suggestion forum. I checked and no one else has suggested your idea so this would be a new suggestion. Once posted in this forum, others can vote for the idea. Fitbit looks at the interest generated by votes and that becomes a factor when deciding whether or not to go forward with it. Good luck! 

[DavideFitbit]

Hello @nor1, it's good to see you visiting the forums for the first time. 

As @Julia_G and @SunsetRunner have mentioned, at the moment it's not possible to set up more than one main guardian in the family account. The main guardian is the creator of the family account and can add or delete other guardians. 

If you haven't done so already, and as it was suggested previously, I would also recommend that you post this idea in the Feature Suggestion board of the Community, this would help to attract more attention from the team of developers and to see how many people would find it useful. 

I hope to see you around more often in the forums. 

[nor1]

Appreciate the welcome!
Will pop over into suggestion board
Cheers

[DavideFitbit]

No problem @nor1! 

[Will40]

Please, do not consider a change that would allow two main guardians. If one spouse has a narcissistic behavior personality and insists on controlling everything ( which unfortunately is quite common in divorce situations), that person could create havoc in a family plan account. Even having them as a non-main guardian is a problem. It is better left as is, or better, remove the ability to create a non-main guardian.

Moderator edit: format

[DavideFitbit]

Thank you for sharing your feedback here about the role of the main guardians @Will40. 

I hope to see you around in the forums. 😀 

[anonymous1989]

Oh, so sorry about your situation. I think the suggestions section is the best way to solve this) Have you got an answer, or could you share how you solved the issue? The situations around divorce are so sadly...I went through this last year and I know how painful it can be and how annoying it is to share all the common things. The only way we would do this was through stearn-law.com because we could not agree on the shared properties( Relating to the describes situation, I do not think that allowing two main guardians can be a great thing. Of course, if your ex spouse id fine and can behave normally, then a family plan account can be fine. If not, it can really mess things up. Just let it as it is))) Wish you a lot of power to go through this situation!!!

[Odyssey13]

Hi @anonymous1989  the original post was over two years ago and they didn't return to say how they resolved this issue. It would be nice if all divorced couples could get along for the sake of their children, but I can understand not wanting your ex to know how active or inactive you are, too.

[nor1]

Hi Will

You are so right re narcissistic / controlling / abusive dynamics! I’m describing a scenario where the parent who is the victim of the abuse is being put in an (avoidable!) situation of having to be “friends” with the co parent or primary guardian, simply to have access to the child’s fitbit info.

[nor1]

Wouldn't it be lovely, Odyssey13 - so sad for the child and such an emotional burden for the parent/s too.

until then, where possible, we don’t need to put up unnecessary flashpoints for them to disagree on, or force them to share personal information with an abusive ex partner co parent.  

[agcutie03]

I am witnessing the exact opposite situation from a narcissist ex that supports that this IS a great suggestion, actually.  My fiance's ex-wife bought her 4 and 5 year old children Fitbit Ace 3's for Easter in order to track their activities during their weekends with us and even told the 5 year old that was exactly what she was doing.  My fiance has changed jobs in order to accommodate having the kids during the day instead of them staying with a nanny, and his ex is literally trying to find anything she can to prevent that from happening, despite him being an excellent father (and the kids' preferred choice) because she cannot stand the idea of not having full control over everything.  She has attempted to file multiple court orders against us in efforts to control everything that happens in our house while the kids are with us, despite us both having completely clean histories/records, excellent professional jobs, and a healthy, loving relationship that allows a warm, nurturing home for and with them (along with my 4 year old daughter).

So, I've been trying to find a way to "deactivate" the Fitbit during their weekends with us, since she of course refused to add my fiance to the kids' accounts despite her daughter specifically asking herself, wanting to share all of her daily achievements with her dad as a way to bond.  It is not fair to the kids that we ask them to keep their Fitbits off during their time with us, but I am not okay with her having records stored with intent of using anything against my fiance in court.  Based on how involved and structured he is with them, I can't even imagine what sort of case she is building with the limited data, but I am certain it will be something completely fabricated yet somehow "supported" by the information and be presented in a way that will make us look crazy if we try to defend ourselves or explain the truth of it all.  That is what narcissists do, and she is unbelievable.

I believe situations like this are exactly why multiple parents should be allowed accounts to their kids' Fitbits, independent of each other's info and privacy.  These devices are easily being used to spy, and puts the kids in a terribly unfair, disgustingly used position while simultaneously placing the innocent parent in an impossible situation to choose between being spied on or confusing the child by refusing to let them wear their Fitbit during their visits.  

Moderator edit: format. 

[Odyssey13]

Hello @agcutie03 Thanks for sharing this and it really is such a shame. Your fiancée sounds like he's doing all he can to stay close to his children and that is wonderful. What struck me most in your post was the ages of the children. Fitbit Ace 3 is made for children ages six and up. Due to laws across the world, children are prohibited from having an online account and using these devices. The Ace series was made especially to allow children six and older to use these services. Fitbit is abiding by those laws. Lying about the age, which would be the only way to use it, would create a problem since the algorithms are made based on gender, age, height and weight. It would give completely wrong data for your child. My suggestion would be to get the children not to wear the Fitbit while they are visiting. Maybe you could get a basic pedometer or another child type watch (V-tech has a cute one for kids) that they can wear while at his home. I'm sorry that such young children have to go through this, but it sounds like your fiancée has support from you. It might be worth talking to his lawyer to see what you can get put into writing to make things more defined on this topic and less stressful for you all.

[agcutie03]

Thank you so much for this info and suggestions! I knew the Fitbit was for ages 6+, but didn’t think further into it to realize the implications of that with the data. She definitely has no issue lying, so I have no doubt she did so to set up their accounts. This is tremendously helpful, THANK YOU!!