Amazon Kindle Fire not compatible with Ace trackers

[Moniquab678]

Hello, 

For Christmas, my children both received Ace bands.  We set up the family account and have figured out how to sync, but it is SUCH a cumbersome process that the kids are not enjoying the Fitbits, the challenges or the accomplishment of hitting goals.  Maybe there is something I am missing.  Both kids have Amazon Kindle Fire 8.5 (so Bluetooth compatible) devices.  The Amazon version of Fitbit does not have the Family Dashboard, so they cannot sync on there.  

I have a dongle from my Fitbit, which I tried to use on our family computer and it will not sync the Aces.

I can use my cell phone to synch, but I have to log into each kid separately, have them take my phone away from me (so not too close to my wrist) and then once synched, I have to log out of that kid into my account, switch to Kid #2 and do it again.  This is typically a 10 minute process, which I frankly do not want to deal with multiple times a day and the kids are not typically allowed to touch my phone let alone go wandering around with it. (It's new and expensive and 8 yr old boys break things a lot 😉 )  This makes competitions with friends and family pretty useless since I will only deal with this once a day at most. 

Am I doing something wrong?  I really thought when we got these that the kids would be able to use the competition aspect with friends, synch on their own via tablets or computer and this would not be so frustrating in the syncing process.  

Is there ANY way to make this work smoother?  Are there any plans to add the Family Dashboard to the desktop version or the Amazon platform?  I have LOVED having my Fitbits for years... (Currently at a Charge 3, but had the HR2 and Zip before that)  But part of the fun is being able to compete.  Had we known that this would be so cumbersome, we probably would not have spent this much money on trackers.  We're not seeing the advantage of a Fitbit over the $20 non-Fitbit pedometers. Any advice on making this easier would be VERY appreciated!

Moderator edit: updated subject for clarity

[JuanJoFitbit · Accepted solution]

@Moniquab678 It's great to see you in our Fitbit Community! Currently, I'm afraid that Ace trackers will only sync with the mobile device that they were set up with.

Regarding the Amazon Kindle Fire devices are not compatible, this is the reason these devices don't have the Family account option. I know how frustrating this is for you.

I'd like you to give your vote to this Feature Suggestion, which requests compatibility between Fitbit trackers and Amazon Kindle Fire devices.

I really appreciate your feedback since this helps us to keep improving.

[Moniquab678]

Is there any plan to make the computer app or dongle have the ability to sync the Ace bands? 

[EdsonFitbit]

@Moniquab678 Thanks for your question.

Currently, you are able to set up and sync the Fitbit Ace with a Windows 10 computer with integrated Bluetooth 4.0+. There is actually no option to sync via the Fitbit dongle, but you can make a request on the Feature Suggestions board mentioned above.

For instructions to set up using a computer please visit this article. 

If you have any other question, please don't hesitate to contact us back at any time.

[Alfreako]

One year later and still not compatible?  Kids dont all own phones.  Tablets are likelier, especialy kindles which are at their price range.  

Kindle has been working fine and in not buying a phone, so I guess Santa is returning these items for all our kids.

[Renzema]

The fire tablets are completely compatible with the ace 2.... but you have to load the Google Play store on them and download the Fitbit app from there. It’s a several step process to do so, but once done, you are freed from the Amazon sandbox, for better or worse.

For some unknown reason Fitbit doesn’t seem to think that the millions of fire users are worth their time to upload an updated version to the Amazon App Store.

[Amychase]

Do you know how, after putting the play store and downloading apps onto a tablet under the parent account. How to then give access to that content to a child account?

[paul.hope]

Thanks for the clarity but this is a MAJOR issue for fitbit.  I have just bought two Ace 2 trackers for my daughters and can't believe they don't work on Amazon fire for Kids.  Crazy.

[McHuggle]

Hugely frustrating! We have 3 boys (10 years and the twins are 9) and were excited about the challenges on the Fitbit so bought 3 new Fitbit Aces for Christmas so the whole family had one. Fitbit please update the app to work for family accounts on the Kindle Fire. We have made a decision to NOT give our children mobile phone devices which is tough when all their friends have them. The Fitbit was a piece of tech we wanted to ‘work for us’ and encourage more physical activity. Please let me know when this feature will be added. I persuaded my husband these were better than buying mobile phones and haven’t yet told them they are not compatible. Do you want to do that for me. 

[Fluffypanda3]

It is absolutely ridiculous. You can get the mobile app from the google play store to run and sync, but if you put it on a kid's profile it says it doesn't have permissions to run location services. If Fitbit could be bothered to update the version on the amazon store it would be fine!

[JAB1040]

Same problem here. I have 3 kids 9, 8 and 7, all with their kindle fire, and all 3 got an Ace 2 Fitbit tracker this Christmas. They are driving me nuts asking me to check my phone all the time .... 

please Fitbit DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!!!

[esbarron07]

My daughters Fitbit Ace isn’t syncing under my iPhone X in the family account I created when it was purchased. Very frustrating. 

[MooDaddy]

Hi, bought an ACE 2 for my daughter. Having wasted 45mins trying to sync it to my daughter's Kindle Fire HD am I now to understand that it's still not compatible with Amazon devices?

I'm experiencing exactly the same issue as the parent that bought the ACE .

[CELR]

I’m really disappointed, I’ve just bought the ace 2 for my son and assumes it would work on his kindle fire for kids but it doesn’t. I’ve tried the tip of installing google play but can’t find this app on amazon, is it simple to sort and can you tell me how? Thanks 

[Renzema]

You need to follow this guide...

https://getyeti.webflow.io/posts/how-to-install-the-google-playstore-in-your-amazon-fire-tablet

Then install the fitbit app from the play store (delete it first if you already downloaded it from Amazon).

[ashtangi108]

I believe the reason why Fitbit does not update their Fitbit App on the Amazon Store is simply because of MONEY.  Fitbit does not want to share the revenue with Amazon.  Thus we have a stalemate and MANY unhappy customers such as myself.  That's why we're probably going to purchase Garmins to replace our kids' recently purchased Fitbit Ace's
Hacking the Amazon Fire is a bit cumbersome, but it does work.  You have to ensure that the AMAZON VERSION of the fitbit 2.63 doesn't get loaded.  Check the App version numbers before installing.  The current version I see in the Google Play Store is 3.19.2.   

Also - To the Fitbit Developers & Security Team:  The Fibit App on the Amazon Play Store has not been updated since December 22, 2017.  There are MAJOR SECURITY HOLES in this app affecting anyone who downloads it from the Amazon Play Store.  DO NOT DOWNLOAD THIS APP.  Sideloading the Google Play version is OK if you can pull it off as this app is current.

[Renzema]

What Revenue? The app is free. While they have started to sell a premium
subscription, the lack of updates long preceeds that. II could believe
that it is the bad blood between Amazon and Google (eg, why you don't see
youtube on the echo show), but this lack of updates prceeds the acquisiton
as well. This is really just Fitbit not caring about the Kindle Fire
platform.

[Tmfolkers]

THIS!!!!!! Oh my goodness thank you so much for this post, it saved me when I was just about to give up. THIS WORKS! If you sit down for a minute, free from distractions and actually follow these steps, this 100% works, just did all of my kids devices. Thank you so much!!

[kevinmcintyre09]

Yes especially after launching the Fitbit Ace 3 for kids, and you cannot add it is kids fire tablet. Bonkers!

[SweetMamaKaty]

Renzema's 05-07-2020 response is a great workaround - thank you so much! Still trying to figure out if we can get it to open within the Amazon Kids app.