Birth year only goes back to 2008

[FitMama83]

My son received an Ace 2 as a present. He is 14 but has developmental delays that make this tracker developmentally appropriate for him and his tracking needs. Why is there a hard age restriction in the child profile settings, and how would a well-meaning gift-giver know it had a hard age limit of 12 years old—to the month and day? How will my son’s health data be affected by being physically profiled as a 12 year old instead of a 14 year old?

I actually had to set DOB to Feb 2009 because the age is so restrictive that it stopped at March 2008. (He is a Feb 2007 child, so we opted for accurate month and day over inaccurate month and year. RIDICULOUS!) 

Had I personally bought this, I would have returned it due to the heavy-handed approach, and we are also an Apple Family. #notcurrentlyimpressed

[LZeeW]

Hello @FitMama83 and welcome to the Help forum.  I don't have grandchildren that are old enough for a Fitbit, so I am surprised to learn that this hard age range exists.  There are laws protecting children's internet privacy.  In many countries, that age is set as 13 and older.  A child who is 13 and older can have an "adult" account.  Adult account have data on the internet.  Fitbit's child accounts only have information in the phone app, so they meet the privacy laws.  The gift giver would only know this information if they were a parent with kid's accounts.

As a consumer, companies make decisions based on the masses.  I'm not a Fitbit employee, but I can understand why they would think the way they do.  They might have programmed things differently if a few parents of special needs children were in their focus groups.  I just don't think the programmers thought of the special instances.  It's not malicious.

I apologize for not knowing the specifics of the Ace data, but it is my understanding that is is very basic data.  I don't think the age will make a significant difference in your son's case.

I don't think Apple makes a device that meets your child's needs.

[Rich_Laue]

The Ace line can now be setup to an adult account. 

You may want to choose to do so. 

[LZeeW]

I'm not so sure about that @Rich_Laue.  When I try to set up an Ace, I'm told that I need to set up a family account. 

[DesertSnow907]

I was just attempting to set up an Ace 2 for a 14 year old. Unable to do so as a kids account due to hard age restrictions and unable to do so on an adult account due to the Ace 2 being “kids.” However no where on the packaging does it say as much. 
However, when attempting to create an account I did see where the Ace 3 does not say “kids” so it may be different. Ace and Ace 2 had a “- kids” during the setup attempt.

Very frustrating to say the least. 🤷🏻‍:female_sign: