Feedback about the Ace 2 and Family Accounts

[aggie45]

We've been Fitbit users for about 5 years.  I've had the Charge, Charge 2, and Charge 4 while my wife has had a Charge 2 and Alta.  We also have the Aria scale.  We recently purchased 3 Ace 2's for our kids.  I would not recommend this to anyone in a similar circumstance.  Our money is a sunk cost, but we will be switching to a competitor as soon as an upgrade is needed.  Just to document it here:

- 1 of the 3 Ace 2's didn't work right out of the box.  Understandable, sometimes you get a dud.  My experience with Amazon has spoiled me however as I expected for Fitbit to immediately send me a replacement and give me time to return the defective product.  That's now how Fitbit works, though.  You must return the device at your own shipping cost and once they receive and it and deem it truly defective they will then issue you a replacement or refund.  So while 2 kids are tracking steps and comparing results and 3rd kid sadly has to wait for 2 weeks for the return process to work through.  Why the customer has to pay for shipping a DOA product is beyond me.

- In the meantime, I though I'd let the 3rd kid use my old Charge 2 while we wait for the mail to do it's thing.  Nope, can't do that either.  Fitbit does not allow you to connect anything but an Ace 2 to a child's account.  I cannot find any reason for this other than something about kids and social networks.  Obviously which band the kid uses has nothing to do with what social aspects they use on the app.

- And if you think you can just temporarily change the kid's birthdate to make them appear as a 13-year old until the new Ace 2 comes in, you can't.  Fitbit doesn't allow you to change a birthdate once entered.  So be careful when you create your account that you do it correctly.  You will never be able to change it past that press of "submit".

- In the meantime, I was eager to setup the kids' accounts on the Aria so we can easily track their weight as they grow.  Nope, can't do that either.  The Aria doesn't allow you to track weight for a child, nor assign a label to any of your "guests".

If you search the community for these problems, they always end with a moderator saying you should suggest these changes to Fitbit and up-vote them.  However, all of the problems/decisions stated above have been listed in the community for years with hundreds of complaints and not a thing has been done about them.  Fitbit seemed to stop trying about 3-4 years ago.  Hopefully their purchase by Google will infuse some common sense about how to treat people fairly back into the company.  As a family, we will not be finding out, however.  We're moving on.

Moderator Edit: Clarified subject

[DramaQueenDiva]

Hi @aggie45,

I'm just shedding a little bit more light here, but there is a COPPA law, which you can read about here .  The Ace was originally designed so that families could compete in fitness challenges together without any COPPA violations.  If you look on the Fitbit app, there is a social aspect to the app, and that is what Fitbit is concerned with in regards to the COPPA regulations.  Without those regulations, the kids would be able to post anything that they want, without the adult's consent.  By setting up the Ace for children, you are sending a message to Fitbit that you have an account that you're setting up for a minor, and therefore can't be granted the same social permissions as an adult.