Fitbit Ace cheers and taunts inquiry

[Linamcaswell]

My child has this device and when I sent a cheer or taunt it does not show on her screen only on her app messages.

Moderator edit: updated subject for clarity

[SunsetRunner]

Likely because it is a child account. Federal law prohibits children under 13 from participating in social media features.

[JuanJoFitbit]

@Linamcaswell Welcome to our Fitbit Community! Regarding your inquiry, my friend @SunsetRunner is totally correct. The cheers or taunts are sent only to your child's Fitbit app due to the information that @SunsetRunner mentioned.

Let him or me know if more questions arise! 

[Fifidavey]

How do they have their own app though if they have to  be 13? Do they have to log in using my account?

[Claire75]

Totally agree! My sons device is linked to the app on my phone, he doesnt have a phone or device of his own! So pointless me cheering him as he has to look on my phone to see it! If it is a problem due to federal law how can some fitbit ace2 receive call alerts and private message notifications intended for parents from outside sources such as WhatsApp as highlighted on a number of discussions on this forum! and not a smiley face from their guardian or friend which is from their app! 

[Fifidavey]

Her fitbit ace2 doesnt remind her to wind down for bed, the notifications are set to on in my app with a time.

[Nrgy]

That’s ridiculously stupid seeing as how they are too young so they have to be setup in a parent account, yet Fitbit expects a child to have his or her own phone and an app? This is quite stupid. Fitbit has a habit of making things super beyond complicated. Such as adding two ace 2 devices to an account. 

[Momoc2]

Is Fitbit planning on addressing this issue? As parents we want to cheer our children on, yet they do not have phones. This is an easy fix.

This is so disappointing. I wish i had known that children did not have access to all of the fitbit features on their child model fitbit... seriously why is this even an issue. Ridiculous.

Moderator edit: merged reply

[Crisocolla]

For us, my kids have the watches & I have the only app on my phone. There is no one else communicating with them, so it's not "social media". This is encouraging positive relations between a parent and their child and has no other online presence. It is setup by the parent, who verifies what permissions their child has and is not accessible by anyone else. This is overly protecting Fitbit from this law, when I cannot see how if it's private it can be misconstrued as social media.  Having a more official check box where the parent is allowing these contacts between themselves and their child could be a simple work around to this issue. I see this as no different than shouting across the house or field that your kiddo is doing great. Please look into fixing this, or else this is just an overpriced step counter with an occasional disco ball.... 

If I had known that not all the "features" worked for all my kids, I wouldn't have purchased this. 

[LiliyaFitbit]

Welcome to the Fitbit Community, @Crisocolla.

Thank you for joining the thread and sharing your feedback. I understand how you are feeling and appreciate your suggestions. Please know that your comments won't go unnoticed, our team is always working on improving our devices and user experiences, and we take every feedback as a learning and improvement opportunity for our products. For more information about Fitbit kids devices, see How do I get started with Fitbit kids devices?

To share additional feedback or if you want the features to be improved, feel free to visit our Feature suggestion board. Here our product development teams consult regularly to ensure we're delivering on what our customers need and want. You can read the FAQ to better understand how that board works and do a search first, in case someone else has already suggested your idea, or something similar.