Switching from kid to parent view

[Roni_S]

When in kid view and you want to switch back to parent view, you need to enter a password and then instead of actually switching you back, it completely logs the parent out of the Fitbit app!  Why require a password if you then have to log back in again with email and password from scratch?!

Moderator edit: subject format

[Squishok]

Wow. I just bought the Ace today and although it sounds like the process is "better," I am extremely frustrated with it. Why do i have to log into a totally different view just to see how many hours of sleep he got? Switching back and forth between account views w/ a login in between is not workable for me. I am essentially switching the view 3 times + login just to see 1 stat. I literally don't have time to mess with that in the morning.

I primarily bought the Ace b/c I am a die hard fitbit user and need to understand how well my 7.5 yr old is sleeping. I have been putting my Alta HR on him to track his sleep but am not sure how accurate it is due to the band size being too big. I guess I really need a sleep tracker product for him and not a fitbit. Trying to decide if I should force his father to load the app on his phone and then I just bug him every day for the stats. Hmmm, sounds like I just need to return it and get a better product.

[Julia_G]

Hi, @Squishok, if you have the most up to date Fitbit app, you should find that the process of switching between kid view and parent view is now pretty streamlined and only takes a few seconds.

Just go to the Google play store or Apple store and make sure you have the latest version of the app.  On your app you will not even need to re-enter your password to check your son's sleep stats -- though to switch back to the adult account you will need to re-enter it just the once -- this is a simple safeguard to prevent a child from being able to go into parental settings and, for example, interact with "friends" a parent might not approve. It is designed that way to keep kids safe.

I hope this makes sense!  If you decide to keep your son's Ace do let us know how you think it is doing with keeping track of his sleep.  This seems to me a great new tool for parents -- I wish it had been available when my kids were small!

Btw, if your son has an Alta HR and the problem is with the band fit, you can order an Ace band for him -- it is smaller than the small Alta HR band, but is compatible with the Alta HR tracker.  Unfortunately, however, at this time you cannot use an Alta HR on a child account.

[Squishok]

I'm on version 2.76 which was updated a week ago. I am on iPhone 6S. It works as you described below, however I don't feel that it's streamlined, easy or taking less than a few seconds. I counted the # of clicks it takes it's well over 10 clicks considering that my password is stored in 1Password, so I have to leave the app to go get my password and come back. Could you consider adding a monitor mode so that I can see his stats from my view?

The scenario listed above on my phone just isn't realistic for daily monitoring. I work full time and getting home in time to cook, get the kid bathed, in bed and prepare for the next day takes up the majority of free time so the extra hassle & frustration this takes really is meaningful to me.

[Julia_G]

Hi, @Squishok, I don't work for Fitbit, so I am not in control of the decisions they make.  But I do have a Family Account set up, so I am familiar with how it works.

To access this I go to my Fitbit account, click on the Account icon, click on My Family, click on "switch to kids view" and it just changes automatically.  I have just checked this.  No extra password is required (I am always logged in to my own Fitbit account, so I just have to open the app, and I assume that you are too -- most people stay logged in to Fitbit on their phone or tablet -- if you don't perhaps that is part of the problem -- though that won't be specific to Family Account...)

I timed it -- which was difficult since it was so fast -- but I think it took 3 seconds from first clicking in my Fitbit app to being in the child account.  Switching back to parent account did take one more step, as a password is required, for the reasons I mentioned (to protect child).

I appreciate that you -- and all parents -- are busy.  I had 4 kids so I really, really do know what you are talking about.  But honestly, if it is taking more than a few seconds for you to open kid's view on yiour Fitbit account, then something else is not working as expected, and hopefully we can help with this so you can get it streamlined.  There definitely should NOT be 10 steps, so if this is what you are seeing, please let us know and someone can talk you through making the switch between parent and child really quick and easy -- as it is designed to be!

[Squishok]

Sorry I meant it's 10 clicks to get from my account view to my son's and
then back to mine. I look at my stats multiple times throughout the day so
it's not feasible for me to keep it on my son's view.

I do have an extra step than you described where I need to click on my
son's account but I think it's pretty much the same. the processing time to
switch to my child's account is relatively fast. The processing time to get
back into my view is pretty slow. I assume b/c I have so much more data to
parse and I am connected to My Fitness Pal so there's more data to connect
to there. I've pretty much written this entire response in the time it's
taking to get back to parent view and It's not there yet. Not loving that.

[Julia_G]

Hi, @Squishok, well, that does sound like it is taking a while to get back to parent view.  I have to say that mine is very quick -- just a few seconds at most, but 8 don't have my account connected to any third party apps, so I suppose that could make a difference.

Assuming that you only need to look at your son's stats once or twice a day it obviously makes sense for you to keep the app mainly on your account, as you say you like to check yours often.  

There may be another option for you, however.  Do you have a computer or laptop that runs Windows 10?  If so, you could download the Fitbit Windows 10 app on that and keep it on kid view while you keep your phone on parent view -- that way you would not need to keep switching.  Another possibility would be if you happen to have an older phone stuck in a drawer that you no longer use.  It doesn't matter if it has no sim (no network connection) as long as you can connect it to your home's wifi (i.e. needs to be a "smart phone")  If so. you may be able to download the Fitbit app on to that and use that phone to sync your son's Ace.  Also many tablets (if you have one) are also compatible so could be used.

Just a thought...

[JeanneMcFish]

@Julia_G You can't see the steps if they haven't synced. 

[JeanneMcFish]

@KateFitbit I can report that this hanging happens to me to, same as @tallbird. It's mostly when going from kid to parent view, but 1 in 5 times, going to kid view from parent it will hang.

[JeanneMcFish]

@Julia_G "this is a simple safeguard to prevent a child from being able to go into parental settings and, for example, interact with "friends" a parent might not approve. It is designed that way to keep kids safe." This would be a good idea, if there were anything the kids could really do on the app in their view. And if they were grabbing my phone to do stuff, they could just as easily do it by not first switching to their own view. I don't know if this is required for some program for any app designed for kids, but it really doesn't make the kids any safer. If FitBit is really concerned that kids will get on and talk with "friends" they would need to put a password lock on it every time it is opened, and not just when going from kid's view to parent's view.

Sorry, I didn't realize these replies would show up one after another, I thought they would be under each post I was replying to, a la Reddit.

[KateFitbit]

@JeanneMcFish when it hangs what happens? do you see an infinite spin? Are you unable to log in? Can you let me know the iOS model and OS you are currently using? I'm not able to recreate what you are experiencing so any additional details would be helpful.  

[ChristiO]

I agree.  Logging in and out is annoying.  Even if the fingerprint ID was enabled, it would be easier.  My son is also disappointed he cannot put his picture on the profile.  He also wants to challenge my friends, and so far, we have not figured that part out.  Otherwise, he/we love the Fitbit Ace!

[Julia_G]

Hi, @ChristiO, I think the way it currently works is you have to challenge your friends and then add/ invite your son to the challenge.  Once he is in the challenge he can communicate with others in the challenge as normal.

[JuanJoFitbit]

@ChristiO Thank you for joining us in this thread and our Fitbit Community! Regarding your inquiry, I'd like you to check out the subject "Can my child interact with others in the Fitbit app?". This explains more information about what your child can do through the Fitbit app. The article has more information about the Family Account.

@Julia_G Thank you so much for your help and contribution my friend!

See you guys around! 

[colombo13]

 agree that it is quite cumbersome.  I wonder if that is how they intended it?  Hopefully someone from Fitbit can explain.

_______________________________________________

Whatsapp Messenger Hotstar

[JuanJoFitbit]

@colombo13 I appreciate your feedback and comments about this. Your info was forwarded to our team as this helps us to keep improving our services.

[JeanneMcFish]

@KateFitbit Hopefully answering you won't be labeled "crossposting" as other answers have been. I did answer JuanJoFitbit with the same, but when it hangs it has that annoying tic-ring that iOS uses. It is happening LESS, but I thin that's because one of the two Aces has broken and the replacement also didn't work, so we've only had one for a month or so. Even without this, it is frustrating for my kids that they have no way of updating it themselves and it still takes way too long to update one kid's steps and sleep. Someone needs to pretend they have a kid who wants to see how they slept (while the parent needs to check email or anything else they may need to do online) and the five times a day each kid wants to see how they're doing in the races they're in. It just doesn't feel like life-like uses were tested.

[KateFitbit]

@JeanneMcFish thanks for your reply, sorry I did not see your response to @JuanJoFitbit. I'm not entirely sure what you mean by a tic-ring. At this time the infinite spin users were experiencing when switching to childs view on iOS devices has been resolved. I do recommend updating your app. 

I'm sorry to hear the second replacement didn't work! I do see another is arriving today and really hope this does the trick. 

As @JuanJoFitbit mentions, we do hear your feedback on switching views and have shared this information with the team. Thanks for taking the time to express that here. 

[JeanneMcFish]

Update: the app hangs whenever switching to the second kid’s account, no matter which kid I start with. In order to avoid this I need to kill the app after switching back to my own account from kid #1. Better than when it was hanging on all accounts, but still a real pain when we’re updating to see who is winning our challenges. 

[JeanneMcFish]

Also, my answers to other people’s questions continue to be erased. It isn’t cross posting if it is answering a question. 

[Pixelscapes]

I just got Fitbit Ace for my two daughters. I'be linked them with my phone app and I have to say I am tremendously disappointed with this awkward and buggy interface. 

Awkward because I can't see or synchronize my kid data without all these steps:

Touch account, then my family, then choose kid, then the kid view option, then wait for that to load, then pull to sync, then review data, then account, then scroll all the way down, then switch to parent view, then log back in as me. 

So many steps, seriously? That is ridiculously poor usability. And that's just for one of my kids! I have to repeat the whole thing for the next kid. 

Why do the kids even have two different views if the default family view can't even sync or show their steps or data? It's useless as far as I can see. 

As for bugs: every time I switch to see a kid or log back into my account, it forgets everything we have set for which cards (sleep, exercise, water, weight, etc) we want to see below and which order. It resets to the defaults. 

What's the point of allowing me to hide your "female health" and weight cards if you force them back onscreen every time? And it forgets the card settings for the kids too. 

The fitbit app usually is so well-done and straightforward. Now I am dismayed to see/hear that this app option has been out for months already, with all these complaints, and yet it's still this poorly implemented.

This is all incredibly annoying and I deeply regret buying these.