App should return to the previous Dashboard

[SPheasant]

This is my first post on the forum although I have been a user for more than 2 years and have purchased over 20 fitbits in that time as gifts for friends and family.

In that time, I have happily used my and my wife's Charge HR with our Samsung Android phones.  We absolutely LOVED (and I outwardly PRAISED on numerous occasions to colleagues and friends) the FitBit software team's design of the Android FitBit APP interface.   It was very simple (as phone app should be!!!!!) and was extremely straight forward, easy to read/use, and provided me exactly the quick and easy method to see the data I used all the time in a very orderly, graphical, and intuitive color coding manner to see progress to goals - the #1 reason for having an activity tracker is to be able to easily monitor/track to goals and the FitBit app did that.  Remember, the fitbit hardware is only 1/2 the equation, the Human interface to the data this hardware collects is the software and is just as important (if not more so) as the hardware!

We have been so happy with the FitBit and it's app that we recently decided to upgrade to the Charge 2 for both my wife and I.

We again, had been extremely happy until all of a sudden, the corporate team at FitBit decided to FORCE the new dashboard upon us.  This is a move that FitBit, I fear, is going to regret.....I think you'll see this as a hit in sales and certainly a hit in your loyal customer base...you may have just forced people to begin looking at your competitors because of this short-sighted decision.  We purchased the FitBit AS IT WAS SOLD....including the app that came with it.   I personally feel you have unjustifiably altered my purchase (it is not longer exactly the item I purchased because of this change) and there HAS to be some law out there restricting companies from changing 'form, fit, or function' out from under a consumer!

We had examined and played with the 'trial' versions of the new dashboard over the past several months and absolutely loathed the interface, the bloated nature of the feature squares, the unnecessary 'busy-ness" of the screen interface, the horrible color scheme, and absolute mess of the graphics and monotone color.....it is not easy to quickly see your progress (unlike the great colored graphs of the old interface were) and certainly not an interface that should be used on a mobile PHONE.   The interface is a PC/MAC friendly interface, not a small portable device friendly interface...period.

You guys got it completely RIGHT with your original interface and completely messed it up with your 'artsy' attempt at the new interface.   I was relieved when we had the ability to switch back to the old interface as that original interface is what a phone app should be - easy to ready, not congested, few busy graphics, nice color scheme for clearly showing progress.  The FitBit is a tool for us and the software how we interact with it.  It was a great tool with the old interface.

And then the problem occurred! We saw an update popup on our phones to update the app.....so, knowing updates typically fix bugs and add features,imagine our HORROR when we saw you actually REMOVED the old dashboard and made the new dashboard the default with ZERO ability to go back!!!!!!   What is wrong with your corporate leaders, managers, and decision makers? You truly cannot care about your entire customer base with this decision.

What blows my mind is that FitBit is struggling to keep your marketshare in this once FitBit dominated arena.   There are MANY MANY MANY options out there for activity trackers now and every month there are even more competitors to your once niche market.  So WHY are you alienating those of us who have been loyal and happy customers?   You had it RIGHT in the first place!!!   All you had to do was tweak the existing interface to add your new feature set for your feature roadmaps, not completely re-vamp it.  You may not think it a big deal and I've seen your 'corporate politically correct' comments that 'change is difficult'.  And now by closing the other threads about this topic you are not only condescendingly stating that 'change is difficult' you are even disrespecting your base even more by saying 'live with it, we aren't going to give you what you are asking for'  (which is just asking for what you ALREADY had!!!)   This is beyond just disappointment for me and my wife....it is a deal breaker.   You made an internal corporate decision to FORCE a new interface on to a community.  You have had numerous complaints on this board and I guarantee you there are 1,000s more (maybe even 10's of thousands or 100s of thousands) who do not like the interface at all...no matter how you 'tweak' it!  Your tweaks will never make it look like the previously simplistic interface that made the complete FitBit package actually USEFUL for many of us.

I know some people actually like the new interface.  Definitely nothing wrong with that at all and I'm glad some folks actually like it (especially if we are going to have to 'live with it') ...  However, my recommendation to FitBit: if you really want to keep your original customer base, you should allow the users the option to choose which of the interfaces they want to use.  Keep the old interface as an option, don't alienate us!

I stated earlier that I have purchased over 22 of your products.  In addition, I am well respected in my technical field and I am always getting asked opinions on a wide-variety of electrical items, including activity trackers.  I have always put FitBit above the competition and I know for certain my recommendations have increased your sales. However, with this recent corporate 'bully tactic' of forcing an interface on me that I find clunky and very unuseful to me (when the previous interface was not only good, it was PERFECT!), you have now forced me (and my constituents) to actually look at the ever-growing competitors to FitBit when I had no desire or need to even going to looking elsewhere.  Your decision just pushed me to your competition:   business suicide is what some folks call that. 

The activity tracker is only as good as the ability to easily read the data it collects and your competitor's software will highly likely KISS  (Keep It Simple Silly).

I'm hoping this post doesn't go on deaf ears and actually makes it to the desks of the members within FitBit that actually can make these decisions.  I know I am small potatoes in your entire base of customers, but I know I am not alone and if you truly want to continue to gain (or at least keep) your marketshare, you better start making decisions that show you are truly listening to your following base and not sitting in walled off offices and conference rooms making your own decisions on what people should and should not get for a product solution.

Moderator edit: updated subject for clarity

[Krshrk]

I agree with you. One of the worst UI's ever designed. The previous ui was good. There's another thread where many people opposed the switch before the UI was forced. All to deaf ears. Poor design and poor decisions. 

[Big-Gee]

I totally agree with the originator of this thread.  This new interface is terrible and one of the worst designs for usability I have ever seen and I have been in the IT business for over 40 years.

The old interface was simple, elegant and worked as one would expect. I chose not to go to the new interface simply because it is non functional.

I have just updated my phone to a Samsung Galaxy Note 8 and the app automatically updated to the new app interface.   I do not want it but after a call to support about it I was basically told...that's the way it is ... live with it.  That's what their engineering department designed.

So what's wrong with it and why don't I like it?

1. It elected to go with pretty over functionality. There is too much clutter for all the pretty circles and boxes. It takes up way too much space and forces me to scroll down (and I have a big screen) to see it all.   Previous version on my Note 3 showed pretty much all in one screen nicely laid out in a linear fashion with succinct easy to read details. I don't need a bunch of useless pretty pictures to tell me what the device is recording.
2. when trying to view prior days to compare and review what my stats were, I can only see the stats in the little circles for those days above the lines where the boxes begin.  The boxes remain showing the current values as at the present time for today.   In order to see a prior days stats in these areas, (sleep duration, hours of activity over 250 step, water consumed etc.), I have to click on each individual square to see that information.  Then I get a whole weeks worth of data instead of what I am just looking for.   The prior interface gave me everything I wanted to know for the days I scrolled back to WITHOUT having to click on a box for each individual stat.  The way it is now is a waste of time to get simple answers to what I want to view quickly.
3. This change was forced on me unwantedly.  You gave us the option to try it out prior to forcing in on your customers and I for one opted to stick with the old version of the interface because I preferred it.  Now you force it on us when there are those of us do not want it.  You should either fix the new version to operate like the old one, or give us the option to revert to the old interface should we choose.  In my career in IT I have seen many instances where development thought they had a "cool" idea of what the users wanted and tried to force their ideas on those who would be using the application/system only to have entire projects cancelled entirely, and many hundreds of thousands of dollars spent on them wasted, because the user community did not accept the design.  I have been a beta tester for a couple of very large software organizations and had I been involved with testing this "upgrade", the sacrifice of function over pretty would not have flown. Guaranteed.

So whatever egos are involved here with your development department thinking that pretty is better than function, take a few moments and listen to what your users are saying. Granted there are only a few comments in this thread, but I wonder just how many people using this Fitbit app are unhappy with it but don't take the time to complain.

And just so you know, my Charge HR is several years old now and if it packs it in, unless the app is fixed or made to function as it did originally, I will not be purchasing another.  I may be just one customer and not making a huge impact to your bottom line, but is one less customer you'll have.  It is much easier to keep and existing customer than it is to cultivate a new one.