New charts feedback

[PhilFitofBit]

The 'new' fitbit app -- bad bad. Charts in every area... The app used to remember if I liked week or month or year view so when I looked, it was what I expected, now every time I open the app, it shows a graph for week. The app used to show the current day and preceding time period -- select week you get 7 days of graph, select month and you get current day and preceding month of data, etc. Now, you only get from the start of a period - so looking at 'week' on a Monday, you only get Sunday and Monday, useless. Likewise, selecting 'month', if you look on the 2nd of the month, you get 2 days, again useless. On some charts I liked to look at the preceding 365 days, but that is gone too as 'year' only shows January 1 to date. Still more issues -- the app used to let us tap the graph in most areas to go full screen, see the information better -- that is gone. Charts cannot be rotated to landscape, zoomed in, expanded in any way. The data points used to be displayed, and tapping on one would show you the information for that point. Now all we get is a smooth line and if you press and hold can get some information but as your finger covers the point, and if you let go the information drops, that too is useless. All in all, for the first time in I think 7 years I have data in the app, this is enough to abandon it all and switch platforms. My only other option is to download an older version and use that for a while to see if the 'new' app gets fixed. As is the case for many things, change can bring bad, as well as good, and in this case for a long-time fitbit user -- this is a big step backward. Thanks for reading. 

Moderator edit: Subject for clarity.

[HaughtDD]

Totally agree with this. Great summary of the list detail and function with this 'upgrade'. There are certain releases and upgrades that make you wonder what the product designers were thinking when they did it, and this is one of them. Please bring back the old graphs they were excellent by comparison. If you were to bias in a direction I would go towards more zooming in, more data availability, and more functionality rather than less!

[MatsuDawn]

Also, for the weight chart especially, an 80 pound range is totally useless. Basically a straight line which does nothing towards encouragement because you can't SEE any progress. Maybe for a year chart that amount is okay but not for one month or a week. Maybe plus 5 or 10 pounds beyond the highest and lowest for the selected time period would work better for everyone.

[tboll01]

Generally, I don't like using 3rd party archives to re-load old versions but your posting has me re-thinking that perhaps rolling back to the pre-July 22nd update might be the way to go.  I had been trying to be patient in waiting for a fix to the EOV graph but you pointed out all the lost functionality of the new graphs and now I'm starting to think that maybe I should rollback to the previous version and just FREEZE it.  There was really nothing deficient about it (for my purposes) and as long as I don't replace my Versa 2, I know it will work.  With the new graphics, they may tweak and fix a few features but there really wasn't any FUNCTIONAL gains in changing the "look" of the graphs and I'm pretty sure they did these changes in order to STANDARDIZE the look-feel of the fitbit app across iOS and Androids-- aka. lowest common denominator.  Can someone convince me that staying with the last update of the OLD VERSION of graphs is not the BEST option for all of us Android phone-owning fitbit wearing customers?

[gcpierce]

I totally agree. The "improved" workout graph is useless. It used to be color coded for peak, cardio, fat burn, etc.  Now it's just a graph with broad heart range scale, which is pretty useless.  Please send all graphs (sleep, weight, workouts ...) back to pre update.  The time scale charts are also useless.  They start at the beginning of the week, or month, or year, instead of a rolling 7 days, or 30 days, or 365 days. I'm very unhappy with this new look.  I don't want to see the month of August. I want to see 30 days. Get it?

[EdmundC]

I think that it's odd that there are so many complaints about the latest "update" but there are no responses ... I am hoping that they are going to work on the data graphing complaints.

I think that the latest problems seem to indicate that the coders are not wearing Fitbit devices at all to track their activity and health - if I was working with them (I've been running research level coding fro years now) then I would require that everyone working on the code wears a Fitbit device and that everyone shares their data so that the results can been seen by everyone involved.

[tboll01]

Or they own iPhones.  If you've ever accessed the data from an iphone you will appreciate how much more features and functionality we (android phone owners) used to have that iphone users didn't have when viewing Fitbit graphs.  I think what we are seeing is consolidation to the lowest common denominator.  But at least they will likely fix the EOV graph.

[gcpierce]

I did a chat session with support, who sent me to a link for feature requests.  There are numerous requests for the old charts and a flip reply from LizzyFitbit stating that reverting to useful charts and graphs is "currently not planned", but she thanked the submitter and said the request was sincerely appreciated.  hogwash. 

[tboll01]

Well, I made the leap BACKWARDS and stopped the automatic updating of Fitbit app.  Phil, your post made me realize that we were all getting so distracted by the alarmingly erratic new EOV graph, that we were missing all the interactive graph features that we had in the OLD version of the ANDROID fitbit app.  The new graphs are perhaps "prettier" representations of data, but they don't allow for digging deeper into your data-- very much a high level overview.  After putting up with the new graphs for a few weeks I've decided that I really did like the old graphs and functionality of the app much better than the new direction that Fitbit is taking their Android interface.  I really see no advantage to continue to upgrade.  So I think I'm going to sideline for a while and stick with version 3.63 (36337401) for as long as I can or until I hear that they have restored all the interactive capabilities of the Android graphs of old.

[gcpierce]

I accidentally figured out how to get the colored lines back in my workout session stats.  I was curious about how the revised app was handling max heart rate, so I went there to have a look, changed my max heart rate and my target range, went back to see if the workout charts had the target range shown the way it randomly has done sometimes, and -- presto -- the line was colored with yellow, orange and red again!  I'm a little nervous about making this comment here, because I'm afraid they'll "improve" that feature.  But .. for today, at least that graph is better.  Now if only I could figure out how to change all the other graphs and charts....

[RodrigoMFitbit]

Hello everyone!

I appreciate you for taking the time to share your feedback regarding the new graphs. 

I see that graphs overall are being renovated. It seems this change is still in process. Fitbit appreciates your feedback. However, I am sure that further details will be disclosed, once the changes are finalized. I appreciate your patience.

[tboll01]

Accurate or not, it is nice to wake up to these old-time version 3.63 graphs of O2 variations:

But numerous other features of the OLD version, such as that the week, month, year views always end with the current day (rolling week, etc.) and that you can swipe/drag on the graph to traverse thru time (on sleep scores, HRs, steps, etc.), and have a full-screen view of graphs and tap on graph to get details of data points.  I guess if you never used these features you might not notice them missing in the new version.

[JoanneM19]

Just bring back the old graphs, not all developments are better!

[gcpierce]

Not only did I use those useful features of old, but I miss them every day, several times a day.  I do not want to download a third party app, so I will keep my fingers crossed that fitbit will actually read these comments and do the right things for us, not for themselves.

My graphs and charts were already "renovated".  No thanks.  Please bring back the pre-update charts and graphs.  Thanks you.

[Sirglass]

I agree with everything you say.  It's nice they fixed the EOV charts, but they have more work to do to restore some of the functionality.

Not only can you not only tailor the start and end dates of the charts by dragging the information left and right, but you used to get presented with the totals (steps, floors, miles, etc) for that range. Now you get an average.

This is what happens when a larger company (Google) buys a smaller company (Fitbit) and starts making changes as if they know what is best for their user base. I've seen many products destroyed by corporate takeovers.  The users always come out last.

Information like this is best presented in bar charts...not curved line charts.

[Ashinfrance]

I do not understand why a company would want to make their product markedly worse to use. I have cancelled premium and if graphs don't become usable again this will be my last fitbit or google watch.

[gcpierce]

I feel exactly the same way.  I refuse to purchase premium because Fitbit needs to fix the basics before I hand them any more $$.

[RodrigoMFitbit]

Hello everyone!

Thanks again for your feedback and comments about the graphs on the Fitbit app. We highly appreciate you taking the time to share your thoughts about the graphs. Currently changes seem to be definite. We shall see how the graphs keep on being developed. 

[gcpierce]

Well, I take this to mean that any requests for getting our better Android charts back will be put into the circular file.  It seems that big giant Google might be too arrogant to entertain requests from formerly happy customers of smaller, flexible Fitbit. 

[Chad325]

I think if you adjust your goal to lose 5 to 10 pounds then the graph will be useful, at least that is what I did. So when I hit that goal I set a new goal for 5 to 10 more pounds and I'll do that until I hit my real weight loss goal... Yes it is annoying and should be fixed but it works for me for now...