Poor Notifications system

[zaTricky]

I recently decided to try the notifications feature with my Android phone and Fitbit Blaze.

It works really well - but for some apps, the notifications are just spammy. Sometimes the notifications are spammy for *all* apps.

Separately, it seems that the notification settings are *not* saved properly in the application. Also, making changes here is incredibly hit-and-miss.

1st problem - simple example: WhatsApp

If I have WhatsApp Web open, I used to get a notification there about an incoming message. Then about ten seconds later, assuming I hadn't acknowledged the notification there, I would get a notification on my phone as well.

With the Fitbit notifications enabled, I get the notification on the web interface, on the phone, *and* on the Blaze simultaneously. This is quite the sensory overload. 😕

2nd problem - saving notifications settings - such a CHORE!!

To change notifications settings, I have to drag the home page down so I can select the Blaze. This dragging action also starts a sync which can take as long as 60 seconds (though it *usually* only takes about 10 seconds). Next, you select "Notifications" then "App Notifications", and then scroll down to the app you want to change the setting on. Now you can change the setting. Pressing back a few times seems to now have it set - but it isn't sync'd to the device until you manually press the Sync Now button (or do the "refresh" action again). If it is still syncing from before, you first have to wait for that initial sync to finish so you can sync again.

Though it was tedious ... it is now synchronised and the notification settings are updated! But!... the setting isn't necessarily saved! If your phone crashes or the battery dies, the notification settings are reset back to what they were before you made the changes. Great ... So your phone boots up and it does a sync in the background at some point ... and changes the setting back to what it was before.

Over the last week or so I have disabled a specific annoying application's notifications 3 times only to find it doing the notifications again. Only now have I figured out the pattern of how this is happening. I'm hoping I'll have figured out the workaround.

(edit: For some reason, all newlines were lost in my original submission. That's one very very long paragraph ...)

[LanuzaFitbit]

Thanks for stepping into the Forums @zaTricky!

We truly appreciate the time that you have taken out of your day to post this very in-depth explanation of what you're experiencing. We're always looking for ways to improve and provide the very best service possible. 

In this case, I'd like to ask you, what mobile device are you using to setup your notifications. This would let me get a better picture of the situation.

Look forward to your reply.

[zaTricky]

Hi there 🙂

It is a Samsung Galaxy Note 3 (SM-N9005 ; hlte) running Android 5.1.1. I am upgrading to Android 7 today (especially given the recent Android vulnerabilities) ... so troubleshooting steps might not be relevant for very long. 😕

[LanuzaFitbit]

Hello @zaTricky.

If you're updating to Android 7, then I would recommend that you try to set up the notifications after doing the update and see how that goes.

Additionally, make sure that there are no other Bluetooth devices that could be interrupting or disrupting the signal between your Fitbit and your Samsung. I will also suggest that you log out of the app, clear its cache and the open it again to see if the notifications behavior improves.

Let me know if you have any questions.