Remove Sleep Scores!

[Kevinator86]

Please give us the ability to choose either sleep scores or avg. sleep hours. The sleep scores mean absolutely nothing to me and many users while being able to quickly see what our avg. amount of time slept was very useful. Yes, you can see the avg. amount if you swipe over to sleep stages and then make it full screen. But I had to read through the forum to find out how to find the avg. One of the joys of your app had been the ability to see stats very easily and quickly. Now it's annoying.

[LizzyFitbit]

Hi @Kevinator86. Welcome to the Forums.

Thanks for sharing your feedback about the sleep scores. I understand what you mean about not having an easier access to the average sleep hours, and I'm sorry about the experienced that you've had with this change. Our team often checks the Community to improve our devices and overall environment based on every commented found here. Be sure that this will not go unnoticed.

Feel free to post back if you have another question.

[tiuri]

I completely agree with the original poster. After the latest update, the default value shown on the sleep page in the app is this meaningless sleep score. If we want to see the hours we've slept, i.e. the value that we've set ourselves and are actually interested in, we have to swipe away your artificially made up sleep score. This is a really bad decision. 

Equally bad, assuring us this post will not go unnoticed is not helpful. Sure, someone will notice it but if nothing is done about it (as I expect based on years of experience with Fitbit not listening to its customers) then noticing it is simply not enough. Someone must ACT on it!!

[irakez]

@LizzyFitbit 

What does it mean it won't go unnoticed? It's vague and meaningless. Are you going to do anything to fix this? We don't want to hear that you will simply take a note of this fail, while doing nothing to correct it, and will simply consider it when you shove down your users' throats another pathetic "improvement". We want to hear that you are already working on the fix right now! And until then, if all we hear are puny and meaningless copy-paste replies, be sure we take it outside and leave 1-star reviews everywhere, where all your potential customers can see how Fitbit treats their current customers after they've already made their purchase. 

[LizzyFitbit]

Hi @tiuri and @irakez. Welcome back to the Forums. I'm sorry for my delayed response.

Thanks for taking the time to share your feedback about the sleep score. I see where are you coming from, and I'm sorry for the hassle experienced when checking your weekly sleep hours. I understand how helpful is to see how many hours you slept for the week instead of the score, and our team has received feedback from this. Currently the sleep scores are intended to be shown in the Fitbit app instead of the average time, our team will keep working to improve the Fitbit app based the Community posts.

Let me know if you have another question.

[Tewald]

The sleep score is useless. The idea is OK, but the algorithm is terrible. Compare these two nights:

1. 6 hr 54 min total, 18% Awake, 18% REM. 46% Light, 15% Deep.

2. 6 hr 48 min total, 12% Awake, 27% REM, 43% Light, 17% Deep.

#1 has 6 minutes more sleep, but #2 is vastly superior otherwise. Is there anyone who would really prefer #1? Fitbit does: 83 Good for #1 and 78 Fair for #2. 

#1 was a really good night for me, but #2 was incredible. Your algorithm is ridiculous. The fact that you removed something useful for something useless just makes it worse. And since you only create the sleep score for one week previous to the update, you zeroed out all the weekly average sleep amounts of the past! Please give us a way to dump it.

Tom Ewald

Detroit Area

[tiuri]

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@Tewald wrote:

And since you only create the sleep score for one week previous to the update, you zeroed out all the weekly average sleep amounts of the past!

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I had not even noticed that!! That's not just stupid, that's malicious!!!

[BiggJ77]

Please restore the average hours of sleep somewhere in the IOS app! I use this average every day, all day to see how much nap time I need to include to reach my minimum average hours sleep goal. I don't see any easy way for me to do my own calculation...this is taking away what for me is one of the most important pieces of information I need from my Fitbit.

[Tewald]

"...our team will keep working to improve the Fitbit app ..."

But you're not. I'm sorry - I really don't want to be rude - but you keep making what was an incredible app worse, not better, with every update. For the first time since buying my first Fitbit a few years ago, I find myself looking elsewhere, not for the wearable, but for the app (although that probably means I'll need a new wearable as well). I sang the praises of your app 3 years ago when it helped me lose 50 pounds, but the only improvement I can think of in all of the changes since was adding sleep stages (REM, etc.); everything else has made it worse IMHO. You use precious screen space for things users don't want - now you've also added what amounts to ads in multiple places in the app - trying to get us to subscribe and pay for unwanted information in an app you continue to make worse. 

[Tewald]

Thanks. I uninstalled the app, downloaded one of the 3.2 ones, installed it, and it looked good. Then, since it hadn't come directly from Fitbit I got nervous and uninstalled it and went back to the new one. I.e., I wimped out. Too concerned about someone making changes to the app before making it available for download. Thanks, though.

[tennysonlee]

You could verify the CRC or hash to confirm the file wasn't adulterated, but I didn't bother.   Keep iin mind that android is not a particularly secure platform so I don't keep anything sensitive on my android devices.    Also, any data that you store in the cloud (or on website servers) may be compromised.  For example, I've been receiving a stream of fraudulent spam email lately that includes one of my old passwords in the subject line. 

PS. It required about 90 minutes for the re-installed fitbit app to download my data (about 18 months worth) from their servers since it was wiped when I uninstalled the app.

[Historyfrog]

I agree with all the posts in this thread that find the sleep score useless. I was hoping I could maybe figure out the pattern to it, but I can't. It seems super arbitrary. I care more about hours and then the stages. That's it. That's where my insight is. Everything else is just background noise and in my way. 

[SMSM]

I agree 100%, the sleep scores are completely useless!  From my account page in the app, the sleep average in the weekly report is also not working.  Please "undo" the entire app change which added the sleep score.  ASAP. THANKS.

[Tewald]

Just to be clear, the new app and new wearable would not be Fitbit, since you insist on making the app worse.

[SunsetRunner]

I completely agree with the rest of the folks on this thread. I'm much more interested in my weekly average minutes of sleep than my weekly average sleep score. The sleep score is a meaningless made up piece of information that tells me nothing about how I've slept over the course of the week. Comparing the minutes slept is so much more helpful. The sleep functionality is one of the two most useful components of my Fitbit...when my previous one broke, I *almost* went with a different brand, but decided against it because of my years of history in the Fitbit app. And now you've gone and removed one of the most useful things from my history, which means I'm that much less likely to buy a new Fitbit device when my current one breaks. (Most likely, once it's out of warranty in another month or so. 🙄)

[rkellus]

 So I was directed here because of it I waited comment I shared on Twitter.  Here’s what I wrote: 

“@fitbit I’m early adopter & from the very beginning I’ve been a loyal customer. That’s the reason I’m telling you this publicly: Fitbit customers should be given the option of turning off their ‘average sleep score.’ Encourage, promote, good sleep: yes But give a daily grade? No.”    

I can tell from the comments here that the average sleep score has certainly struck a nerve.  While I have little doubt that this change was well intended, I don’t believe the creator fully contemplated the ramifications of making a well loved wearable piece of technology seem like a technological schoolmarm.   Certainly Fitbit marketing research should’ve been able to identify that this type of change would not go over well with certain personality types. (Example: Type A personalities that take “grades” very seriously.)  Generally speaking, many people, including Fitbit customers, feel like they are under pressure and judged fairly or unfairly on a daily basis by work peers, friends and family.   The last thing such Fitbit  customers  want is one  more critic, one more judge,  strapped to their wrist.   Yesterday I was in with a big project and only got four hours and 15 minutes worth of sleep. I received a grade of 65. Admittedly, the quality of my sleep wasn’t fantastic bit surprised to see that I was given a “fair.“   After work, to try to “improve my grade“ 3 1/2 hour nap. It was wonderful! That is, until I woke up and see that the duration of my nap I received a grade of 56 which was classified as “poor.“     Do you want to know what is poor? The fact that my Fitbit did not average the duration of my two sleeps during the same 24 hour period together or that I was given no “bonus credit”  for trying to go get some additional sleep.  

[SMSM]

rkellus, I had almost the exact same scenario last night/ today. I ended up 1 minute over my daily sleep goal and feeling good after a nap today, but I am stuck with a 64 score. 😞 You are correct in my not wanting to be given a bad "grade" for which it appears I am unable to do any extra credit or debate with the "schoolmarm"! However, the biggest concern to me is I don't know how to adjust!

Fitbit, just please give back my weekly average so I can adjust myself as needed! Thanks!

[Kevinator86]

I'm not a software tech, but I can't imagine in this day in age that it would bee too difficult to simply put the avg. hrs slept right next to the avg. sleep score. Or just give the option of which to display. Since I made this post I pretty much never check my sleep info anymore. Another annoying thing now is that if you want to see your lowest heart rate while sleeping, you have to pay for their premium service. I understand wanting to make money, but why make us pay to see the info that our Fitbit produces when we already pay a lot for the device. So frustrating.

[StuartT]

Yes, please just remove this altogether. It is useless. I understand you can get to the average sleep score as  iOS as well as the sleep score so why not on Android?

Ultimately it is a useless feature. It achieves nothing except to irritate your username.

[Historyfrog]

I totally agree about the having no clue how to improve! Do i need to sleep longer? Get more deep sleep? Somehow change the way I've always slept and spread out my deep sleep instead of doing it all early in the night? They also don't use a standard grading scale it looks like. Out of my sleep scores 63 to 79 is fair. 80 to 86 is good. If they actually have an excellent it would only be 10 points. But the fair range is 20 points, basically setting everyone up to only get a fair night's sleep. If a school tried a grading scale like this, parents and students would flip out. Ultimately I end up ignoring my sleep score and going to the sleep stages screen because that tells me so much more relevant information.