The redesigned Android Fitbit app is rolling out!

[LizzyFitbit]

Hello everyone!

I would like to announce that the redesigned Fitbit app starts rolling out today! This new app will help you reach your goals, and bring the health and wellness information right on hand.

Check out our latest blog for how to get the most out of the new app. 

Note: Please be patient if you don't see the update right away, as it will take some time to roll out completely.

Happy stepping!

[SunsetRunner]

I think that I have found another missing feature.

In 3.x to force a firmware update the path was; from main screen tap icon in top left to reach the account page, then tap Help & Support, then tap Check for Charge 5 update.

In 4.x from main screen tap icon in top left to reach the Connect to Fitbit page, tap on the Charge 5, oh nothing obvious there. Go back to the main screen, tap cog in top right, tap Help & Support, just a load of links that open the browser.

I'm on firmware 188.58 and I understand from this forum that there's a newer version. But the forum says that the update has been problematic. Perhaps I'm lucky?

[Stillworking]

BRAVO! Thank you!

Joan 

[TdawnChong]

I hate the new fitbit app too! Ruined my motivation. First you took away Bingo, which was a great motivator and now this garbage looking cheap app. That's a shame. I really used to love Fitbit and recommend it to everyone. Not anymore. And the devices are horrible now too! They don't accurately count anything and I find myself having to replace them much sooner than previous years. Go back to your roots. Change is not good if it is not forward facing. This is going backwards.

[Stupendousman19]

Thanks to the new app I no longer have a strong argument for my next watch being something other than a Fitbit.  As a loyal customer for many years, and strong advocate of the brand, I am now forced to agree with so many other people that the Fitbit is simply no longer a market leader in giving consumers what they need.  

This app change is the best advert for me to go buy a competitors watch in the not-too-distant future.  

[SunsetRunner]

The consumer electronics industry depends on built-in obsolescence and deliberate abandonment. I have a Nexus 6P phone, it has an 8-core CPU and it out of support from some years ago. Similar things happen to TVs and all the other gadgets we have become addicted to. Now the new app is making us disappointed but there are other offerings from the same manufacturer that are being promoted which are supposed to entice us to make new purchases and throw out our current devices.

[ajfarrey]

I just wanted to hear 2 words when it comes to redesign.  DARK. MODE.

[Starr69]

@SunsetRunner This is all true, unfortunately those other devices also use the fitbit app!

[mikeecee]

Have had the app 7 days now and it is still terrible. So many things that were useful are now broken or absent.

 The display looks terrible and is much less user friendly. Among other things the resting heart rate readout has frozen since update, sleep monitoring is much more erratic and comparing stats from week to week is just a chore where it used to be easy, not to mention the ridiculous decision to remove the battery meter.

Like others have noted, they also seem to have deleted the old posts (including mine) from this thread which were equally negative. 

SHAME on you Fitbit, SHAME on you  Google.

[Stillworking]

Thank you. This is what I was thinking also. Really not a good way to go
about it though.

Joan 

[SunsetRunner]

@Starr69But not the Google ones 😁 The "Google Watch App" is quite visually different, just don't read the reviews 😉.

[JayneUK]

The new look is awful.  Not as friendly or use, or even a good look. Soooo plain.  Please change it back, or add more colour

[Ckopec]

Another deficiency is I can no longer see my step count history at a glance. I have to swipe through the screens to see my counts for previous days.

[Starr69]

@SunsetRunner Interesting. On the Pixel page it calls out right at the top that you get 6 months of Fitbit premium for free. 

[SunsetRunner]

@KAD4 I believe that brand loyalty is the deciding factor, so just before the current "thing" is no-longer supported you will see the "new thing" product launch with extensive advertising, introductory special offers and glitzy endorsements by z-list celebs. You are them so convinced that the emperor is wearing fine clothes and not otherwise that you rush out to get the "new thing" so you can then get on social media to brag about it. You feel good because everyone clicks "like" when you show you new purchase and the manufacturer gets free advertising as well as your money. The "old thing" either goes to a charity or into waste processing and pollutes the environment too.

A few companies, make that very few, actually make things that the consumer can repair or customise.

[Jandav148]

Well the new app is definitely a downgrade!! I bought it specifically for swimming as I'm not a runner...you now have to enter all the details to log a swim date time and distance! Well I cant count the lengths as I'm swimming as you tend to not always keep up with them if anything happens so how on earth do I know what distance I've swum!! And I wanted to know the lengths.This was why I bought a fitbit years ago and been loyal to them by upgrading over the years! I've also introduced parents to fitbit too...we are all now so disappointed how bad it now is so I'm saying goodbye to fitbit and going to invest in a watch that fitbit now doesn't do! It feels like it should now be called a healthbit as thats the direction its  going in not so much now in to fitness unless you log your own exercise it calculates calories that's it! From a very unhappy customer 

Moderator edit: clarified subject.

[Entwood]

I'm not exactly sure what the "new" app is supposed to achieve, as it is 99% the same content just repackaged in a different font. 

One thing it has done, and this is a shame, is it has removed the "state of charge" information, so it is no lnonger viewable on the app, only on the device, and on a Charge 4 that is a tiny, tiny font on a small screen , so difficult to read. please put it back on the app main screen where it can easily be viewed.

And still, after many years of being asked, there is still no way to turn "off" those **ahem**ed vibrations, even with "Do Not Disturb" selected it still vibrates when it wants to !!

Form before function with the new app springs to mind... might be nice if the actual users were consulted before the "artists" start to play ?

E

[Kimmiekinz]

With all of the negative feedback, is Fitbit going to make any changes? 

[AMS50]

I just had a long chat online with Fitbit. There is so much I hate about the new format I don't know where to begin. For one thing, being able to see the percentage left of my battery is much more useful than just High, Medium and Low. For another, just because I'm a female doesn't mean I have any interest in tracking my menstrual information (which I don't have anymore anyway) - now it shows up on my main screen!? My sleep tracking also isn't working the way it used to - I can't edit it to give me a more detailed and accurate picture of how I slept. I feel like the whole thing was dumbed down and made to be ridiculously simplistic. I was basically told this is it, there's nothing they can or will do about it. Guess it's time for me to look into a new device on a different platform. Thanks a heap, Google/Fitbit.

[CharlesA]

 can you correct this please?

[SunsetRunner]

@CharlesA  Wow! That's over 1,700 mph. Do you fly an Eurofighter Typhoon? 😁