Blaze Firmware Release - 17.8.301.4 [Closed]

[AndrewFitbit]

9/23 Update:

See the new firmware thread here

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9/22 Update:

For those that have the firmware update already, new clock faces have been re-enabled.

We've continued the rollout process. If you don't yet have the update, please be patient. We'll post updates about the rollout when we have more information.

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9/19 Update:

Hey everyone - it seems like we're struggling to maintain civil conversation on this topic, so I'm going to go ahead and lock the thread. We'll open a new thread once the firmware update goes into wider distribution. Until then, here are answers to the questions that keep getting asked here:

When will I be able to download the latest update?

The update is on hold while our team addresses an issue found at the beginning of the release. Once their work is complete, we will start rolling it out again. We generally don't announce specific dates or timeframes, but you will see the update on your dashboard as soon as it is available. The only thing you need to do right now is wait patiently.

Why did you release the latest update to only a small percentage of users?

We've done tons of testing on this new firmware, but there can still be unexpected issues when we release it. If every Blaze customer updated at once, those surprises would affect everyone. Instead, we use an incremental release to observe and address issues on a relatively small scale. We definitely want the best experience possible for our Blaze customers, and a slow, cautious release helps accomplish that goal.

If only 5% of Blaze users have the update now, does that mean 10% will have it next week and 15% will have it the week after? Won't that take forever?

Nope! We aren't moving in 5% increments. We started the release at 5% and will increase it in much larger increments once we are confident that it's good to go. You should receive it soon.

Why haven't you communicated this information to customers?

All this information was previously posted in this thread, and also added to the lead post. Any time you find a discussion of an emerging issue or a newly-released update, make sure to check the first post for the latest information. We aim for clear, concise, transparent, and frequent communication - you should always find what you need in the lead post.

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9/15 Update:

The new Blaze update is currently available only to a very small percentage of users, as we are troubleshooting some emerging issues. It will be released more widely soon. Once it is available, you will see a banner at the top of your website or mobile app dashboard. Thanks for your patience!

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Hey everyone! 

We're rolling out a new update for Blaze, release notes below: 

• In addition to call, text, and calendar event notifications, you can receive notifications from email and other third-party apps on your tracker.Common emojis also appear. Keep in mind all notifications currently on your tracker will be deleted after the update.
• You can receive reminders to move throughout the day.
• Five new clock faces are available. Navigate to your device settings and check them out!

This release also resolves the following issue:

• Some users reported that auto-brightness was too dim or delayed.

Important to note: A sync is required after a manual shutdown or a battery drain in order to show the correct time on Blaze. This is especially important for your activity tracked by Blaze because you'll want to make sure it's associated with the current date and time.

The initial wave of users will receive the update starting September 12th, 2016, and will eventually be rolled out to everyone within a few days. If the update to the latest firmware version is not yet available for your Blaze, just hang tight!

[RRKPL]

I am obviously part of group One (5%) since I have the update and even have a new clock face. What I would like to know from Andrew Fitbit is, have I downloaded what is considered by Fitbit a buggy firmware version and if that is the case will I be contacted by fitbit https://contact.fitbit.com to download a different non-buggy version.

[SanFit]

@RRKPL
That's the question which should be clarified by fitBIT ASAP. Contrarily, they are trying to complicated the issue by creating a group of 95% users. If the initial firmware is buggy, then there is no 95%, but ALL 100% users should download the NEWER firmware in order to get the new features and new clock faces. Personally, I could not figure out what kind of GAME fitBIT is trying to play in settling the firmware update failure.

[Miaka]

Looks like they keep changing story. First they said there is no prob with update just with roll over.


Then they say clock faces causes issues so they disabled it but update is continuing

Now they are saying update is at halt till they fix the issue. And that only 5 percent has it now

Pretty much sums it up

[RRKPL]

Yes, the only thing they don't say is if the initial 5% release has a negitive effect on the user. The only thing I have noticed is simetimes I didn't get a reminder to move or a confermation that the 250 steps were made. I have been in the office all week so haven't done comprehensive testing.

[Saigon1919]

I was one of the 5%. My watch has worked flawlessly since the update. I bought my Fitbit based on the original features and didn't know that they were planning the additional features. So I figure these as a bonus. I did a check on the accuracy last night at my local HS track. It was only 6 steps off from my count for one lap. On the low side. So I am really happy with my purchase. Ended up with more than expected. Thank you Fitbit

[SpaceToast]

I'd say stop harassing @AndrewFitbit and just be patient. This is a normal practice with software development. You roll out the update and if major bugs pop up that you didn't find during testing in a controlled enviroment, like for instance, the new clock faces spontaneously not showing up, you stop the rollout, fix it, and resume.

Most of you people whining about this update would be 100x more pissed off if they released the update fully and all of you lost access to your clock because the update had a major bug. So just be patient and wait for the update. I would rather the update be fixed before it's pushed to my $200 fitness watch than sit here and complain that it's taking too long. 

[RRKPL]

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@Saigon1919 wrote:
I was one of the 5%. My watch has worked flawlessly since the update. I bought my Fitbit based on the original features and didn't know that they were planning the additional features. So I figure these as a bonus. I did a check on the accuracy last night at my local HS track. It was only 6 steps off from my count for one lap. On the low side. So I am really happy with my purchase. Ended up with more than expected. Thank you Fitbit

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Hi Saigon1919, I too love the update. As I mentioned, the only bug I noticed was reminders to move notification is kind of erattic. However I have the "Circuit" clock face that shows the hourly movement so all I have to do is just visually check to see how much I moved in the last hour. All I can say negitive is if there are bugs that have stoped the firmware propigation Fitbit might have informed the customers that received the new update about them.

[SanFit]

@SpaceToast
>>>I'd say stop harassing @AndrewFitbit and just be patient. This is a normal practice with software development.

Bugs are common in software develpment.

But hiding what is really happened is an unrespectful business practice. Misleading customers with confusing information should be condemned.

[racertempo]

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@Fands wrote:

"we appreciate your continued patience"????? well GEE THANKS! Fitbit needs to offer their CUSTOMERS (you remember us, the people who plunked down $200.00 plus for the Blaze last March and April's wonky *update*)  some compensation--like a freebie premium membership for a year or 2...(it costs them nothing and would promote patience).

good grief!  i have to go back to my open customer service ticket and tell them s o i can hear another version of the excuse.

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A freebie, for what?  They do not have to release this update at all.  The update itself is the ""freebie" to customers, is it costing you anything for all these new features?  Aside from the Argyle watch face, none of the things be added were ever advertised at the original Blaze release, so these additions ARE from listening to what the customer wants.

They had issues with the release, do you people want them to force out an update with bigs and glitches?  Wouldn't you rather they get it right before release.  Sure, I get that they said was going to be this week, but they are working on it.

[racertempo]

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@SanFit wrote:

@SpaceToast
>>>I'd say stop harassing @AndrewFitbit and just be patient. This is a normal practice with software development.

Bugs are common in software develpment.

But hiding what is really happened is an unrespectful business practice. Misleading customers with confusing information should be condemned.

---

Andrew is a moderator, you don't know if he is a developer or not.   Who said they are "hiding" anything.  What do you want, the specific codes and data that went bad?  Come on for pete sake, give it a rest, they are not mis-leading anyone.  They have said they encoutnered problems they are working to fix and will give an update when they know more.....WHAT the heck out of that is misleading?

People need to relax and understand that like my above post says, none of these items in the update are things that Fitbit had to do to this product.  They are doing it because they listened to the customers and are giving all of us a freeby.

[oBoy]

Something's very wrong.

I think Fitbit's having "government from the top down" issues. My father is a software developer. One of the many toils of his trade is that a lot of executives and authority figures in a company can't write a line of code, but have this rainbows and kittens conception that it's easy peesy, because it's just a computer program! You know, like Excel, or Word! WHY ARE YOU TAKING SO FREAKING LONG?!?!

Hey, news flash. Writing code is harder than basically almost any job you've ever done, and not only because the actual coding part is hard, mainly because nobody has any respect for software developers. And the main reason is that people think it's easy.

Each piece of code is a carefully interwoven piece of logic, into a coherrent shape that is (hopefully) functional. But upper managment has a schedule. Usually, instead of asking the developer how long they think it might take, they tell the developer how long it's going to take, because, ugh, you stupid lazy thing, if it's not finished by this time, you must have truly dozed off. No, don't try to tell me that you've been working your butt off to fix other people's bugs and that the features I'm asking for are both contradictory and to complex for this time frame, I would do this myself but I'm too busy crunching numbers (and I don't know what all of those little symbols mean), and by the way, why are we paying you this much? Isn't writing code like, you know, a spreadsheet?

So here's the situation at Fitbit. The Fitbit Blaze was released early this year, and, heck, it was pretty darn cool. Color display, interchangable bands, just what I wanted for the price tag that I had.

Then they released an update that added several new languages, and basicaly broke everything else. Everything. People have been complaining that even basic tracker functions like step count accuracy have been toasted, and the brightness sensor got all screwy, and, basically, a lot of stuff broke.

A good policy would have been to release a patch update as soon as possible.

I'm not sure whose decision it was, but they never did. I think it may have had to do with the new products that Fitbit was set to release, so developers got syphened away from the Blaze project to work on software for the other products. (Of course both the update and the products were announced at about the same time, so stuff was obviously happening, but it was not very smooth at all.)

And oh, yeah, people have been wanting more features too, like additional clock faces, and other notifications.

So sombody at Fitbit, and of course there's no telling who, although I'd personally love to blame everything on the manangers, decided that they'd fix stuff and make new stuff and put it in one, massive big ol' update in the fall.

Did they inform the public of this?

Heck to the no.

So it created the impression that Fitbit was simply stringing Blaze users along.

But here's where the government from the top down thing really comes into play. Upper managment decides that it'll be ready by September, 6th, let's say. The development team's like, "Wait! We need at least another week!" But shut up already developers! Nobody cares about your expert opinions! We'd rather just cover our ears and dictate stuff to you.

So September comes around, and the brave little development team, probably after a couple of downsizements due to the other projects, just scrapes in. However, there are some terrible, horrible, no good very bad bugs in the program, and it isn't ready to be released yet. How they wail. Their pleas are not heard by the machine, who promplty starts advertising the features that don't exist yet, as far as the customers are concerned. However, the development team is unable to release it at the time specified, so the update is billed for "sometime in September."

This looks really, really, unprofessional.

(Almost as bad is mispelling "unprofessional," but my spell-check is broken right now, so you'll just need to deal with that...) 

So they finally get the update presentable, 6 days behind schedule, (totally made up numbers, but whatever) and the update is announced to be released on the 12th. 

But guess what. 

It's still not ready.

Now we could argue all day over whose fault it is. To me, (and perhaps I'm biased) the symtoms point to a scenario of managment dictating to the developers when something needs to be done, regardless of whether it can be done by then. And no, I'm not making that scenario up, real developers struggle with this whole thing, to the point where there's actually been whole books written by famous developers about it, like Robert "Uncle Bob" Martin's The Clean Coder (actually, it's a good read even if you're not a developer), lamenting managment's busy-ness, and instructing developers to learn to say "no" when it's unreasonable.

So, here's what I see. I've been on my Blaze for almost 6 months now. I don't know if this lack of smoothness is echoing around other Fitbit problems, but if it is, either they fix it now and take over the world, or, I hate to hear myself say, Fitbit will shrink from existence in the next five years. Customers need to know that they aren't just being strung along. 

Oh yeah, and my least favorite part is the one where they started advertising  features on the Blaze that don't exist yet. That really really stinks.

Get with the program, Fitbit.

[SanFit]

@racertempo

Didn't you read the summary of @Miaka above about the information we got?

>>>Looks like they keep changing story. First they said there is no prob with update just with roll over.

>>>Then they say clock faces causes issues so they disabled it but update is continuing

>>>Now they are saying update is at halt till they fix the issue. And that only 5 percent has it now

>>>Pretty much sums it up

[SpaceToast]

You really do need to stop trolling the forum.

[SanFit]

@racertempo
>>>...none of these items in the update are things that Fitbit had to do to this product. They are doing it because they listened to the customers and are giving all of us a freeby.

FitBit included the Argyle clock face in their advertisement, and you still keep saying that this upgrade is a GIFT (the giver has no obligation to give, and the receiver has to say thank you). Why the customers have NO RIGHT to ask this clock face? How many months it has passed? How long we should be patient?

Who are you really?

[SanFit]

@SpaceToast
>>>You really do need to stop trolling the forum.

Who are you? What rights do you have? Are you a moderator?

[RRKPL]

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@SanFit wrote:

@racertempo
>>>...none of these items in the update are things that Fitbit had to do to this product. They are doing it because they listened to the customers and are giving all of us a freeby.

Lets get it straight. ' This update is no gift ', that's not how it works. This is the beginning of the Fall Christmas buying season. By updating the Blaze, Fitbit can base their advertising campaign around the new and improved Blaze. Anybody who thinks Fitbit is paying the developers to make nice little improvements to make the existing customer base happy is living on another planet!

[SpaceToast]

The same can be asked of you. 

[SanFit]

@SpaceToast
>>>The same can be asked of you.

NO. You are wrong. We are not the same. I never prevent anybody in expressing their views/ opinions/statements. Why don't you belive in freedom of speech? Do you think that fitBIT could solve this issue by shutting up customers' complaint?

[SteampunkMuppet]

@AndrewFitbit Thanks for keeping us posted.

[marc00s]

I've not seen anyone say this yet so I will, all functions in the update worked perfectly fine when it was accidentally rolled out to everyone until Fitbit decided to roll it back to the 5%

Perhaps the cause of the issue lies in the method used to implement this backward policy about who can and can't have it!?