Blaze Notifications Information Post

[EmersonFitbit]

Blaze can provide Call, Text, and Calendar notifications so that you can stay connected! 

This post will provide instructions on how to setup your alerts so that you can see who's texting you, the content of the messages, who's calling, and what your calendar has on deck for you. For a detailed overview of alerts for Blaze, please see this help page. 

Setup Steps: 

1. Make sure that your mobile device is compatible with our notifications feature by visiting http://www.fitbit.com/devices. 
2. On your mobile device, make sure Bluetooth is enabled, and make sure your device is nearby! Note that you'll only receive notifications on your tracker when your mobile device is within this radius. 
3. Open the Fitbit app on your mobile device and tap your tracker tile at the top of your mobile dashboard.
4. Tap your tracker tile a second time, tap Notifications, and then turn on call notifications.
5. To verify that set up was successful, look at the list of Bluetooth-connected devices on your mobile device. Your tracker name should appear.

Using Alerts:

You can easily see all of your alerts by swiping up from the home screen. Here, you'll see previous incoming calls, text messages for the day, and calendar alerts as well. You may delete these alerts either individually or all at once.

Notes: 

• For Android users, please ensure that you've turned notification access on in your settings and enabled each notification in the Fitbit App. Please also ensure that message preview is toggled on in your phone's settings, as this should help populate the message content.
• iOS users should allow reception of text notifications in their Notification Center settings, in addition to the workflow for alerts in the Fitbit app for iOS.
• Calendar notifications use the native calendar app in iOS, and the native or select 3^rd party apps on Android.
• Windows Phones don't support alerts at this time.
• Fitbit trackers currently don't support emojis. Notifications containing emojis will show a blank square, instead of the emoji that was sent.
• Text messages won't show up if the message app is open on your phone.
• When using Message+, your Fitbit tracker will show a notification that looks something like this: (Contact Name – 1 New Message). This is because when messages are received in Message+, they're stored that way in the notifications center on Android.
• If you receive more than one text message in succession from the same person, your tracker may group the messages together as "2 New Messages" or "3 New Messages" instead of showing a preview of the message text.

[SunsetRunner]

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@RGriffin wrote:
So here is the deal. Everyone knows that the notifications do not work as advertised. I love the device and what it does for tracking and how it serves as a terrific watch with the fitness functionality I'm looking for.

However...

ATTENTION FITBIT: I spent $200 on a device that does not do what you said it would. You not only released a flawed device, you have yet to really tell us how you plan to deal with the problem or when a patch will be released. As of today, I have no plans to ever own another of your devices. That may change depending on how you respond to the community that is practically begging for a response from you. Right now, I feel that you don't respect your loyal customers enough to a) apologize for the issue, b) tell us that you are working on the problem, and c) fix it.

You may not even be listening, which is entirely possible, and indicative of an even bigger problem.

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+1 +1 +1

[SunsetRunner]

Several of us have this problem. not connect blaze because the connection is rejected. several messages have been sent to customer service but no solution was provided. It is incomprehensible for a watch at this price.

[martis]

I contacted customer support yesterday and finally got my Blaze ronkathy6950@verizon.net sync, but again last night it stopped syncing. I repeated all the steps I had to do in the morning without any luck. This morning it synced again. Very INCONSISTENT and frustrating.

[martis]

I contacted customer support and was walked through the process of getting it to sync, but, again last night it stopped syncing. I repeated all the steps I had to do in the morning without any luck. This morning it synced on its own again. Very INCONSISTENT and frustrating.

[maflanny]

I have had my Blaze for a few weeks now and everything is set up correctly. In fact, I have been receiving notifications on my Blaze up until two days agao when it just stopped. I triple checked your list and everything is still set up the way it should be. Any thoughts? I no longer get text or call notifications like I had been before. It just says "no notifications, all caught up" when I swipe up on my home screen. @EmersonFitbit

[nlmux]

Unfortunately, I am having the same problem of my Blaze inconsistently receiving notifications. It worked great up until a few days ago (as others have said) and now it's hit or miss as to whether it is connected and receiving notifications. Multiple times during the day I have had to reconnect it to Bluetooth, and that also is hit or miss as far as what combination of procedures works (restarting phone, rebooting Blaze, re-pairing devices, reconnecting, etc.--it's a lottery as to which combination will work each time). I spend more time calling my phone to see whether I get the alert than I do enjoying the benefit of the device. I love this thing when it's working, but am wondering whether I need to cut my losses (have purchased three bands, as well) and return it.

[SunsetRunner]

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@nlmux wrote:

Unfortunately, I am having the same problem of my Blaze inconsistently receiving notifications. It worked great up until a few days ago (as others have said) and now it's hit or miss as to whether it is connected and receiving notifications. Multiple times during the day I have had to reconnect it to Bluetooth, and that also is hit or miss as far as what combination of procedures works (restarting phone, rebooting Blaze, re-pairing devices, reconnecting, etc.--it's a lottery as to which combination will work each time). I spend more time calling my phone to see whether I get the alert than I do enjoying the benefit of the device. I love this thing when it's working, but am wondering whether I need to cut my losses (have purchased three bands, as well) and return it.

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I find that many people are bored with these Bluetooth connection problems and notifications. I think we should collect all messages in this forum so that each of us send them to the customer service Fitbit to reflect this real problem.

[EmersonFitbit]

Thanks everyone for adding to the conversation regarding notifications. Admittedly, I haven't seen this particular painpoint on my own Blaze, so I'd like to ask/clarify a few things before moving forward: 

• I would hazard a guess and assume that many/most of these issues are related to Android phones. Please check, if you haven't already, that your phone is on the compatible device list.
• If the above is true, and you are experiencing inconsistencies, please check in with the Android App forum as well. 
• Please also confirm that you've troubleshooted appropriately. There's an insanely comprehensively alert troubleshooting under "Android Mobile Device" in this help article.

I look forward to hearing your responses, everyone!

[ScrapBandit]

I think we would all like some answers/action from Fitbit rather than continious pointing to this forum to get our answers. Is Fitbit going to make this good? We all agree that the price tag was pretty hefty for what we got in return. Fitbit needed to be more upfront of which phones are incompatible with the Blaze. They also should have had a quality check done before shipping these out. We all wanted these devices, now we just need them to work properly and for the intended purposes. Yes, we want to get our text and call notifications. That was the whole idea of buying this,  Syning the devices should be a 1-2-3 step, not a several hour process of trying to figure it all out and then having to reach out to a community rather than an actual tech support team of Fitbit. No offense to anyone who has helped out on here. I just think that for the price, a little customer service/support would be in order here. Please Fitbit, help us out here. We, your customers made you who you are...

[maflanny]

Hi All! For clarification, I have an Apple iPhone 5s. I reviewed everything once again and from the quickview screen if you swipe down where you would normally get to music there is a setting change where you can turn your notifications off or on. I guess mine accidentally got switched to off! I turned it back on and everything is working great!

[nlmux]

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@EmersonFitbit wrote:

Thanks everyone for adding to the conversation regarding notifications. Admittedly, I haven't seen this particular painpoint on my own Blaze, so I'd like to ask/clarify a few things before moving forward: 

• I would hazard a guess and assume that many/most of these issues are related to Android phones. Please check, if you haven't already, that your phone is on the compatible device list.
• If the above is true, and you are experiencing inconsistencies, please check in with the Android App forum as well. 
• Please also confirm that you've troubleshooted appropriately. There's an insanely comprehensively alert troubleshooting under "Android Mobile Device" in this help article.

I look forward to hearing your responses, everyone!

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You are correct that I have an Android phone, the Samsung S7. I checked and it is not currently on the list of supported devices, no doubt because it is so new. I found the Android App Forum unable to provide any more insight into the problem. The troubleshooting article does not cover anything that I have not already set/re-set many times.

My phone not yet being on the list of supported devices does not automatically preclude the Blaze from working as it should, since it WAS working as it should until just the past couple of days (other than having to restart my phone and reset my Blaze each morning--from there they would stay connected all day). When it is connected it works great--have taken it on runs using connected GPS, both starting the activity from the app and from the Blaze itself to test out voice cues, have successfully used the music controls, and have received text notifications during these activities. So when it stays connected it works just as it should. However, I can at this time not depend on it to be a reliable device. I feel almost exuberant when I receive a text or a phone call notification, and frustrated/disappointed when I hear my phone signal a text but I do not receive it on the Blaze because the connection has been dropped.

I have now added "painpoint" to my Blaze vocabulary, unfortunately.

[EmersonFitbit]

Ahh, I understand. Thanks for clarifying @nlmux. 

I agree that since earlier models of the S family are supported devices that assuming the newer models are supported is intuitive. However, their omission from the list of devices simply comes down to Fitbit not having optimized the experience for that model; some features of the device may function properly, but we don't have an acceptable level of confidence that ALL features will work as advertised (you can select one of the phones from the list and see which features work consistently). Once we have such confidence, you can rest assured that we'll add to the list!

We hear you, and are consistently working on expanding that list of devices. Keep checking back with us to see if there's an update. 

[martis]

I totally agree...before purchasing the Blaze, the promotional literature should have warned Android phone users of incompatibility issues. Once the Blaze has been purchased, it is too late to let us know that we may not have access to all features. For the price we paid, this is inexcusable. I find that I am constantly having to make sure my Charge's battery is full so I don't lose out on steps, exercise, calories in and out, etc. Knowing by now the level of problems users have encountered, I would have expected these compatibility issues to have been resolved. NO MORE EXCUSES OR BLAME! Please solve this problem.

[Chiefrock]

Having problems getting Calendar notifications on my Nexus 6, text and phone calls come through without any problems. Does anyone have a clue what my problem could be?

[SunsetRunner]

Can not pair " Blaze bluetooth " with Huawei P8 . This smartphone is yet in the list of compatible phone

[LDabreau]

I ended up having my calendar reminders come over as SMS so I get a text
now.

Lisa Dabreau

[ScrapBandit]

try going into your phone settings and enable preview.

[ScrapBandit]

I read previously on here that that problem is your message app and not your tracker.

[BeckiBoo]

I would love to have the fitbit work more like my smart watch. I would like to only need 1 device. My smartwatch shows me facebook, messenger and email notifications. I can also have pre-created quick responses to text messsages. I also like how my smartwatch can make my phone ring when it is missing but, to get better notifications would be great. 

[BrendaCW]

I have a Samsung 6 and have been trying for hours to set the txt notifications.. following all the threads for turn on, turn off, reboot etc.  For Android S6 go into settings, under "more" scroll down to "default messaging app" and tap..pick the top "messages" and you can test by sending a txt to yourself.  It worked for me, hope it works for you 🙂