New firmware - good and bad - Relax - Apple Breath rip off?

[honglong1976]

I updated my Fitbit Blaze and the relax app is such a blatant rip off of breath on the Apple Watch, even down to the vibrations. I don't know how Apple hasn't been in contact?

Love the ability to change the alarm on the watch. I think more tasks should be done on the watch without relying on the app so this is really positive!

Please allow the watch to function more without the app.

[ct-7567]

@honglong1976 If you think it's a rip off then why did you get the blaze? I personally really like the idea

[Rich_Laue]

@honglong1976 the vibrations were originally not on the Charge 2 but there was such a demand for them in the feature request forum that Fitbit added it at the users request. 

Actually I'm surprised Fitbit hasn't gone after Apple, My Charge 2 has had the relax function 2 months before Watch OS3 was released. This clearly makes it look like Apple ripped off Fitbit, but as I stated the vibrations came with the first update. 

[bbarrera]

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@Rich_Laue wrote:

Actually I'm surprised Fitbit hasn't gone after Apple, My Charge 2 has had the relax function 2 months before Watch OS3 was released. This clearly makes it look like Apple ripped off Fitbit, but as I stated the vibrations came with the first update. 

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@Rich_Laue That's funny, Apple publically demonstrated the feature and made it available to developers two months before Fitbit announced Charge 2. 

And if you want to talk about user feedback, why is the top voted feature  request (Integrate with iOS Health) hidden from Top voted view?

https://community.fitbit.com/t5/Feature-Suggestions/idb-p/features/tab/most-kudoed

there is such a demand for that feature that Fitbit decided to hide it?  And not implement it? Really?

[Rich_Laue]

And I had the Charge 2 a month before Fitbit started shipping them, and three months before I could by it locally. 

This was months before the September release of apples watchOS, and Fitbit was working on it many months before the official announcement. 

[bbarrera]

This is a ridiculous discussion, but I'll post one last time and then drop it. Watch was already available in 2015 for over a year, and mindfulness watch apps available in 2015. All over a year before Charge 2 was launched,  and similar timeline for watchOS 3 which of course had the feature developed well in advance of June public unveiling. 

It it really doesn't matter, or shall we dissect every new feature and compare to another vendors prior implementation? LOL. 

[AlejandraFitbit]

Hi all, I hope you are doing fine. 

I appreciate all of the feedback provided, keep in mind that Fitbit is always trying to improve the products that it has for you guys to be satisfied. I think that all of our features are great, if you want to see more improvements in the Fitbit family, feel free to visit our feature suggestions board.

Catch you later. 

[SpinSpinSugar69]

What I wish was that Fibit logged our relax sessions to the app with our heart rate. Or at least showed how well it was working.

[honglong1976]

Really?

June '16 Apple Watch Breath

http://appleinsider.com/articles/16/06/18/inside-watchos-3-new-breathe-app-for-apple-watch-reminds-y...

Aug '16 Fitbit Announce Relax

https://blog.fitbit.com/heres-why-youll-love-fitbits-new-guided-breathing-experience/

[honglong1976]

Agreed! Breath does log that in health. Relax doesn't log anything so seems a bit pointless. The vibration is not great either.

Obviously just a copy of the Apple Watch and along with the new watch faces copying the Apple rings system as well.

Apple is slowly eating into Fitbit sales which is why they have to copy. The only thing going for Fitbit is the battery life and sleep tracking (and price). Everything else the Apple Watch does much better.

I just wish Fitbit would dump all the tracker data to the app locally (if there is not data connection) If I go on holiday for 2 weeks with no wifi, I will only have 7 days of min by min data. Which sucks! Apple Watch copies it all to the app/phone or keeps it on the watch.

[bbarrera]

@honglong1976 Its odd that Fitbit doesn't log relax/breathing sessions. I've done sleep tracking on both Fitbit and AW, and didn't find any value in tracking sleep (plus I don't like wearing rings or watches to bed). I suspect Fitbit is investing majority of engineering into a new smartwatch, going forward I wouldn't expect any new features for the Blaze. Will be interesting to see the new Fitbit smartwatch, its going to be a hard sell against well AW multitasking, apps, credit card, and quick&easy charging.

[honglong1976]

Agreed!

I have an Apple Watch and it's far superior to the Blaze. Vibration, Apple Pay, apps, shows the weather on the display, etc.

I think Fitbit should stick to funky easy to use, well designed HR/Pedometers (like the Alta). Improve the social aspect and forgot competing against the Apple Watch. This will kill them off. The other option is competing against Garmin with a serious tracker.