Serial number

[Cubeyz]

Where can I find the serial number for my Blaze without the box?

[wmchapman]

You need the box Cubeyz, it is under the barcode on the label; without it you can find your original email shipping notice if you bought from the online store, if a brick and mortar - find the dated receipt and give the details, store, date, location etc when talking to customer service at link. (I see chat is open)

Hope everything is well with your Blaze 😉

[SunriseRun391]

Fitbit sets its customers up to be victims of theft by 1. not putting serial numbers on the bits so that lost or stolen ones can never be returned to their rightful owners, even if recovered by police (learned this when I went to file a police report) and 2. not making it possible to deactivate a lost or stolen device, allowing anyone to activate it as if it were their own.  My son's Blaze was stolen at a track meet - the watch band and charger were left behind.  Since the bit is tiny, it can easily be slipped into a sock or the pocket of a pair of track shorts.  There is no identifying information on it or in it.  Anyone can take it and create a new account and start using it. You have absolutely NO recourse. The most Fitbit will do is offer 25% off a new one. I'm not even tempted. It should be illegal to sell a $200.00 device without a serial number.  It is illegal in most states to sell an item from which the serial number was removed.  Ebay doesn't allow the sale of such items, but something that never had one is apparently fair game.  Go to Ebay and see how many Blazes are for sale without the original packaging (which is the only place you will find a serial number) and ask yourself how many were probably stolen. It boggles the mind that Fitbit has not addressed this issue.

[pierrotsc]

Interesting. I have owned a basis peak and now a philips watch. Both of these product had a serial number you could find under the about on the watch. Never thought that my fitbit did not have a serial number. Oh well. that is indeed strange.

[SunriseRun391]

Thank you for your reply.  I haven't investigated products other than Apple Watch, which also has a serial number and a way to disable it.  Hopefully, Fitbit will solve this problem.  

[Rich_Laue]

Fitbit does not use the serial number to identify the account it is connected to or the owner.

This is done through the Bluetooth MAC

[SunriseRun391]

I was referring to the actual Fitbit itself. They need to include one on the bits to facilitate recovery of those lost or stolen.

[Love79]

Your serial number ( which is the FCC ID) is located on the bottom of your fitbit watch box. Also, go to settings on your watch. Scroll down to Regulatory Info, tap on it. The U.S. FCC ID # will be there & if it is your watch it will match the FCC ID from the bottom of the watch box.

[Rich_Laue]

Lets look at an Fitbit FCC ID number it is compsed of a Grantee code of XRA  -  this is the FCC registered Company code for Fitbit

Then with Fitbits it is followed by a 5 digit product  -  in the case of the Blaze it is FB502

Blaze FCC ID code is XRA-FB502 and may be found on page 34 of the Fitbit Manual for the Blaze.

The FCC ID is not the serial number, but only the product number that only identifies the model of the device

Here is the FCC ID for the Alta HR sorry i don't have a Blaze Box

FCC ID = XRA-FB408 and may be found on page 28 of the Alta HR manual

The Serial Number

Is found to the right under that weird looking bar code. A lot of stores scan this bar code also durring a sale

Bluetooth MAC ID

This is a unique ID associated with your trackers Bluetooth radio and is sent to Fitbit during a sync This is the number Fitbit uses to identify the Account to send the Associated syncing data to.

I hope this clears up the subject of where can i find the serial number

Manuals

https://staticcs.fitbit.com/content/assets/help/manuals/manual_blaze_en_US.pdf

https://staticcs.fitbit.com/content/assets/help/manuals/manual_alta_hr_en_US.pdf

[bbarrera]

Yes, the FCC ID is the same on all Blaze. No point discussing it in the context of anti-theft.

There is no serial number imprinted on the Blaze. And while the Bluetooth MAC is unique, I don't see it on the watch or web dashboard. So practically speaking, that makes it impossible for a user or law enforcement to identify stolen property without the cooperation of Fitbit.

What is really needed is some type of anti-theft system, preventing a stolen Blaze from transferring to a new account. That would discourage thieves, because there is no market for used devices that can't be activated.

Fitbit needs to follow the lead of companies like Apple and provide the following in future devices like the Fitbit smartwatch under development:

- serial number easily located in phone app or web dashboard

- serial number imprinted on the case, to enable consumers and law enforcement to identify stolen property

- system to prevent tracker activation to a new account without consent of previous owner

[Rich_Laue]

Add your vote to https://community.fitbit.com/t5/Feature-Suggestions/Lost-or-Stolen-Fitbit-deactivation/idi-p/1815757

As for a serial number on the unit, I'm unable to find any request. 

Remember we can discuss this here all we want, but there is no guarantee that the developers will see this thread

[bbarrera]

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@Rich_Laue wrote:

Remember we can discuss this here all we want, but there is no guarantee that the developers will see this thread

---

1. There is no guarantee "the developers" will pay any attention

2. Product managers determine feature and are very capable and fully informed on the competition

3. If a suggestion becomes too popular, it runs the risk of disappearing from view just like "Integrate with iOS Health"

https://community.fitbit.com/t5/Feature-Suggestions/Integrate-with-iOS-Health/idi-p/319432

has disappeared from Top Voted suggestions despite having 2000 more votes than the current "top voted" suggestions:

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

In fact since hiding the iOS Health suggestion, its gone from 4000+ to 5000+ votes so I guess hiding it didn't work out.

Bottom line: product managers at Fitbit have their own priorities and determine the features that get implemented. (I've been a product manager at a high-tech company)

[Rich_Laue]

Yes i do agree the developers dont pay attention.

Thats why the Blaze did not get the Chrongraph face with its quick start stopwatch that will stay on untill the battery dies, along with both analog and digital readouts. The countdown timer, more watch faces on the Blaze and Charge 2. An Alta with heart rate, We won't mention reminders to move, the relax function on both the Charte 2 and the Blaze, A tracker that Fitbit gives their blessing to swim with. Just to name a few of the many requests that have made it into the latest trackers. 

https://community.fitbit.com/t5/Feature-Suggestions/idb-p/features/status-key/implemented

[Rich_Laue]

Yes i do agree the developers dont pay attention.

Thats why the Blaze did not get the Chrongraph face with its quick start stopwatch that will stay on untill the battery dies, along with both analog and digital readouts. The countdown timer, more watch faces on the Blaze and Charge 2. An Alta with heart rate, We won't mention reminders to move, the relax function on both the Charte 2 and the Blaze, A tracker that Fitbit gives their blessing to swim with. Just to name a few of the many requests that have made it into the latest trackers. 

https://community.fitbit.com/t5/Feature-Suggestions/idb-p/features/status-key/implemented

Now if they only paid attention...

[Scooby8199]

Was looking for S/N on my Blaze and didn't find it, as this string suggests. Updated my Blaze to 17.8.401.3 and now the regulatory screen gives an 11 digit serial which wasn't there before. I don't have the packaging to confirm but this appears to be the S/N as requested in this and other posts. Can someone confirm?

[Rich_Laue]

I see it, it is the digits after the word Serial #

[bbarrera]

---

@Rich_Laue wrote:

Yes i do agree the developers dont pay attention.

---

Good, glad we see eye-to-eye because those features are really baseline features that should have been in the first release 😉 Seriously. Bottom line - nobody knows why features get implemented except for the product manager responsible. I'll give you a few more plausible reasons, for competitive reasons to improve reviews and stop the repeated questions year after year from reviewers (reminder to move); to increase sales (Alta HR); because the product manager runs and realizes its missing (chronograph);  feedback from a focus group; and because too many trackers get returned for the same reason during 45 day money back guarantee period. The truth is there are a bunch of reasons things get implemented, and its good PR to mark a post in Feature Suggestion forum as implemented even if the community wasn't a factor in the decision process. Just like the #1 Top Voted suggestion is now hidden from the community - with 60+% more votes than #2 - Fitbit decided hiding #1 was 'worth it' despite the overwhelming support from the community (and since hiding in February 2017, its gone from 4000+ votes to 5000+ votes in 3 months). 

Now about the serial number - still need it on the case and a convenient way to locate it in app or web dashboard if your Blaze has been stolen. Boxes get tossed or lost. But that is setting the bar too low - we need some type of activation lock to discourage theft because it can't be used if stolen.

[Rich_Laue]

No @bbarrera we dont agree!

Didn't you read my post amd the sarcasm  where i metion 12 recent updates to fitbits that are the direct result of requests in the feature request site.

Want another one, the new Android dashbiard was highly requested by android users who felt left out because Apple got it first. Pitty it is probably the same users that dont like it.

OK this is not a good example so lets go with the ability to auto detect exercises.

Quick add of water from the dashboard, Quik add Food from the dashboard. In response Fitbit added a quick add for everything.

 How about those stars that splas across the dashboard when yoir goal has been meat, yup another developer response to a user request

Of course if i actually thought about it, and not just picked what came to mind first, I'm sure i could come up with a dozen more. 

[Rich_Laue]

Actually the moderators have said that not all requests will be honored it has a lot to do with tge direction Fitbit wants to head in.

 Question, there is one request for all bike miles to be converted to steps, people are very adamant about this being put in. We have another request where people want all steps removed from bike miles, people are just as adamant about having this request honored. How would you as a developer handle this since you want to honor both requests.

Adding the bike mile steps would be unfair to the fellow challangers, especially to the ones that insist on none walking activites should not add steps.

[bbarrera]

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@Rich_Laue wrote:

Actually the moderators have said that not all requests will be honored it has a lot to do with tge direction Fitbit wants to head in.

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@Rich_Laue Sure when the CEO gets sick of launching new Fitbit trackers and reading Internet reviews pointing out reminders are missing, again. So he lights a fire under the product manager's chair and it gets implemented because its the "direction Fitbit wants to head in." Then a Fitbit moderator marks it as implemented as its good PR for loyal users in the community, and you claim they listened. I'm certain that or a similar scenario has happened more than once. And I'm ok with that, even if it creates the impression they listened a teeny tiny portion of the 23 million active users, because we got a valuable feature no matter the reason. What troubles me is when Fitbit moderators deliberately hide the #1 voted feature suggestion. That should trouble everyone in the community.

Regarding steps and cycling, I've long stated that many of the those adamant for receiving steps is because they get a discount at work on health insurance if they achieve 10,000 steps/day. The problem is that "steps" isn't a health metric, its a Fitbit thing and oddly can be motivational yet leave people chasing the wrong goal. Government recommendations call for moderate cardio 150 min/week, and two full body strength training sessions per week. Nowhere have I seen studies that tie health benefits from "steps" and the pursuit of increasing step count.

Lets compare government health/activity guidelines of 150 min moderate cardio and strength training to my Monday 22 May 2017 stats email from Fitbit:

step focused - flawed incentive system

Only one tile - total active minutes - provides any real insight into how I'm doing towards improving health as per government guidelines. And its a relatively small tile, visionally hard to see among 5 other similar tiles. From that email it should be pretty obvious Fitbit is pushing me to "step" - biggest graphic is daily step goal followed by another large section devoted to my friends stepping.

Fitbit has created an flawed incentive system, based on steps, and got companies to buy into the flawed system and pass along the wrong incentives to employees. I can pace around my office on calls during the day and easily log 6000-8000 steps, and with other normal activities get over 10,000 steps a day and *none* of it was moderate or vigorous cardio. Did I get my health discount? Yes. Did it meet the government health/activity guidelines? No. Did those steps make a difference in achieving health benefits from physical activity? No.

Back to your question - how would I handle the biking step request "as a developer?" Developers are responsible for implementing, and its the product manager thats responsible for new features to increase competitiveness and sales. So as the developer I would raise this to the attention of the product manager during a weekly status meeting. I think you asked the wrong question 😉

As the product manager its important to understand why people are asking for a feature, understand root causes, determine if it aligns with my vision and strategy, and answer questions like "will it attract new customers and take market share from my competitors, open up new markets, help us close big corporate deals, or help drive repeat business?" Only then would I be in a position make a decision, relative to other features under consideration to be implemented by my team of developers that are busy working on other stuff like the next new Fitbit tracker.