Fitbit charge accessibility. Is the Device able to be operated directly by the Fitbit Application

[Tiresias]

Hello. I am visually impaired and have been thinking of getting a Fitbit for sometime now. The device I am interested in would be either the charge five or charge for. I use a screen reader on my smart phone for accessibility and know that the Fitbit devices themselves are not accessible.  I am curious to know if the Fitbit device itself can be run directly through the smart phone application. Can you start or end a work out etc. I know that a number of the other fitness trackers such as the Fitbit sense are limited in accessibility by way of having a voice assistant, but I am not interested in getting a actual smart Watch  so much as a tracker that tracks the basics such as pulse, blood oxygen, stress, etc. I would also take any recommendations on minimalist fitness trackers that do not use screens out right. I know of the Whoop strap and Aura  ring, but they’re a little bit pricey for my interests. Thanks for any information that can be provided.

[Odyssey13]

Hi @Tiresias  there is another visually impaired member on the forums @Podunk who might be able to help you more with your concerns.

@Podunk , just mentioning your name here because I've seen your posts.

[Podunk]

Good evening Hall, as you know I am a blind Fitbit user with a charge for and an iPhone I use the Apple voiceover app is my screen reader. I was born with a degenerative eye disease retinitis pigmentosa in my vision has deteriorated reiterated to the point where I can no longer see the screen on my iPhone and just light and dark. I am dictating this so it might be a challenge to read but I hope you can interpret my intent.

When I am walking in order to keep up with distance, steps and heart rate I open the Fitbit app and use my thumb to swipe back-and-forth to the different values I am interested in. So I don’t bother the people around me I wear bone induction ear phones by aftershocks that way I can hear the Fitbit app and also hear what is going on around me.

The Fitbit software is not written with concern for the blind and reading disabled users. The fact that you have some site and are able to use a video magnifier Will allow you to get more information from the screens and is available to me as a blind user with very little vision.

There are a number of annoying things about the Fitbit app and I have brought them up in the community to make them aware of what I have found. If you do a search for Podunk you should be able to find threads where I have commented on some of the software deficiencies. Like O2 sat after clicking on sleep time and going to the first screen clicking on the date that I am interested in and then looking at the next screen where there is greater detail you will then be able to swipe down to find the O2 saturation I am told there is a graph there and that information is available to sighted people but not to the blind

Sent from my iPhone Time in sleep stages is currently an issue being addressed by the Fitbit developers end it is spoken of in many threads within the community.

When you click on distance you’ll find that the seven day values are done and hold numbers that the values in the graphs are rounded to two decimal points and sometimes in the graph the values around it one decimal point and voiceover reads it as a date. History which is time after the seven day period is rounded to one decimal point and is never displayed as a date.




Being unable to read the screen I do a lot of swiping to get from one point to the next and find that the developers have put in a number of unnecessary swipes in order to get the information. If you have some say it might not be the annoyance that it is to me

Fitbit is the only tractor I have ever used. And as frustrated as I have been with it I at least know my way around and have the basic information available to me that I was looking for.

On the number of occasions I have asked the customer care personnel at Fitbit if there is someone there who is trained in helping people with accessibility issues. Each time I have asked I have been told that there is no one and it baffles me. I had an issue and brought it up with the Google accessibility support team where I was told they would get back in touch with me in a week and it has been more than a week probably more than a month and still no response.


All my life I have learned to adapt to the limitations brought on by my eyesight. No matter what decision you make I’m sure it will be the right one and I hope that the information I have provided gives you some insight into the Fitbit application.

[Podunk]

Good morning, I just read an article from the Google android advisor stating that if that will be migrating its users over to Google. I do not know what this means and the only information I can really give you it said it will be sometime in 2023 through 2025. I would hope that the new software which I e they are probably developing right now will address all of our concerns and include upgrades to performance and accuracy. I hope that the new software will be friendlier to those who are blind and reading disabled. That the new software will be better for those physically challenged and hearing challenged.

this may explain why there are so many issues with the current versions of the Fitbit application software. My guess is that they are just patching it for now in hopes that when the migration starts there will be new software written with the Fitbit client in mind.

[Podunk]

Today my Fitbit steps streak reset to four days. Approximately 40 days ago my step Street reset to four days. My actual step streak is 714 days!!!!!

I am going to cross my fingers and hope that when the Fitbit accounts are migrated to the Google platform all of the issues related to the Fitbit trackers and software will be resolved.

this week I updated to the newest version of the Fitbit software version 3.67 and this is one of the problems that was not addressed in the six so don’t be surprised if your Fitbit steps streak resets again for four days