Fitbit's Plans For Future Options?

[Nicotine_Enhanc]

Number of questions for fit bit after using the charge 5 for ~several weeks. Impressive piece of kit with lots of potential:

1. Is fit bit planning to track HRV in real time (not just during sleep)? Notifications of stress levels by HRV would be very good to tie what causes unwanted stress in day to day life (even incompatible foods for example). Does the charge 5 have the architecture to do this on device without connecting to the app?

2. Is the bluetooth EMF still emmitted at night when wearing during sleep? Is there an indicator for this? What is the connection protocol? Is it optimised for battery life? Ergo, switching on and off depending upon usage requirements? If so, how can we decrease these emmissions?

3. Is there a way to manually reduce EMF (bluetooth manual off, force manual pairing, flight mode etc...)?

4. What is the age cohort breakdown for fit bit use currently and does it vary based on device?

5. Has fit bit received any data as to whether the ECG app has been useful to people? And what are people finding out with it? If the heart is in a non-sinus rhythm, normally people can feel this surely? More options using the HRV analysis may be more useful for the fit bit client base (generally healthy individuals that are interested in fitness and stress levels).

6. Is there a way to invest in fit bit and which countries/universities has the research base come from?

7. Why is the subscription price different depending which country the client is in?

8. Why is the ECG not avaliable to clients in every country?

Appreciated

Pete

[DramaQueenDiva · Accepted solution]

Hi @Nicotine_Enhanc,

Usually Fitbit doesn't announce these things until they're closer to releasing the features.  You can, however, go to the "Feature Suggestions" board and suggest these features there.

[Nicotine_Enhanc]

So suggesting stuff is supposed to help us?  What are the stats on suggestions vs reality with fit bit.  It seems like these forums that companies like this put up are used to generate ideas and never really implement much of it.  Some of it is not viable due to the hardware I guess.  It is up to them anyway. 

Anyone suggesting ideas though, don't expect implementation any time soon unless it suits them I guess.  They don't answer questions very often I see... only the easy ones ha ha ha.

[Rich_Laue]

There have been many ideas implemented @Nicotine_Enhanc however your asking these questions for Fitbit users to answer. One of the latest is showing the BT connection on the watch. This status symbol also was followed by a lot of confusion. 

I'll attempt to answer a few of your questions

1: HRV looks at the changes in time between the heart beats. This requires a very consistent reading of the heart rate, something an optical scanner, flopping around the wrist, probably is not up to task. 

2: Why worry only about BT EMF if your tracker is turned on, you are exposed to EMF. If you are near any device with electricity running through it, you are exposed to EMF. Your tracker's BT is mostly acting like a radio listening for a specific request from your phone.

3: How can a user decrease this. Use a faraday cage by wrapping the unit in aluminum foil. 

4: I've seen these charts on the Internet  

5: Within days of release I saw posts that yes the ECG app had enough info for their doctor. In the past Fitbit data has been used to replace and save time avoiding longer medical tests(once in my local hospital), proved a spouse was cheating, proved that that the spouse did the killing. Detected heart irregularities, even was enough for users to suspect they have COVID, or monitor their recovery. 

6: You could purchase stock. 

7: As Users I can't say, maybe it has to do with the exchange rate of currency. 

8: ECG can not be released in a country until their regulatory agency gives approval. For the USA it is the FDA

[Nicotine_Enhanc]

Thanks Rich, great answers. It seems no tech support here from fitbit right? Community members have to do their job for free ha ha ha. Companies used to pay guinea pigs like us, not the other way around! 😮

It is a bit silly that the ECG can't be released without gov approval but explains why its not available when I travel. Good to hear people are finding it useful anyway. But for the average user HRV would be more useful I'm sure.

For HRV, I find it hard to believe really that it can't be measured accurately enough. Just tighten the device surely. I was surprised that when it is loose it can measure HR really. They are advertising HRV with the inspire line pictured. Charge 5 should easily have this option. It's less complex than an ECG for goodness sake 😂

[DramaQueenDiva]

There is a Customer Service line, not to mention a chat where you can talk to a Fitbit representative, if that's what you chose to do. They're available 24/7 via the chat. You can find out how to contact them via the "Help" link at the bottom of the page.

And if you're curious, these forums are basically for user-to-user support.

[Nicotine_Enhanc]

Ahh, I see. So the users are more knowledgeable than the manufacturers, fast bug finding, paying gunea pigs ha ha ha 🤔😂

[Nicotine_Enhanc]

Ah... on the EMF. It is a spectrum. There is a difference in damage of EMF depending how close and what frequency and strength the source is. The sun is a source fir example. Radar technicians for example have to have their mercury fillings replaced becasue they dissolve and fall out. When they dissolve, where does the mercury go?  There are regulations for phones for example.  Maybe blutooth is less dangerous(?).

Either way, its not looking good to have anything emitting close to your body all the time.  Samsung states a 20cm distance should be maintained all the time to avoid stuff like bone density losses (on their newer safer phones, older ones, who knows). Here's a good study on hip asymmetries in mineralisation caused by keeping a phone on one side:

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21415640/

On the wrist, at least it is a less vulnerable place, but where is it when we sleep? Our heads? Both of them ha ha ha 😂