Paying with Charge 6 user experience

[tompabes]

Hi everyone,

It seems that to pay with the Charge 6 you have to:

1. press the button to light the display
2. swipe down once
3. tap on the Google Wallet button
4. touch again when the "Touch to unlock" message appears (why??? Didn't I just touch the Google Wallet button? If you want to make sure that the transaction has been initiated by the user, wouldn't that be enough?)
5. enter a 4-digit code by swiping up and down for each digit

Am I missing something? If this is actually how it is implemented, it's completely useless as I cannot imagine anyone fiddling with the tracker trying to insert the correct PIN code for 30 seconds while the cashier is watching...

It's much quicker to pick up the phone, unlock it with your fingerprint and you're ready to pay. Even using the real card is quicker...

Is this really the way it's designed to work?

[tompabes]

Ok, I did some research and that's actually the user experience... you have to activate Device Lock (probably the rationale is that, if you lose the tracker, you don't want anyone to be able to pay with it) and enter the code whenever you haven't made any payments for 24 hours.

This is absurd... whoever finds the tracker can still make payments for 24 hours. But, at the same time, they knew that the way to enter the code was highly inefficient, so they couldn't ask for it every time. So basically, they didn't really solve the problem but they made the user experience so bad that the funcionality is literally useless.

Why didn't they find a better method of entering the code? For example, a set of swipes like the sequence in Android? Or a series of taps?

Compare to how you pay with the Apple Watch: you don't have any code to enter. If you lose your AW or it is stolen, you can use the app on your phone to mark your watch as Lost and this blocks payments from the Apple Watch. Was that too difficult to implement? We're talking about Google... yet, sometimes, it looks like Fitbit is still the startup it was 10 years ago.

[Bebopkorsakoff]

The pin code was absolutely atrocious to type correctly. So I set it to 0000. Now I simply frantically tap the screen and I can pay

[somenameorother]

To pay, just double press the button 

The code is only required if you haven’t paid within 24 hrs OR you have taken the device off your wrist

[Edbett]

Agreed, entering PIN is almost impossible, hoping for a software fix.  As you did I thought of using 0000 and may still do so, but I haven't checked to see if phone pin changes also to 0000 or stays at my regular PIN, or if the phone and Fitbit version have two separate PINS, has anyone checked??

[Ij80]

Thank you. Your comment s very useful

[FerretBomb]

I mean... I usually input the PIN while I'm standing in line waiting for the person in front of me to finish paying. It takes about five seconds once you get used to it. That way it's ready to go when it's my turn, and I can just tap my watch on the reader. Just takes a little forethought, instead of browsing the magazines in the rack or being tempted by the impulse candy.

Personally I'd like the ability to manually re-lock it, or set it to lock itself after one transaction without needing to remove it, for added security.

[Rich_Laue]

After the watch has been off the arm, your tracker wants proof that the watch is on your arm, and not the arm of a stranger. 

Ramen if the watch has not been off the arm, there is a timeout. Once this timeout period has a fed, a password is required. It is this way on all trackers. 

[Sydneygirl11]

I had same idea! Easier than my versa 3 where it locks multiple times a day