Allow Ace users to add friends with parent's control

[Mmac15]

Ace users should be allowed to add friends outside of the family feature so that they can challenge their friends without the parents having to get involved. It could be a parent control to allow the addition of the friends. Once the parent confirms than the child should be able to challenge that friend. 

Moderator Edition: Updated title for clarity

[AlexandraFitbit]

Nice suggestion, thanks for sharing @Mmac15. We look forward to hearing what other community members think.

[ActiveVegMama]

I absolutely vote for this!   Or maybe there could be a setting to allow for this if we choose?  My kids are definitely old enough to have their own friends, but I don't want them tracking calorie loss.  So I got them the kids' fitbits, but I didn't realize they couldn't challenge friends on their own until we had opened the packages.  And they're not returnable to the store. 

[Genelehoux]

On the ACE website, it says that Kids can stay motivated by challenging others to step competitions. How are they suppose to do that if the friend feature is not active? Please upgrade the app to allow for it. I consider it is a false claim

[KimboJones344]

My son would really like to be able to add friends himself... this is rather disappointing. I would love it if i could approve friends that he can have on his account so he can challenge his friends to challenges 

[3BeersKen]

I agree, it is crazy that friends can not be added to the kids account.  I agree that parents should have to approve the friends or even if I could add them to my childs account would be fine.

[Tlhart14]

I am shocked that the Ace I bought for my daughter does not have a way to add friends/family! That was the only reason I bought it for her! She wanted to compete against me, her grandmother, and brother!  And where are the awards?!?! Really, this product does not represent what makes Fitbit fun!! I should’ve bought her a Garmon and she would have a cuter wristband skin and it can go in the water! Update!!!

[SandyK913]

Yes! My son has been begging for the Ace. We finally got it, and he is going to be disappointed that he can’t add friends. I did invite him to a challenge with some of my (adult) family members, but I don’t want to add them to our “family” on FitBit because they don’t live in my household. 

[LoisRankin]

I will be selling the aAce if these features do not get added soon... the whole reason for getting this is so she can challenge and compete against her friends. Also if not able to add a profile pic for child security why not make it available for an avatar to be placed as the profile pic? 

For a kid friendly fitness tracker it’s not actually kid friendly. I would not have bought it if this information was available in the descriptions.... far too restrictive when there’s no real need 

[rnrndsioux]

Please allow ACE kids to have their own friends, granted permission by the parent.

[sarah-71]

Parents could authorise friends using a password, then kids could set up their own challenges etc with legitimate friends that were safe. This def needs addressing.

[KiwiMack]

Totally agree. My boys would love to be able to see how their cousins are doing, but unless they're under the same family account, they can't. They're stuck comparing themselves to just boring old Mum and Dad, and they're starting to lose interest after have their Fitbits for just a month. I really thought that this feature would be part of the the Ace account - I'm surprised it's not.

[Gracejr]

I absolutely agree. Given the phrasing during setup, it sounded like I would be able to authorize friends for my son's new Ace account. To find out he can not interact with anyone outside our immediate household is disappointing to say the least. He was looking forward to being able to challenge friends at school as well as extended family.  Now he's stuck with just mom. 

I understand there are privacy concerns around children activity online, so it makes sense they can't access the community or add friends themselves  However, I see no reason my son can't request a friend or family member, or they request him, which would then require my approval. 

[KaraB13]

If I were the creators of the fitbit ace, I'd be ashamed of myself. They've turned what was a highly anticipated product - and should've been a fantastic solution for parents with children who want to be active - into a virtually useless gadget. I bought one for my niece and one for my nephew (different families) to allow them to compete with us in challenges. Unfortunately we can't "friend" them, and can only be added as "guardians" for one family or the other. With the fitbit ace, parents already have the child profile attached to theirs. There is absolutely NO reason why the parent shouldn't have the ability to allow/invite others to be their child's friend. Challenges are 90% of the reason why the kids in my life wanted a fitbit. They felt left out without one... and they still do despite having a fitbit of their own. Very disappointing.

[Megs778]

I would also LOVE to see this feature added for Ace. Our family is spread out nationwide and it would be great for aunts/uncles and cousins to be a part of my kids challenges and friends list. For that matter I’d love for my older daughter (who doesn’t have a kids account bc she’s old enough for a regular account) to have the ability to friend and challenge her younger sister.

I noticed someone from Fitbit responded to the initial idea, but wonder if they’ve continued to monitor and/or started making plans to make this a feature. Seems to me that this is a universal experience and complaint about the Ace bands & kid profiles and should be given true consideration with swift action to resolve the problem. Just my 2 cents...

[Matibueno]

You should add a feature where a kid can have his own friends but they have to be approved by a Guardian!!

[amandajanea]

Just spent absolutely ages trying to work out how to add friends on my sons new Ace, what a complete disappointment for him.... I am honestly considering taking it back tomorrow and buying the Garmin vívofit 2, at least he can swim with it. Surely it’s straightforward to allow guardians to add or approve friends. He can only challenge me, how dull. Come on guys, who approved this to go to market like this???!! Please update asap.

[Bandora]

We need this feature.  Right now my 2 sons can't chat and motivate each other through the app because one Ace is linked to my Fitbit account and the other one is linked to their my husband's account.  I would love for them to be able to friend each other.

[Dawnwithanawn]

Agreed!

kids should be able to add friends to their accounts. If i had known they couldn’t i would have gone with a different product for my son. We just bought it so I’m considering returning it for a different brand all together. It doesn’t make much sense for him being that he wanted it to feel more a part of a community. I mean .. he can’t even have his own picture .. whether a real picture or avatar or otherwise. We are definitely bummed with this product.

[Megs778]

I still wonder if anyone from Fitbit is reviewing this regularly or if we’re all just commenting on a suggestion they’ve forgotten. There are obviously multiple complaints of the same kind and requests for the same feature addition.

Fitbit - please let us know if you’re reading these comments and taking them under true consideration. 

[EngleMeg]

DEFINITELY need this feature added! My son just got a FitBit Ace for his birthday from his grandma.  The whole idea was that they would be able to challenge each other.  So bummed that they can't.  Some sort of guardian approved friend list NEEDS to be added!

[dlustig]

I am a long time fitbit user that handed a super excited kid an ace and watched her face go glum when she learned that she could not connect with friends and family. adding family members as guardians is unwieldy. the parental approval of friends feature should be baked into the product. we bought an expensive tracker (using a kid's allowance) with a limited a quirky feature set.

[Jurassica]

My daughter and I are disappointed that we cannot connect with friends to complete challenges. That is one of the big reasons her aunt bought her an Ace, and I agree with others who say the marketing was misleading.  I appreciate the intention to protect the privacy of children, but this is easily remedied with parental controls. Please fix this as soon as possible! 

[DerekMW]

Just got the Ace for my son delivered. Very disappointing that he can not connect with his friends. It will likely being going back to Best Buy today. 

[ptrostle]

Wow, this is very disappointing!  I previously let me son use my old Flex because I had upgraded to the Alta.  I had issues with it no longer holding charge, which is why I upgraded.  It finally died while he was using it.  Today we purchased the Ace for him and got the family account set up per instructions and he wanted to add his best friend and now seeing we cannot.  Again very disappointing!  Please get this feature corrected!  Even if it is set up so the parent/guardian must approve the child's friend.

[LFerrell]

Absolutely misleading... Bought the Ace for my son and set it up and gave it to him.  He can't even be friends with his Grandma?!!? I'm guessing the problem hasn't been fixed, and won't be in any timely fashion?