Fitbit Ace with GPS Tracker

[candan629]

 I have been Fitbit members for a few years now and we love it! We are highly considering getting a couple Fitbit Ace’s for our kids. The only thing that would make them better would be a hidden GPS tracker, so we could track their location! It’s a scary world out there and this feature would give parents the sense of reassuring.

[parent]

Have you ever thought of creating a fitbit that kids could wear either on their wrists or as a necklace, or attach to a pocket, something that the primary reason for it would be to check their location. The device should have real time GPS tracking, a clock, and the steps feature. That way parents could keep tabs on where their kids are, going to and from school, out on field trips or out with their friends. The Surge which is the only product you offer with GPS and it is too large for a child to wear.  Can you not incorporate GPS into the Flex, One or Zip. Maybe create one called "Track" . Parents want something small that can be attached anywhere and isn't too bulky, having a Fitbit with a battery that last up to 7 days would be ideal.

[DerrickS]

@parent This is a great idea, but in order to use Fitbit's services, users must be at least 13 years old. For more details, click here to see our Terms of Service.

Thanks for sharing your idea with us!

[parent]

@DerrickS
With technology being more present today than ever before, with kids learning and using ipads and other technology as early as 2 years old. Why would you not develop a product that would be purchased by a parent who is over the 13 year old age limit you think is required to use a Fitbit, and allow them to place that device on their child. i don't understand your policy of a 13 year old user, since a Fitbit device requires very little to no input on a daily basis. Once the device is registered and powered on ...... you wear it, and it records your data, so how it is that this wouldn't work. The benefit of this product is it is small and can be attached to the wrist, ankle, or placed in a bag, pocket or anywhere else you can think.

Parent

Date: Sun, 18 Oct 2015 11:43:07 -0700
From: **personal info removed**
To: **personal info removed**
Subject: DerrickFitbit mentioned you in Fitbit Community



Re: GPS tracking for Kids - Status changed to: Declined (Fitbit Community Subscription Update)



To reply to this forum post, click here. Do not reply directly to this email.


Hi parent,

DerrickFitbit (Moderator) posted a new comment in Re: GPS tracking for Kids - Status changed to: Declined on 10-18-2015 11:43:






Re: GPS tracking for Kids - Status changed to: Declined




@parent This is a great idea, but in order to use Fitbit's services, users must be at least 13 years old. For more details, click here to see our Terms of Service.

Thanks for sharing your idea with us!


Reply
| Accept as Solution










Fitbit Community sent this message to **personal info removed**.


You are receiving this email because you were @mentioned and the message matches your subscription to a topic.


To control which emails we send you please go to,
manage your subscription & notification settings
or unsubscribe.

[Rich_Laue]

The 13 year is in response to limitations put in by the USA government.. Under 13 requires a lot more protects toon of their data. 

[MaginB]

That’s an interesting idea and could be useful, thanks for sharing this suggestion.

[Ashay815]

I 100% agree. I would get both my kids the Ace if there was GPS. They now use the Gizmo for that. 

[iMalek]

I want to track my kids live location from my phone. Please add GPS feature in Fitbit Kids

Yesterday only incident happened with my friend, her daughter (7 years) forgot to get off from school bus and then reached last stop. Luckily some lady found her alone and she had phone number and called parents. It was heck of an hour for them.

Fitbit is a great product and this feature should be there for fitbit kids.

Thanks

[LanuzaFitbit]

Thanks for sharing your idea @iMalek.

Let's see what other users have to say about it.

[dalvazquez]

I recently purchased GPS trackers for my kids. I know that they would love to have the ACE and it helps me keep them moving. So if you add a location tracker where I can see in the app their last location like Life360, I'm totally buying it, and I know for a fact that many other parents will buy into it as well. 

Acceptance Criteria:

1. As a parent, I want to create a geolocation for the school, home, practice, tutorials, friend's house, family house, grocery store, park and customized. (meaning I want out of the box preferences and new ones I can create). 
2. When my child leaves a circle I want to receive a notification (I can set that up) when they have left or arrived. 
3. When the tracker loses signal or is low on battery I want to get a notification. 
4. I want to add guests who can see the location and activity but not be involved in my account so that when I'm traveling the sitter can still see the data without accessing my account. 
   1. I can set extra people to receive the notifications during x period of time. 
5. I want to send them free-form text messages such as: Call Mom! Call Dad! Call ##########! Come home! 
6. If for the MVP you cannot pull off the GPS tracker then I suggest integrating with Life360. I wouldn't mind that at all. 

[Familyfriendly]

I'm so excited to see a family account finally Because my daughter is wanting one so bad. I was hoping that you could have came out with one that you can tracker her where abouts to keep an eye on her and also maybe adding different fitbits that can be added to the family account. If you could come out with a gps locator Fitbit combined with the regular abilites that would be amazing. Thanks😁

[tealflower59447]

My wee dudes bday tomorrow..... since I got my new versa hes been begging for a fitbit but sadly this is where I won't spend money on one for him due to no inbuilt gps. Fitbit could have had something great if they had thought about the saftey aspect also with creating a childrens watch.....

I'll either wait to see what happens or find an alternative which will suck as I was looking forward to using the family account for him 

[chjona]

Our kids have Fitbits, but now with the need for a wearable watch for gps tracking, our kids don't want to wear two watches. It would be great to have a Fitbit device that has all the current features for fitness tracking, but also allows using the built-in GPS for tracking and monitoring our kids' locations in real-time. This is especially helpful for when our kids are out bike riding, biking to school, etc. Even better if there was an option for timeline view, to see child's location, routes, etc. Thanks!

[JohnsonH]

Yes! I created a very similar request in the threads here for "live location tracking" =D 🙂

[Hillel]

I SUGGEST ADDING A UTILITY ON THE FAMMILY APP TO IDENTIFY WHERE THE KIDS ARE WHO WEAR THE ACE WATCH

[YojanaFitbit]

Hi @Hillel, thanks for explaining why you would like to have this option. I've moved it into a similar suggestion which has a lot of votes. As the more votes and comments an idea has the more visibility and momentum it gains. You can learn more about how Fitbit decides what suggestions get released in our FAQs.

[tres74]

(post removed)

[Hillel]

Well I think Fitbit should be responsible to create the technology to
protect the kids through a validation process .
If they don't do it then some one else will

[tres74]

I have a Fitbit geared towards the adults that has the ability for GPS/sync to be enabled all the time. The problem is, aside from it running the battery down within hours as opposed to days, I also end up with a red sore lump underneath the display, where my Fitbit is placed on the top of my wrist. (Feel free to look up that thread on here too, I wasn't the only one.)

That lump didn't go away until I disabled the gps/sync-constantly function. Unfortunately, there's sometimes a price for this technology. I'm not trying to rain on your parade, but the reality is that could be the reason they haven't implemented the use of this on kids' Fitbits too. After all, there is an age requirement for those.  

That said, there have been many cases where although Fitbit hasn't been used primarily as a tracking device for whereabouts, that it has assisted law enforcement. Based on this, I would guess that Fitbit already has the technology you speak of, but more strictly at the level of law enforcement or higher-ups utilizing the information for their purposes. 

https://www.runnersworld.com/news/a22724853/mollie-tibbetts-disappearance-fitbit-data/

[NoLongerWearer]

I highly recommend Fitbit add a location tracker to their Fitbit Ace. As one other parent commented this could be invaluable with kids who go missing. But on a more practical level, my 8 year old lost her Fitbit at school, two weeks after receiving it for Christmas and we have not been able to locate it. We've downloaded multiple 3rd party apps attempting to find it with no luck. It was devastating for our child to lose her Fitbit, and I've been a bit pissed there wasn't a simple solution through the extensive app software that is required for the set up of the darn thing in the first place. A very unsatisfied customer because $100 might as well be flushed down the toilet!

[AlexandraFitbit]

Hello @NoLongerWearer  ! Thanks for sharing this suggestion, I moved it to this similar post so you can add your vote to it. Please keep sharing your ideas with us!

[Trishfed]

I agree and am surprised that it doesn't have GPS feature

Please add this to the kids ACE

[YojanaFitbit]

Hi everyone thanks for sharing this suggestion. This is being discussed although I do not have a firm commitment or timeline at the moment. Do continue to vote for this feature suggestion whilst it’s under consideration. Please note that if something is under consideration and chosen for development, it can be a while until it's released or until I have any news to share. Please watch this space for any updates! Thanks for your patience.

[Hillel]

I suggest a hidden tracker too. we have to unde re stand the down side fully. would be happy to see more i formation

[MaikePH]

It would be great if there would be an GPS function in the ace 2 so that you can locate your children! 

[LuciaFitbit]

Hi @MaikePH , thanks for taking the time to share your feedback with us. This feature suggestion already exists so I’ve moved your post here. remember to add your vote.