Customizable vibration length and patterns for notifications

[sweatypalms]

I often miss my notifications because I'm actively concentrating on something.  Even when the vibrations are set to strong.  I am most concerned about reminders to move.

1. Option to make reminders to move more like an alarm that could be "snoozed" or vibrate longer so it could be noticed when busy (highest priority)
2. I would like the option to add custom vibrate patterns 
3. Set the vibrate patterns to particular apps/alerts 

Moderator edit: Clarified subject and updated label

[Danny-A]

Two issues with Charge 2 model.  One is vibration - too weak.  If this is a hardware issue that Fitbit is impossible to fix, Fitbit can change the software at least to extend the length of the initial vibration and reminder vibration (now 9 minutes after the first one).  If we rely on the vibration to wake you up to work, 9 minutes later would make us late.  The second is the message display.  It lasts for may be 2 seconds or less.  During winter time when we have a thick jacket on, by the time you find your watch beneath the sleeve of winter coat, the display is already gone.  Fitbit should amend the software to repeat the display until we touch a button.

[jbender68]

just wanted to add, I got a new software push for the Iconic, notifications did not change at all, no improvement

[mattwever]

On the Versa, haptic feedback (vibrations) are limited to "Normal" or "Strong". It would be nice to have an "Off" setting, as well as other settings such as "Buzz" vs "Pulse" vs "Tap" vs "Double Buzz" vs "Secret Knock". Ie, you can change what sort of vibration you get in case the default notification feedback is hard to recognize, or undesirable. In theory, this idea could be expanded to allow different feedback assignments based on notification type (ie text messages could be a short buzz whereas emails could be a double buzz, etc). 

[Grudge116]

Hello.
Was wondering if there was a way to edit the text notifications for the fitbit charge 2? I know how to turn them off and on, I wanted to know if I can set it up to just recieve one message per text. I use my phone for work, so sometimes I'll get up to 8 texts before I'm able to check them. My fitbit won't just notify me those 8 times, when text #4 comes in it vibrates 4 times. 2 minutes later text #6 and there goes my fitbit vibrating 6 times. It gets annoying. Please make a way that it vibrates only once with a new text. Just showing that one text, the info, and then gone. Another text comes in it just shows that text and then gone because it has notified me already so no use to repeat itself. Thank you 🙂

[Estertjie]

I had the Fitbit Charge 2 and the alerts were more intense. I now have the Ionic and the I have the vibration on strong, yet I still don’t feel it sometimes. The intensity should be much stronger and one should have the option to let it vibrate a number of times as well. Very sad about that feature that does not work as well as Charge 2. ☹️

[FrancisGagne]

would it be possible to have notifications without the annoying vibration

Thanks

[BowieL]

I own the Fitbit Versa. Please let it be possible to receive the notifications on my Versa but have the option to turn off the vibrations. I get a lot of notifications and it is very annoying that the Versa vibrates with every notification.

[SunsetRunner]

FitBit has acquired Pebble some years ago. For example Pebble Time has this kind of feature.

You can choose vibrations for:

- Notifications

- Incoming callls

- Alarms

- System

You can either disable vibration or change vibration "style".

For me it's important that I won't miss any calls. So I have disabed vibration for Notifications (Whatsapp, SMS, etc.) because those are not so time critical and enabled vibration for the rest of above mentioned options.

I'm participant of multiple Whatsapp group conversations (I believe so are all of you 🙂 ). I have already disabled sounds for the groups on my iPhone but enabled notifications to come thru because I like to know what are my friend talking about. Group conversations are not so time critical from my point of view. So I want only notifiation without my phone disturbing me all the time with sounds.

For me it's is a deal breaker to be able to disable vibration but at the same time receive notifiations to your watch.

At the moment I'm still waiting to get this feature available before replacing my Pebble Time with FitBit product.

[jbender68]

installed latest firmware on my Iconic

32.10.15

when getting texts the vibration is still the same, no improvements this release 😞

still too short of vibration to be noticeable, was hoping would be fixed

[Estertjie]

The notification to move on the Ionic would not even wake up an ant or get an ant to move. I had the Charge HR and I could feel the vibration properly. Now I miss out on my steps because I don’t feel the Ionic vibration. 

PLEASE FITBIT - UPDATE AND ADD A BEEP OR DO SOMETHING. it is an awesome watch but I am not recommending it due to that stupid timid feature. Lets get moving. PLEASE!!!!

[jbender68]

installed 32.10.20 on my Iconic, still no new options to address week vibrations on incoming text messages, maybe next time...

[Pedmom66]

I am so surprised that if I don’t want any vibrations I also can’t have any notifications. Very very disappointing. Please consider correcting this on the next update! I am very sensitive to the vibrations and hate them,  but I want to  see text messages and phone calls on my Versa  when the phone is not reachable. Thank you. 

[blazzed]

It would be great to have custom vibration feature for supported apps so that i don't have to look at my watch for every notification. Off course i would like to see all/most notifications on my watch but some needs urgent attention like say a text from my family or a dear one, may be a finance alert or just a news update. A custom vibration for a specific caller or a caller group would be nice too but to start with, i think app notifications would be a great one. 

There's lot of things to prioritize in a day at work or off work to be more productive and efficient so why not prioritize the notifications. 

[LuciaFitbit]

Hi everyone, thanks for sharing this suggestion. We're always striving to enhance Fitbit products and services, and we appreciate all of the input we receive from our customers. We do not currently have plans to release this feature. You can learn more about how Fitbit decides what suggestions get released in our FAQs. For now, we will leave this suggestion open for votes (and closed to comments) so that we can continue to track community demand over time. Thanks for taking the time to share your feedback with us and we will let you know if anything changes.

[seokbin]

With Android Oreo, I can set notification importance of each apps notification category. So, some notification only shows on the top bar of the phone, and some notification shows up with sound. Also, I can set my messaging app to turn off alert but only show the notification on the top bar of the phone.

With my Android Wear watch, it distinguish the difference. And it rings or vibrate or mute according to notification setting from the application. However, my Fitbit Versa always vibrate even if the phone's notification is without sound.

I wish you can update Versa notification to follow the application's notification setting.

[jbender68]

LuciaFitbit,

Licia, that is disappointing, but thanks for being honest, maybe someday Fitbit will change their mind and decide this really is a issue worth addressing

[Estertjie]

Thanks for the update. Biggest issue to me is not notifications - it is the
fact that you cannot even feel the vibaration to do your 250 steps. At
least just give the vibration some vooma so that we get full use out of our
watches. We want to move. Come on guys. Surely that is not too difficult.
Your smaller versions had strong vibration, ehy can’t the big one have even
more vooma?
--
Ester Odendaal m: 0833817595 e: esjaryn4@gmail.com Sent from Gmail Mobile

[JonathanKamens]

I regularly miss notifications because the Ionic's vibration is too quick and soft -- even at it's "strong" setting -- and only happens once. For example, when I'm on my PS4 and the controller is vibrating along with the game, there's no way I'm going to notice one brief vibration on my wrist. At a minimum there needs to be a way to configure the watch to vibrate several times spread out over several seconds. A second nice to have option would be continuous vibration until the user looks at the watch or dismisses the notification on the phone. And a third nice to have option would be periodic "hey, you've got a notification you haven't looked at" vibrations until the user looks at the watch or dismisses the notification on the phone.

[GarySanDiego]

I would also like the ability to customize notification vibrations so that the reminder to move vibration is different than the email notification which could be different than the incoming text notification.  For the notification to move, it would be great if the fitbit could vibrate until you moved (or was customizable to give such an option).  Once configured, that one would be hard to miss.

[GarySanDiego]

If the notifications could be configured to appear on the screen automatically, that would be helpful.  Currently, when notified, I have to look at my fitbit, realize the display is off, then click a button to see the notification.  Just looking at the fitbit should be enough...even if the notice were only viewable for 5 seconds or so, that would be helpful.  The notification vibration is enough to know that there is something to look at...why can't it immediately show me the message?

[JonathanKamens]

If the notifications could be configured to appear on the screen automatically, that would be helpful.

I'm not sure what you're getting at here. With my Ionic, notification do appear on the screen automatically. After my watch vibrates for a notification, if I tilt the watch face toward my face to cause it to turn on, the notification is waiting there for me.

[GarySanDiego]

After reading the behavior you get with your Ionic, I found my Versa works similarly sometimes.  At other times the display doesn't come on when I tilt the display toward my face.  If I want to see the notification, I need to press a button for the display to come on.

My suggestion is therefore to have a customization for the notification arrival to turn on the display rather that a wrist twist.

[GarySanDiego]

In playing with the Versa more, I now see that moving the display from on its side to flat consistently turns on the display.

Therefore, all is well with the current behavior.  The problem was in me being a new user!

Thanks for letting me know about your Ionic behavior so I now know better what to expect.

[LostANDfound]

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@Dbartlin wrote:

Would be nice to be able to change length and strength of vibrations for notifications. Or simply to receive notifications without a vibration but still have them appear on the Fitbit. Either way, vibrations should have levels of strength so one can choose how noticeable or how subtle they want it to be for each notification type.

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[HedgieTwiggles]

Hi! My suggestion would be to have options for the vibration alerts for the Charge 3. For example, setting a double buzz for incoming texts, and really long buzzes for calls.

Thanks!

Moderator edit: Updated subject for clarity.