Can we get an official answer on texting to siblings/minor accounts will work?

[shaklee3]

As you can see in many topics, almost every topic here is surprised that this doesn't work when communicating with friends/siblings. Can we get an official answer as to whether this is being worked on? It's an artificial limitation and doesn't provide any extra safety.

[Rymetime]

Gabb doesn't require a dedicated app to communicate though. So long as someone is added as a trusted number, you can text/call via your default phone apps. 

[shaklee3]

You're right, but I would reiterate something I said in another thread, which is that SMS is not reliable. So Gabb cannot guarantee reliability of a message actually arriving at your child's phone with a regular text. This feature is likely very important for parents, which is why Fitbit has an app. They can use RCS instead, but this is not supported by all phones (like iPhone).

[dakdaemon]

I would like to hear on any updates and ETAs on this issue. The issues are being raised in June and I have just bought the watch in September to find that my youngest cannot contact her older siblings. I have just signed up for an annual ACE pass too, which I see is considered not refundable, which all leaves a very sour taste.

If there was any ETA, or ability to opt in to the testing this would be be greatly appreciated.

[shaklee3]

I would also like to mention that I don't appreciate the responses to us making it sound like this is a complicated feature. They added a check to see if the account is a minor. Just remove that check. It doesn't require months of testing nor does it require hundreds of lines of code to change. It's a simple removal of a check on the server side. The app doesn't even need to update.

[Kodros]

Google is a large company.  It's easy to have issues between teams.  There could be something on the "Google Family" team that has to get implemented so that the "Fitbit" team can modify their code to allow the communication.  There could even been a third team in there somewhere.  

[shaklee3]

I'm an engineer and have worked at large companies. If this was a priority this could be done much faster than 3-4 months. It's the most requested feature for this watch and will continue to be until it's added. Something like the payment support was a feature that would take much longer to test between teams (even companies). 

[Kodros]

The payment feature is just Google Wallet for WearOS and was a feature that was planned before launch.  For all we know, the feature to add siblings is a feature they just started working on.  As an engineer you should know that there's plenty of times where the easy things aren't easy 😃  

[shaklee3]

We had confirmation at the beginning of summer that they were looking into adding this feature. We had later confirmation it would not be done when school started. I believe what you're saying in that Google is too bureaucratic to move fast on this, but the point still stands that this is not a difficult change. You can also tell this is all done on the server side because when you add a minor email account it pauses for 3 or so seconds while it checks the email. 

[Kodros]

What I'm saying is that you have no idea if it is a simple fix just like I have no idea if it's a hard fix.  We don't have the code in front of us.  I just know from experience that what people perceive to be simple fixes are not always simple.  

[Benjam1n]

FYI Fitbit Ace LTE devices have quarterly updates and this feature is coming in the very next update! Yay!

[Gene82]

Hi. I'm looking for an update as you said you're definitely working on this back in June. 

[Gene82]

Where was this confirmed? 

[Benjam1n]

Keep monitoring this forum for any updates. 

[Gene82]

FYI iPhone now supports RCS 

[FitbitElli]

Thanks for the continued interest here! The ability to message and call siblings within a Google Family group is coming in November. 

[Nyce_1]

Thank you! 

[golgi42]

I got a pop up in the Ace app today that said sibling and family texting is coming in November.

[Katherinedee]

I need to activate or manage my Fitbit account

[RiekoC]

Hello @Katherinedee 

Are you having problems with a Fitbit Ace LTE device or do you have a different Fitbit device?

[Gene82]

I got the update but it's not working. I don't see this feature. What happened?