The New Look Dashboard

[Territam]

I have only had my charge 3 since October last year and I love it and only ever take it off to charge it.  It was given to me by my 3 daughters for my birthday to encourage me to be more active and it worked wonders for me, I walk every day, go to zumba 4 times a week and swim when I can.  I am 67 years old and it took a while to learn how to use the app properly and I loved it as I could see at a glance how my day was going and could compare easily with my friends and family progress. BUT now that fitbit have changed everything it is horrible, everything has to be searched for and there is much less information.  I ABSOLUTELY HATE IT and from what I have seen so does the rest of the world.  What were you thinking of fitbit people? Why try to fix what is not broken? Give me back my old dashboard that I knew and understood and stop messing things around.  Why did you not consult with the normal everyday user to see what they might want instead of trying to show how clever you are and in the process really annoying the hell out of everyone.  LISTEN TO YOUR USERS BEFORE THEY ALL LEAVE AND GO ELSEWHERE.

[Sizzle59]

Please Change it back.    It changed automatically today and I HATE it!!  Please give me back the old app!!   What a down grade.  I hope FITBIT is reading all these comments.  PLEASE   So User Friendly before.  What are you thinking???

[DLA3880]

I absolutely HATE the look of this new version for the app.  The previous version was much nicer to look at and use, and we could move, remove, or add tiles as we wanted to.  I don't want the challenges taking up half the screen and right in my face, and I find it really annoying to have to scroll all the way to the end to log food and water entries.  The tile display was so much nicer on the previous version, and there was no need to change it. Not sure how anyone at Fitbit could consider this an improvement.  Since the update, devices are having trouble syncing as well.  I hope we can go back to the previous look, or at least give people an option to select which view they want.  Fitbit screwed up their desktop look a while back, but at least changed that back.  I hope they will do the same for this terrible update to the mobile app.   

[Bosco253]

@Carolxi  You asked "I do not understand why Fitbit would change things to what they think is better, when their customer base is saying the opposite?" You may be making the false assumption that Fitbit cares what you think. This is not the first time they have rolled out a change with absolutely no concern for whether their customers like it or not. Their disdain, however, seems to be mostly reserved for the elder segment of their users.

[Territam]

Well I hope that when they get older they get crapped on from a great height too 

[Irishflygirl]

I am sure that I am one of the older people in this group.  I don't know if there is another company that has a similar product but having to pay for a new watch etc. .may not be worth it.  There is an app named Noom but it is aimed more at weight loss.  It uses your phone to track your steps but I don't always have. my phone  with me. I doubt that they will change it back. 😖

[MovieGirl1011]

I agree wholeheartedly. Don't fix it if it ain't broke.  Cuz now it IS broke and needs to he fixed.

Not only is it hard on the eyes and no longer user-friendly, it takes multiple refreshes (like, more than 10) for the app to sync so i can see my daily progress.

PLEASE go back to the way it was. New isn't always better.

[Bosco253]

@Irishflygirl They most assuredly will not change it back. To me, this particular issue isn't that great, yet it seems like it is to some. This new look won't change. There is a history of even worse changes than this that generated more push-back from consumers. I wouldn't say our concerns fell on deaf ears, however. It was even worse than that. They heard our concerns, yet rejected them. 

[Irishflygirl]

They did send me a email asking if my problem was solved. I replied no but haven't heard back from them. I doubt I will hear anything else.  I did find a list of other trackers which started at 15 dollars for a watch. There is one that costs 54 dollars and the battery lasts a year. I don't know about the app or if it tracks everything the Fitbit does. Maybe it is time to look around.  Just a thought. 

[IKE3]

I hate it too!  Wish we could back to the look and functionality of the old dashboard!  Where are my splits??  I will definitely be looking for another option when my Charge 3 dies.  😭

[Irishflygirl]

As I mentioned in my first post on this subject I am not much of a techie
so most of you probably already know about what I just learned but I will
share anyway. I think the reason for the change is to get us to subscribe
to the new premium service. I just read their press release on this program
which was interesting. According to them with this new service we will get
all the sleep we need, get rid of salt and sugar, lose weight, eat healthy
and exercise better. Now don't get me wrong I am sure that parts of it
would help some people but if we are not interested we shouldn't be forced
to to use the new app or we shouldn't have to pay for the premium service.
The premium service is a way for them to make money on the app not just the
watches. Now that I understand the why I am sure we are stuck with the app.
This is just an FYI for those of you who didn't know about this.

[Territam]

Wow!! Talk about manipulation, Fitbit have obviously though this one out very carefully.  Well I for one refuse to fall in with in with their olans and will not subscribe to it.  I would rather suffer this new format than one one of their pawns.  Thank you for the insight 

[WebmistressMing]

I'm adding my voice here, too.

I have a chronic pain condition and disordered sleep--and have LOVED Fitbit's sleep tracking since my very first Fitbit.  I've owned at least 7 devices over the years, and am now on my second Charge 3.

Fitbit's sleep data has been CRUCIAL to my well-being for many years.  I use it to plan for times of low energy, and tell me when I need to nap or rest during the day.  I've hacked my routine and added almost an hour of sleep in the past year--and my old Fitbit was the partner that gave me the data to make these adjustments each day.

Do you know how DEMOTIVATING it is to rise from what is, for me, an EXCELLENT night of sleep--only to have that effort labeled, at best, FAIR?  

Worse, with the new dashboard, I no longer have the data specifics that allowed me to hack my routine for maximum well-being in the face of chronic pain and fatigue.

You could say I'm a very, very loyal customer:  and I am begging, asking and DEMANDING that Fitbit give me the option to return to the old dashboard.

It wasn't broke, kids.  But I guess Fitbit decided that they were giving us back too much of OUR data for free, and are trying to find a way to charge us for it.  That is the ONLY explanation I have for removal of functionality on this level.

Cynthia Ewer

So?  Fitbit?  Moderator?  Your customers are unhappy with you .....

[SWVsings]

I add my voice to everyone else’s.  This update is NOT an improvement. It made the app much much less user-friendly

-Challenges are practically impossible to initiate until 48 hours after all one’s previous ones are well and truly finished. I have ten challenges going at a time, and time is of the essence in starting them since my Fitbit friends are all over the world. Most of my challenges end on Friday night and now the update prevents me from initiating any new ones until Monday, after the new week has begun. 

-I want to be able to tell at a glance steps, miles, floors, and minutes.  I don’t want all the other stuff taking up valuable screen “real estate”, forcing me to scroll down past a bunch of less important stuff.  I tried editing the order of the things on screen, but cannot get the most crucial stuff back up to the top where it belongs. 

-Many women in my circle of friends are depending on the chance to interact with each other in private, and sometimes urgent matters of delicacy and weight loss, and this updated app really makes it difficult.

Why put obstacles in our paths, when we already have health obstacles we are trying to remedy by being Fitbitters? 

Others have mentioned ditching Fitbit altogether and trying something else.  There are cheaper ones out there to be sure, but I’m a loyal Fitbitter with 10,000 miles under my belt as of this summer, over seven years.  I have over 100+ friends around the world, and would really hate losing those connections with my particular Fitbit community.

Please oh please Fitbit! Let us revert back to the old version of the app? You could even do the cheap move of offering it for a one time only fee.

Color me unimpressed and exasperated with these changes. 

[Fyrfyter]

@KateFitbit, why not? Why are there no plans to offer the old dashboard? It’s just a user interface. A user interface that your users clearly want. You (meaning Fitbit) could easily lay it over whatever else you’ve done to the app that’s slowing it down and causing connectivity issues to, at least, assuage some of the issues that we are complaining about. Show us that Fitbit has the least semblance of concern for their users. Give us an explanation. Please. 

[Fyrfyter]

I posted this a short time ago but a moderator deleted it. Apparently you can’t ask questions in more than one place in these forums. They are very quick to manage our questions but not very quick to answer them. 

My post was:  

@KateFitbit, why not? Why are there no plans to offer the old dashboard? It’s just a user interface. A user interface that your users clearly want. You (meaning Fitbit) could easily lay it over whatever else you’ve done to the app that’s slowing it down and causing connectivity issues to, at least, assuage some of the issues that we are complaining about. Show us that Fitbit has the least semblance of concern for their users. Give us an explanation. Please. 

[Odyssey13]

Hi @Fyrfyter  your post is being merged into this thread where you already posted it. If you're not sure why a moderator edits, merges or removes a post, check out the Terms of Service, which we all agree to upon joining the forums. click to read terms

As for the speed of response from the Fitbit moderators, I'm sure they don't work round the clock.

[Territam]

Paragraph 18 seems to be the relevant one nicely slipped in amongst all the other bumph that few people study in detail.  Hey ho it won't stop me from voicing my opinion and I hope everyone else keeps on it too

[Fyrfyter]

Hi @Odyssey13 , do you work for Fitbit? Why are you messing with our questions? I assumed that the moderators with “Fitbit” in their handle do work for the company and, as representatives for them, might be able to answer our questions. I opened that thread because @KateFitbit closed the last one while users were still using it. You’re the 2nd person to close my new thread in one day. Very quick response to a forum “infraction”. Why can’t we have the same response to our concerns about the actual products and services that are being discussed here? Is this the wrong place to expect some customer service? 

[Odyssey13]

@Fyrfyter  I don't have the power to close a thread and can't answer for Fitbit.

Might be a good time for members to know which people posting on the forums are Moderators or Fitbit Employees.  click to learn how

There are also Fitbit Community Council members, but they are not employees of Fitbit, merely members, like everyone else, who keep track of their steps.  click to learn more about CC

[suubee]

The positive outcome of the new app is I don't look at it very often. I used to be obsessed with it. This one is unsexy, obnoxious, ugly icon-ed, annoying (like that sleep score - how demotivating), and demanding (it tells me what to do). If it was a spouse, I'd divorce it. But folks, let remember, this is basically its a 100+ dollar thingy to put on the wrist to give some basic somewhat accurate (or inaccurate) information about exercise and sleep metrics. That's it.