What happened to Premium?

[HiramJim2]

A few years ago I had a Charge HR+ and a Premium subscription.  For a couple of reasons I left Fitbit and bought a Garmin tracker (VivioActive HR) .   Yesterday I splurged and bought an Ionic.   Partly because it looked like Fitbit solved some issues I had (GPS, waterproofing...) but also I just simply like Fitbit much more than Garmin in terms of dashboard and data presentation.   Yeah, Fitbit has a better website and presents data which just 'clicks' with my mental model.   Garmin didn't.   And so it was less effective to me as I ... didn't care as much and wasn't engaged as much in the experience and so tracked food less dedicatedly and worked out less. 

Anyway.   So now I have the Ionic and like having my dashboard again.  But where is "Premium"?  As said I partly returned to get Premium because it was that type of data that helped me make better choices!!!

From another thread here I saw Fitbit has closed Premium ?!?!?!  True?!   If so - **ahem**!  I am not sure I would have returned to Fitbit!   Well, Best Buy will accept returns for a few more days 😞

[LZeeW · Accepted solution]

@HiramJim2  You are correct that you can not get a new, or reactivate your old, subscription to Premium.  The disappearance is only temporary.  Fitbit is re-vamping Premium into Fitbit Coach

  I hope this helps guide your decision.

[HiramJim2]

Thanks for the reply!  I don't know much about coach but i definitely want access to the premium data.   I used the cohort information to encourage and inspire myself.  Like I'd look at how much exercise other old, fat guys would do and say, "Hey!  Ican do as much as my peers - or better!)

[skongable]

Having fought with this issue for over a week, I can confirm Fitbit Premium is going away and being replaced by Fitbit Coach.  However, I have found Fitbit Coach to not be a great replacement.  It is overly complex and provides a bunch of functionality that is not needed compared to the Fitbit Premium service.

[theselkie]

Having now had this same problem I'd like to clarify to people that fitbit coach and fitbit premium have absolutely nothing in common and that almost none of the fitbit premium features are available in coach.  For example: there is not tracking of data, no benchmarks and no "trainer" feature, which was the feature that I found most important.   It's incredibly misleading to present these programs as equivalent in any away. 

[skongable]

Low and behold, I entered new credit card information into the Premium section and Premium is back and I have been using it.  Fitbit would not refund my Coach payment because it clearly says non-refundable in spite of me showing them an email that said Coach was the Premium replacement.

Some of the worst customer service I have experienced dealing with this.

[AlejandraFitbit]

Great to see you around @skongable and @theselkie.

As mentioned Fitbit Coach and Fitbit Premium are two different things. For more information about it, you can take a look at the following articles:

• About Fitbit Coach
• How does Fitbit Coach affect my Fitstar or Fitbit Premium subscription?
• How do I purchase, manage, or cancel my Fitbit Coach Premium subscription?

If you need anything else, let me know. 

[walterd00]

It appears that with the shutdown of Premium, we no longer have the ability to obtain things like calcualted Sleep Percentages which were available with Premium and do not seem to be available in Coach.  Is that correct?

[SilviaFitbit]

A warm welcome to the Community @walterd00! Yeah, I believe there's a little confusion between Fitbit Premium and Fitbit Coach and I'll be happy to clarify it. Fitbit Coach isn't replacing the Fitbit Premium, those are two different services with Premium you used to receive reports based on your Fitbit data. 

Fitbit Coach is total different service as it's a personal trainer app, this will give you workout sessions based on how much you would like to exercise. You can learn more about it by checking About Fitbit Coach. 

Hope this helps! 

[walterd00]

Jayco2 - I am trying to understand what happened to Fitbit Premium and the calculated values, like % Sleep, which it offered.  I live in the US and was told that Fitbit Premium was no longer available and had been replaced by Fitbit Coach.  I don't see any similarity, and am trying to understand.  Apparently, so are a lot of other people.  Maybe someone from Fitbit can clarify the situation.  Is Fitbit Premium still available?  If not, are the calculations available anywhere?

[Jayco2]

Hi walterd00, In case there is some confusion, my original reply was directed to SilviaFitbit (not you). The layout of hierarchy of posts and replies in this forum isn't entirely obvious so I just wanted to clarify that I had replied to SilviaFitbit in her reply to you.  While she has at least stated that Coach and Premium are separate offerings she hasn't answered what will happen to Premium reports in future and why Fitbit continue to discuss them in the same breath - I continue to get emails from Fitbit about Coach in relation to my Premium subscription!

[AlejandraFitbit]

Hello all, I hope you are doing great.

I would like to know if you have checked my previous post? If you haven't, I recommend taking a look at it, at the second article I provided, there you will be able to see the answers to the inquiries you have.

See you around. 

[Fit-to-Be]

I signed up for Fitbit Coach/Premium and all I can see is coach stuff.  I don't see anything related to Premium.  It's also on a separate site from this site.

I am so disappointed in FITBIT.  They could have sent us emails letting the premium users know we would not be able to renew.  This really stinks.

Update: I liked the comparison features on Premium as well.  I also liked to be able to see what a week's worth of food accounted for fat, protein, carbs, etc.  I really miss that.  I also liked the weight and BMI graph.  I really want this back.  Not interested in the Coach program.  Paid for it thinking I was getting both and don't see anything there to do with Premium.  Don't know why they call it Fitbit Coach and Premium.

Totally agree with you, and I paid for the whole year thinking it was combining the two programs.

[SilviaFitbit]

Hey there @Fit-to-Be! I apologize for the delay in my reply. 

Your feedback is appreciated. Fitbit Coach and Fitbit Premium in the Dashboard are two different programs. Sorry to hear that you paid for the whole year thinking you were getting Fitbit Premium in your Dashboard. 

You may want to check this article to learn more about what you can do with Fitbit Coach. 

I'll be around if you need further assistance. 

[Seattlerunner]

As a current Fitbit Coach and Fitbit Premium subscriber, I am planning to keep both for the foreseeable future.  While I am moderate user of both, for the price they charge I feel it is a good deal and gives me a bunch of the personalized insights I want.  My Premium subscription is up for renewal in about a month and was told by helpdesk support that while they are not accepting new subscribers, I can continue to renew as an existing one.  I'm a bit worried that by not taking on new members that it is only a matter of time until Fitbit pulls the plug for Premium for existing subscribers.  My hope is that their product and development team is behind the scenes working on a new set of offerings/services which will somehow pull in the existing premium subscribers. They should also target subscribers who dropped their Premium (on purpose or otherwise) to rejoin by reconnecting them to their historical data (assuming they didn't discard).      

With the fitness wearable market maturing to the degree where it is becoming difficult to standout from the competition, the path to growth for companies like Fitbit is through the services and ecosystem they offer their community.  Keeping my fingers crossed!  

[SilviaFitbit]

A warm welcome to the Community @Seattlerunner. Thanks for taking the time to share this with the Community users. 

Fitbit appreciates that you continue being a Premium user and Fitbit Coach subscriber. I don't have any information about what are the plans for Fitbit Premium but any update about it, will be posted in the Fitbit Blog. 

I was checking our Feature Suggestion board and I found this one: Bring back summary reports. I will pay for this feature. Those are reviewed by our team and the status will change based in the Fitbit's plans. 

I'll be around if you need further assistance. 😀

[JcFx]

Removal of Fitbit Trainer and cohort statistics (which the OP was actually talking about) is the last straw. I've been a customer through Flex, Charge and now Ionic. I'll move now to another tracker. Typical myopic Fitbit behaviour.

I was given one day of notice that my premium account needed renewal (because the card attached to it had expired) - and that day a public holiday here in the UK. Even though I logged in within one day, my Premium account had already been deleted, and I am unable to reactivate it (despite the email notice suggesting that I can).

"Support" then glibly told me I should move to Fitbit Coach.

[Fit-to-Be]

I did move to Coach.  What a joke.  Doesn't have any of the information support in Premium.  I was never even given an email that it was ending.  My card had not expired.

[Colinm39]

@Fit-to-BeDefinitely gone... Sadly I used it since 2011, still gathering my data via export, but miss the reports that Premium gave us.

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@Fit-to-Be wrote:

I did move to Coach.  What a joke.  Doesn't have any of the information support in Premium.  I was never even given an email that it was ending.  My card had not expired.

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[Colinm39]

@JcFx  Depending on your age Coach is useless for us Seniors..

I have subscribed to this site for exercises for Seniors..

Also vote for this link if a Senior