Fitbit Coach will become part of Fitbit Premium

[FitbitCommunity]

To the Fitbit Coach community,

Fitbit Coach is now becoming part of Fitbit Premium. Fitbit remains committed to providing all the tools you need to live a healthier, more active lifestyle. To give you more choices for working out as well as the range of additional features check out Fitbit Premium. With the Fitbit Coach workout content now in the Fitbit app, and to allow you to use one app going forward, we’ll shut down the Coach mobile app, Coach website and Coach app on Fitbit smartwatches on July 30, 2021. 

If you’re currently paying for a Coach membership, here’s what you can expect:

• Annual members— you’ll soon receive a prorated refund of the remainder of your Coach membership

• Monthly members— you won’t incur any further monthly membership charges

As an exclusive offer to support Coach members through this transition, if you’re not already a Fitbit Premium member, you can try Fitbit Premium for a full year at no additional cost if you sign up by July 30, 2021. 

To start your Premium trial, make sure you download the Fitbit app and log into your account before you get started (you must use the same email address for Fitbit Coach and the Fitbit app to take advantage of this offer). Then, open the Coach app on your phone and tap the message at the top of the screen to start your Premium trial.

Have questions? Click here for more information.

Thank you for being a loyal Coach member, and we look forward to continuing to support your health and fitness goals. 

[SunsetRunner]

I am curious as to whether or not my $50/yr will be grandfathered in, or if I will have to pay $80/yr for the same features.

[CollinM]

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@SunsetRunner wrote:

I am curious as to whether or not my $50/yr will be grandfathered in, or if I will have to pay $80/yr for the same features.

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No, it won't. You have to pay the full Fitbit Premium price. It's why I said that they broke this promise:

Q: Will current Coach users be required to pay more for access to Premium?

A: No. Current Fitbit Coach subscribers will automatically get access to Fitbit Premium features as soon as Premium is available in their country or language. Their subscription price will remain the same as it is today, and for as long as they choose to keep their subscription active

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A promise they still have up on this very support forum.

And this change will not include the Fitbit Coach functionality. They admitted this after users started asking questions about personalised workouts. So you won't be getting the same functionality after they close Coach. You only get some of the static videos that were available through Coach.

[Maria527]

So the Premium Video workouts no longer have built in Fitbit music like they did on Fitbit Coach, nor can you play your own music?

When it was in Fitbit Coach, the workout video played music with the appropriate beats per minute to keep me motivated and walking at the correct pace. When I listen to Coach Adrian's Progressive walk on Fitbit Premium, there is silence between his instructions.  I feel absolutely no motivation to walk in silence.  What happened to the music? I can find no place to turn on any kind of motivational music to go with the walking videos I liked.  I'd rather cancel Fitbit premium and just listen to Youtube workouts rather that walk/run in complete silence.

Am I missing a setting someplace?

[smh09]

I'm really unhappy with the shutting down of the coach app. I enjoy the customization of the workouts based on my abilities and feedback. Is this something that will be incorporated into the new process? Additionally, are you going to make it so the fitbit app can be downloaded onto laptops/mac books so I'm not limited to using my phone for workouts?

[amichetti]

Sorry Matthew but please pass on to the app developers and content leads that this is pretty crap. You're taking away the personalized workouts, which is for some of us the only reason we began using Fitbit Coach (previously, FitStar) at all. I feel like this is a bait-and-switch. NOT COOL. Not worth paying for Premium without these. I will be joining Freeletics or something similar. 

As I said in my thread to Fitbit Support on Twitter: 

With Fitbit Coach being discontinued, I would like to know what Fitbit is putting in its place. So far, I cannot see much use for the 200+ workouts that exist on the app. I appreciate that Fitbit is offering me a year of Premium as some kind of apology for taking away Fitbit Coach, but so far even with this Premium subscription I'm not seeing any use for it if workouts are not personalized. What is the point of Fitibit collecting all this data about me and my health if it isn't going to use it to tailor workouts to my needs? Asking users to simply use the generic workouts in the app is inviting the user to either a) choose a workout that is too easy / not challenging, thereby she/he/they will not be making fitness progress, or b) choose a workout that is too challenging, thereby increasing the likelihood of injury.

Both of these are pretty irresponsible for a fitness tech company. 

[VersaDude]

Exactly. They are literally taking steps backwards and expecting us to pay more? Get out of here.

[CollinM]

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@MatthewFitbit wrote:

Thanks everyone for your feedback and patience while we sought answers to your questions.

If you’re a Fitbit Coach subscriber looking for personalized workouts in the Fitbit app, note that these sessions are not part of Fitbit Premium.

Fitbit Premium now includes more than 40 Fitbit Coach workouts. The services also provide a wide variety of content, including: 

• 200+ audio and video workouts from Fitbit and leading fitness brands, such as Aaptiv, Daily Burn, obé, Physique 57 and POPSUGAR
• 150+ meditations and mindfulness sessions to calm your mind day or night, including sessions from Breethe, Deepak Chopra, and Ten Percent Happier
• 60+ pieces of nutrition content from Fitbit and EatingWell magazine to get quick inspiration for healthy meals and curated recipes to help you balance all aspects of your wellness journey

To help you find your favorite workouts, and maybe try something new, you can explore by category: Open the Fitbit app > Discover tab > Workouts, and then select a category to explore, such as Full Body, Dumbbell Workouts, Under 15 Minutes, and many more. 

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Are we going to get a response from Fitbit on this? Or is Fitbit just going to push forward? I've seen so many comments and topics where people are saying that they're going to cancel their Fitbit Premium membership, or Coach users that aren't going to pay for Premium, due to Coach functionality disappearing. I'm amazed that this hasn't gotten a response from anyone at Fitbit.

[audra585]

Is there still no solution? This is not a true integration and is false advertising! If I lose coach I will cancel my premium as that is why I purchased it in the first place. I don't want the same workout videos!

[audra585]

So disappointing! I wonder if something happened and they legally cannot use those videos anymore because why would you have all these videos and just let them go away

[CollinM]

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@audra585 wrote:

So disappointing! I wonder if something happened and they legally cannot use those videos anymore because why would you have all these videos and just let them go away

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They are porting a portion of the static workout videos. The customised workouts will be completely gone. But not all of the static workouts will be ported to premium, they don't include music, all the indicators on screen are gone, and you can't see the individual exercises of the static workout video (the whole preview functionality is gone).

[Jemmadee]

Not ok fitbit. Obviously your customers voices were not heard while making this decision. Why you can't just keep an app that hardly even updates with new content, that people are willing to pay for, is beyond me. 

[NatWin]

Thanks @MatthewFitbit.  I had just signed up for premium to use Fitbit coach which I LOVED and was on the 90 day free trial.  I have just cancelled my subscription due to bill in a few weeks and will use that money to work with another program.  The sheer ease of use of the coach was amazing!  Outdoors, click outdoors, find your level and go.  I can completely understand why Fitbit didn't need to move over the easy to use format - not 🙄. $129 in my pocket now not yours.  Times that by a lot of people and glad to know you don't need the business. 

[hvaug297]

so I have not been able to use Fitbit Coach online for the past two weeks ( I am guessing this is because Fitbit is shutting down that site, but seriously?? ) It is infuriating trying to cast from a cell phone to an apple/smart tv as the connection is never the same and during a workout that is crucial. timing is important, as well as the fact that with the few coach workouts that are available now ( not customized) on premium, you have to then rate each set on your phone, I like to set it and forget it which was possible on the laptop.  On top of this I am so frustrated that Fitbit premium  has not given the same features that Fitbit Coach had - including the customized workouts. this is such a critical part of why I had Fitbit. this is VERY frustrating and I sure hope Fitbit sticks to their word and they do provide CUSTOMIZED workouts as they stated they would.... because some of us need that! I don't want to scroll through endless workouts and DECIDE which one to do today - I was JUST getting used to waking up and doing whatever workout coach had in store for me, and I was JUST starting to see progress in certain moves, and workouts becoming easier - which was MOTIVATING!

UGH... this sucks Fitbit .... 

[Redmond77]

Obviously fitbit does not need to retain current customers or there would be some better response to this topic. I am sadly disappointed and will not purchase another device through them.  I have already canceled both of my household premium membership and will let them run out. Shame on you fitbit.

[jaf-fit]

Fitbit Premium has many issues and misses many features that Fitbit Coach had (as far as I can see). Limitations I see:

• Fitbit Premium doesn't show a preview/overview of the exercises.
• I used to listen to audio workouts. Fitbit Coach allowed me to start a workout and leave the app and open other music or podcast. As far as I can tell I have to keep Fitbit Premium open the whole time or it stops. This is a big limitation.
• The search (non-existent) and browse (harder, not easy access categories) and setting up programs seems harder (impossible sometimes) in Fitbit Premium.

I have used Fitbit Coach (FitStar) for several years with a paid subscription, but if these limitations aren't overcome, I won'd continue my Fitbit Premium membership, even though I use (and have used) a Fitbit for a long time. If there is somewhere else I can post send this, please let me know!

P.S. I am an interaction designer by profession, and am sad to see so much of the original FitStar/Fitbit Coach experience not being included. 😞

[CollinM]

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@hvaug297 wrote:

so I have not been able to use Fitbit Coach online for the past two weeks ( I am guessing this is because Fitbit is shutting down that site, but seriously?? ) It is infuriating trying to cast from a cell phone to an apple/smart tv as the connection is never the same and during a workout that is crucial. timing is important, as well as the fact that with the few coach workouts that are available now ( not customized) on premium, you have to then rate each set on your phone, I like to set it and forget it which was possible on the laptop.  On top of this I am so frustrated that Fitbit premium  has not given the same features that Fitbit Coach had - including the customized workouts. this is such a critical part of why I had Fitbit. this is VERY frustrating and I sure hope Fitbit sticks to their word and they do provide CUSTOMIZED workouts as they stated they would.... because some of us need that! I don't want to scroll through endless workouts and DECIDE which one to do today - I was JUST getting used to waking up and doing whatever workout coach had in store for me, and I was JUST starting to see progress in certain moves, and workouts becoming easier - which was MOTIVATING!

UGH... this sucks Fitbit .... 

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Fitbit never promised to add the customised workouts. That got clarified when we started asking questions about what they were saying actually meant. And later they closed and archived the feature request where we asked for the customised workout functionality. Essentially saying this will never be implemented.

[strathbat]

Probably no point in adding my 5c-worth to this discussion (or in my case 5 pence), but just adding my real disappointment that the Fitbit Coach tailored videos that have kept me sane over the past 18 months of lockdowns and isolation are being discarded. Unlikely to move to Fitbit Premium - too complicated to bother about.

[CollinM]

Just received an email from Fitbit about them closing down Coach that includes the following text:

Thank you for being part of the Fitbit Coach community. As of 30 July 2021, the Fitbit Coach app, website and Coach app on Fitbit smartwatches have been shut down.

Fitbit Coach is now part of Fitbit Premium. Fitbit is committed to making the tools you need to live a healthier, more active lifestyle, and you can find Fitbit Coach workouts within the Fitbit app as part of the Premium membership experience.

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They're still doing the marketing speak of claiming Fitbit Coach is now part of Premium. Nowhere do they acknowledge that the premium functionality does not match what was offered via Coach. In other words they haven't listened to feedback provided here and do not care about being misleading.

[Wibling]

The fact that you are not migrating all the guided programs to Premium really sucks. The guided programs was why I joined Fitbit Coach in the first place and the "alternative" you are offering in Premium is no way near the same thing. We'll now be forced to search for the right exercise, start the video (which won't allow for adding other audio sources while working out) and figure out how to ensure that we work towards what ever training goal we have. 
Not ok Fitbit.

I have created a new feature suggestion to bring the functionality of Coach back in Premium.

Find it here and vote like crazy 😀 

https://community.fitbit.com/t5/Feature-Suggestions/Include-guided-programs-from-Fitbit-coach-in-the... 

[smanton]

Thanks for raising this & I totally agree. For me, I use their Get Lean program, which includes all the different workouts without me having to search and find. e.g. Cardio Rhythm, Muscle Mix, Cardio Kickoff. When I look in the Fitbit App this doesn't seem available to me - so yes a retrograde step. The Guided ones available in Fitbit are not the same. So yes I'd be questioning my premium membership.