Is the subscription required to view sleep stats?

[SunsetRunner]

Hi Fitbit,

May I just voice my disappointment with the fact that you make Sleeping Heart Rate and Restlessness a paid feature now! This is a gross business practice. What's next, I'll have to pay to track activities or access my daily heart rate logs? Fair enough that the access to extra features such as workouts is extra, but sleep tracking is standard feature of Fitbit. Outrageous. 

Moderator edit: Updated subject for clarity 

[JLHumbert]

I agree with you 100%!  I paid $250 for a, so called, fitness tracker (the Ionic) and the app experience has just been dismal. The time I spend trying to get the watch to sync, and manually refreshing the app multiple times just to get the data to display properly, is infuriating!   So now I'm expected to pay a subscription fee to get any new features?  Yeah, right!  I've only had my device a little over a month and I'm already looking for an alternative in another brand. 

[truthinbeer]

Giampi71, wearmiat ,JLHumbert, have a look at the Apple heart program "Cardiogr.am". It has been designed to work with Apple, Garmin, Fitbit, etc devices. 
I find it has better resources than Fitbit apps.

[JLHumbert]

Thanks @truthinbeer ,  I'm actually already using the Cardiogram app. It shows much more detailed heart rate information than the Fitbit app. The heart rate graphs in the Fitbit app are a joke (no detail information whatsoever) and look like something drawn by a clown with a crayon. Given all of the heart rate data generated by the tracker (my Ionic), it's hard to believe this is all they do with it. 

Fitbit shares (stock) closed at a record low yesterday (7/31/19) and then dropped "another" 15% in after hours trading (yes, it's in the news). Fitbit stock has lost 82% of its value since 2015.  Hmmm... I wonder why?

THIS is from one of the article's I read,  "Park (the CEO) is trying to reduce his company's reliance on device sales and focus more on premium services, which will create a "longer lasting relationship with users while changing perception of products and services from a nice to have to need to have," the CEO said on Wednesday's earnings call."

So, they don't care about the expensive device they sold us... they are more interested in selling us "Premium Services" that you will "need" to have (i.e. Sleep Stats, SpO2, etc).  Sure wish I would have known this before I bought my expensive tracker (I mean "smart watch", ha, ha).

[SunsetRunner]

Very interesting, thanks @JLHumbert. I purchased my first Fitbit a couple of months ago and was so surprised by lack of detailed information. I didn't even think that such an established brand could miss basic things, for example an option to mark yourself as pregnant to allow to track you weight and changing calorie intake .There are no such options and even with huge popularity of the community posts, Fitbit always replies that the development is not currently planned.

[truthinbeer]

wearmiat, I also bough the Versa because it was advertised as having SpO2 feature, all the hype I now discover was a straight out lie by Fitbit. All i know is I cannot access something in my device it is advertised as having.

Fitbit should be able to provide a reasonable explanation to customers regards this? Anyone at Fitbit want to try and explain this away?

[Twomasc]

I don't even have the option of buying Premium (not sure why - maybe being outside USA).

I just took the money I saved, and ordered a Honor Band 5. Cheaper then a years premium.

[G-Man_505]

Dear Fitbit.

I bought your very expensive tracker (rather than a cheaper Chinese knock off), primarily as a sleep tracker, because I thought I was purchasing a full service device.

Now I find that even after buying the device you are now trying to upsell me on FITBIT PREMIUM so I can access my full sleep details. Why do I not have access to the full range of information the device tracks? Certain information is locked and requires Fitbit Premium to access it.

I am talking about sleep restlessness and sleep heart rate which was shown before but you have now blocked in order to now force me to pay extra on.

Shameful.

And Yes I understand that you may charge extra for services additional to the device (such as workout or dietary coaching) but this is just tracked device data which is the reason you purchase the device in the first place.

I had intended to upgrade model when your next model came out but why would I when I feel that I am being scammed and taken advantage of?

[G-Man_505]

Dear Fitbit.

I bought your very expensive tracker (rather than a cheaper Chinese knock off), primarily as a sleep tracker, because I thought I was purchasing a full service device.

Now I find that even after buying the device you are now trying to upsell me on FITBIT PREMIUM so I can access my full sleep details. Why do I not have access to the full range of information the device tracks? Certain information is locked and requires Fitbit Premium to access it.

I am talking about sleep restlessness and sleep heart rate (which was shown before) but you have now blocked in order to now force me to pay extra on.

Shameful.

And Yes I understand that you may charge extra for services additional to the device (such as workout or dietary coaching) but this is just tracked device data which is the reason you purchase the device in the first place.

I had intended to upgrade model when your next model came out but why would I when I feel that I am being scammed and taken advantage of?

[G-Man_505]

@LarryFish the only reasonable point from your post was the use of the term "entitled".

Yes we are "entitled" by simple virtue of the fact that we purchased a premium device with the expectation that it will be supported with software updates and promised rollout of improved features as is touted by their marketing.

We pay a premium for this developer time in the initial outlay price of the device.

We are not talking about additional services here such as workout or diet coaching. Just access to our tracked data.

If I wanted to purchase a device that was unsupported and just provided raw data without the insights I would simply buy a $20-30USD Chinese knockoff rather than a $200 fitbit... Because without these little additional "sleep insights" there is not much difference between the two.

So maybe it is you who should cut the crap.

[SunsetRunner]

@G-Man_505 it is so good to see more and more people agree with this. 

My biggest question is if we should now expect all the new features to be available at a premium? 

I also still don't get how Fitbit sees these sleep features as part of "detailed programs" since that's how they define what Premium provides access to. 

Quite frustrating... My Charge 3 is only new but with the direction Fitbit is going, by the time I need to upgrade the competition will have a lot of time to surpass the "leading brand" of fitness trackers by a mile.

[AlvaroFitbit]

Hello everyone.

Thank you for you for your feedback about the Fitbit premium features. Still if you wish you can share your suggestions on how to improve the app and services in our Feature suggestions board. Search for the idea first to see if one already exist so you can add your vote. The more votes an idea gets the more likely the developers will try to implement it.

Let me know how it goes.

[truthinbeer]

---

@AlvaroFitbit wrote:

Hello everyone.

Thank you for you for your feedback about the Fitbit premium features. Still if you wish you can share your suggestions on how to improve the app and services in our Feature suggestions board. Search for the idea first to see if one already exist so you can add your vote. The more votes an idea gets the more likely the developers will try to implement it.

Let me know how it goes.

---

The problem arises, AlvaroFitbit, these were NOT premium features when we bought our Fitbit devices. These were advertised online and instore as standard features and as such Fitbit has misrepresented their product. This is something I do not hesitate to mention to people when they ask about my device.
No wonder the reputation of Fitbit is suffering worldwide.

[JLHumbert]

It's not just their reputation that's deteriorating.  Their stock has dropped over 80% in the last three years...  down over 51% just in the last six months...  anybody wonder why?

[G-Man_505]

@JLHumbert they same to be following the same pattern as Jawbone... The makers of my last fitness tracker.

Head on over to check out the Charge2 Firmware update thread. It would appear they've just bricked a lot of people's trackers with the last update and are just simply ignoring it.

[Gainn]

So why am I being asked to pay for something I already paid for when I bought my ionic? 

App costs, yadda yadda. Fitbit failed to deliver on things advertised with it, and still wants more money to access things that should have been there from the start.. 

That Samsung watch is looking more and more appealing. 

[JohnnyRow]

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@Giampi71 wrote:

So, are you saying that FITBIT CEO made a false statement?

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Looking at the caption under the photo in that tweet, the sleep score was still in beta.  Perhaps when he said that, the beta was using spO2 in sleep score, but was then removed when it came out of beta.

[Giampi71]

@JohnnyRow 

According this very recent article now SpO2 sensor is used for Sleep Score. Wow, everything is so confused on this matter and Fitbit definitely is not helping to clear the matter.

[MattJ71]

I think Fitbit is actually using the SP02 sensor for the sleep score, however, is not advertising it yet.  Every time I fall asleep, even a small nap, the red light comes one, so Fitbit is collecting some kind of data.

They are probably building a database of SP02 data and refining it so that the sleep score is more meaningful.  Time will tell.

[ROBOCLES]

Not being able to see things I used to see like my sleep time average for the week is the problem.  It's not the paying for new but the reduction of unpaid features or moving them from free to pay.  I would not have bought Fitbit if I had know this would happen.  In fact, I'm going to cancel my Versa 2 order.  

[eljae]

The manual posted in this section clearly states that you should still be getting the same features for free. Maybe there are just certain glitches during the rollout:

"

Q: Has weekly sleep average been replaced by sleep score, or moved to Premium?

A: No, weekly sleep average is still available to everyone. To view it, tap the sleep tile in the app, swipe left on the graphs at the top until you see “Hours in Sleep Stages,” then tap the graph to see your weekly averages.

All Fitbit users will continue to have access to their time asleep, sleep schedule, sleep quality details, as well as weekly hours slept compared to their sleep schedule. Additionally, all Fitbit users with a device capable of heart-rate tracking will also see their sleep stages and sleep score.

Premium members will see all of the above, and also receive a deeper analysis of how their sleep score is calculated. This deeper analysis includes visibility into sub-scores for time asleep, deep and REM sleep stages, and restoration details, which provides analysis of your sleeping heart rate and time spent tossing and turning."