Add a Reply Feature for Texts on Fitbit Ionic

[MatthewF]

Has the Fitbit development team looked into adding a reply feature for text messages?  I know that for me personally, having preset replies like the apple watch would be very useful.  The Ionic is all about being able to leave your phone behind, yet you are unable to reply to text messages.  Adding this would definitely persuade me into buying the Ionic.  I also think that if this were added, texting should be its own app instead of just appearing in the notification center.

[TomDuke]

Thanks Larry, will double check to make sure everything is configured correctly.

[TomDuke]

With Gmail I only get an option to clear or archive. I have gotten error messages on the watch screen saying my reply attempt failed and to retry on the phone. Something doesn't seem to be working right.

[LarrySernyk]

I am pretty sure that it only supports replies to the text (SMS) messages, and not email.

[Tonerz]

Ever since the new update, it never had a reply option show up for texts. The only thing it does differently from before is when I try to "clear" an email, it'll vibrate 2 seconds later saying my reply failed and to retry using my phone. Really annoying! Looks like I'm not the only one this is happening to. 

[LarrySernyk]

Did your update go Ok? I had the update fail a couple of times and needed to restart it. What firmware version does the app say for your Ionic? What version of Android are you on?

[Tonerz]

I'm on the latest version of the Fitbit update that was released a week ago. And am on Android 6.0, which I've heard in previous messages that the update  was released for a later version of Android? 

[LarrySernyk]

There are a number of other blogs that you might explore if you haven't already done so:

https://community.fitbit.com/t5/Ionic/bd-p/ionic

I haven't had a chance to explore them but you might find another one that can help you.

I am not on the Android P beta on my Pixel 2 XL and notifications and quick replies work fine. It would be great if the app allowed say 20 customizable quick replies. Right not it is only offers 5 quick replies.

[Stu_B]

Running Android here and yet to see a reply on a text or WhatsApp notification.

The clear options works great, fantastic that it clears the phone notification too - exactly how that should work in my opinion, so really pleased with that. Just no reply option so far!

[TomDuke]

My Motorola phone is Android 7 and Ionic firmware update 27.32.10.15. Installation took a couple of tries (as always) but got the green check mark on the watch and confirmation of successful firmware update in the app. Have not received a text message to see if the reply feature works, as stated it doesn't function with Gmail. I see the 5 reply options in the app and can customize them so believe that part is operational.

[Stu_B]

I think @d_k could be correct, I have seen on another thread where someone has tried Android 6 and 7 phones.  For them, Android 7 worked but no replies on Android 6 😞

[SantiR]

Hello everyone! Thanks for your interest in the Quick Replies feature that was just released for Ionic and Versa on the new OS update.

I'd recommend checking this helpful article to get all the details about how to set it up, use, and customize your replies.

There are some things you have to take into consideration:

• This is currently only available for Android devices. 
• This will be released for iOS too (probably in the next firmware update). Stay tuned to this feature suggestion for updates.
• Make sure you are using a compatible mobile device.
• The apps that will let you send Quick Replies are the following: Text messages, Whatsapp, Twitter, Facebook Messenger, WeChat, and Line.

I've seen that some users are not able to use this feature on Android 6. Keen to hear if there are users able to use this on Android 6 or only on Android 7 and above? 

Keep me posted! 

[TomDuke]

Since the latest firmware update I successfully installed this weekend using an Android 7 Motorola phone and Verizon Message+ for SMS and Gmail here is what I am experiencing:

- Gmail, no reply option available (see that in the article you reference it's not supported), have new option to "archive" but not sure what that does or where the archived mail would go.  Also, the watch clears messages automatically when in the past that was a manual operation.

- Ionic no longer receiving text messaging from the Verizon Message+ app even though it did fine before the update; so have no idea of the reply feature is working since the watch isn't getting text messages anymore!  Anyway to go back to the last firmware version?

[d_k]

---

@SantiR wrote:

Hello everyone! Thanks for your interest in the Quick Replies feature that was just released for Ionic and Versa on the new OS update.

I'd recommend checking this helpful article to get all the details about how to set it up, use, and customize your replies.

There are some things you have to take into consideration:

• This is currently only available for Android devices. 
• This will be released for iOS too (probably in the next firmware update). Stay tuned to this feature suggestion for updates.
• Make sure you are using a compatible mobile device.
• The apps that will let you send Quick Replies are the following #1: Text messages, Whatsapp, Twitter, Facebook Messenger, WeChat, and Line.

I've seen that some users are not able to use this feature on Android 6 #2. Keen to hear if there are users able to use this on Android 6 or only on Android 7 and above?

Keep me posted! 

---

#1 not exactly true. the whole text reads

Apps that allow you to reply to a message directly from the notification on your phone support quick replies on your watch. This includes, but isn’t limited to, apps such as:

At least for Signal i can confirm that they've implemented the notification smart reply so that i can reply from Android 7 and 8 without opening the app - and therefore it should be supported according to your cited helpful article 😉 (but it IS NOT - just to make this clear)

#2 have you seen anyone on android 6 who reported that it works?

No? Android 6 doesn't support quick replies in it's notification implementation, that came with 7.0.

Would be glad if your engineers find a way to circumvent that limitation, but so far i couldn't find a single android 6 user who reported that this works.

Due to the work already done in investigating that issue, it should be easy to replicate it.

Case 1: Take a phone with android 6, install one of your listed applications and see if smart replies are

offered.

Case 2: Take a phone with android 7, check that everything works with one of the listed applications, and than try to use Signal, Message+, ... as messenger. quick replies are offered in the notification inside android, whilst the watch doesn't even show the incoming message.

Kind Regards

Dominik

[JohnnyZ]

In response to Santi (Post 71),

• Make sure you are using a compatible mobile device.

The compatible phones list only states if the phone has access to a feature, not the degree to which the feature is available.

I'm using a Samsung Galaxy S5, running Android 6.0.1.  The Interaction with notifications works well, but does not allow quick replies.

A conversation with the Fitbit development teams, or Fitbit quality assurance testers should be able to confirm if the quick reply feature is designed, or was tested for specific OS versions.  If the feature is available for only specific OS versions, the update release notes should state it.  As it sits right now, Fitbit not providing a qualifier on features, then asking for user feed back if it's working has the perception that Fitbit's QA testing is crowd sourced by the community :(.

[TomDuke]

"Crowd sourced" indeed! All I know is that Verizon Message+ notifications worked just fine prior to installing the latest firmware update, now it doesn't. Really don't care about the reply feature at this point, just want to get my text notifications back the way they were. "If it ain't broke, then break it" seems to be the philosophy.

[TomDuke]

And another thing that needs to be fixed, every time I go to manually clear Gmail messages from from the watch I receive a "reply failed" error message. Even though there is no option to reply with with Gmail. Hope the next firmware update actually improves functionality rather than reducing it.

[Tonerz]

This is happening to me as well when I clear my emails. Pretty annoying. 

[3bulldogmom]

 Thinking of replacing my broken charge HR with an ionic. Can I reply to text messages with the ionic? 

[michaelte]

Yes, you can! There are five, customizable replies available now.

[sfringer]

@3bulldogmom you can if you are syncing with an Android-based device. You cannot reply from the Ionic if you sync to an iOS (Apple) device.