When will the next firmware update come to the ionic?

[soguilk]

I am saddened that my thread was deleted. As it had shown valuable insight by many users both that are in support of the ionic and those that are troubled by what appears to be a lack of communication in terms of improving the ionic. I think its very clear that as of right now, there are many first time users and fitbit users (like me) that are quite frankly disappointed with the smartwatch feature of the ionic (the fitness tracker feature is great). As I have mentioned on my previous posts I am intent on keeping my ionic. However, communication between the company and customers such as myself is something that might help alleviate my concerns. Lets be real here: the company is struggling financially. If you guys want loyal customers then treat your costumers with loyalty as well. That means answering hard questions and dealing with customers like me who is financially conscious about my purchases ($300.00 to me is not cheap).

Here was my original question: When will the next firmware update come to the ionic?

Here is the solution provided before deleted: by @MatthewFitbit

"Since this thread has unfortunately devolved into petty arguments and personal attacks, I'm just going to remove the whole thing.

The answer to the original question is that Fitbit is very excited about Ionic's next firmware update, and we think customers will be very pleased with the improvements and additions that update will deliver. We haven't announced a timeframe for this update's release, and appreciate everyone's patience while we continue working hard to make Ionic an amazing Fitbit product."

Here are my follow up questions:

What are potentially going to be updated in the next firmware?

Will there be a calendar and reminder function that will be implemented?

You mentioned that "Fitbit is very excited" and "customers will be very pleased" about the upcoming update, can you please elaborate?

Will a firmware note be provided for us?

Please understand, that I am just seeking answers NOT to be difficult but to have an informed decision regarding my purchase.

Moderator Edit: Clarified subject

[DramaQueenDiva]

I definitely understand people's frusteration with the bug issues, and maybe there is an update going on behind the scenes that we don't know about yet. I personally am a victim of the bug issues, especially the sync issues.

Overall I am satisfied with the Ionic. Sure, a few things could be improved, but from my understanding, that is the same with any new piece of technology.  As long as it tracks my steps and I can sync it to something, I can't complain. 

[NickRuns26Point]

 I second that, support for Spotify is a must 

[SunsetRunner]

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@NickRuns26Point wrote:

 I second that, support for Spotify is a must 

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I suggest you lobby Spotify

[bbarrera]

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@mr_manager wrote:

As a developer and a long-time fitbit user and Ionic seemingly early adopter, I'm kind of disappointed with the byzantine nature of the release schedule. I would think that in this day of continuous delivery we might be seeing bug fixes roll out weekly, if not daily. 

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@mr_manager From where I sit, Fitbit has always been slow and methodical on tracker updates. On the other hand, iOS app updates are much more frequent so the company does know how to fix bugs, test, and deploy quickly.

With a new OS (fitbitOS) I would have thought a quick Ionic bug fix firmware update would have rolled out by now. This appears to be a judgement call by Fitbit management - if they wanted to push for a quick bug fix release it would have happened by now. My guess is that management put a stake in the ground for next firmware update to support App Store - last week the Fitbit CEO publicly stated it would be released in time for holiday shopping season. Given fitbitOS is new, and seeing some of the acknowledged bugs/limitations on SDK forum, it wouldn't surprise me if getting App Store support into Ionic and iOS/Android/Windows apps is an "all hands on deck" exercise. 

[jbalfoort]

Do we have any updated communication on the new firmware release?  I am pulling close to my 45 day return period and still have not been able to sync without extreme manual effort.  If we could get this fixed before the return period was up, I was planning to stick around and develop for FitbitOS.  But judging by the turnaround here on fixing issues that is obviously impacting a large number of customers, even just on this community board, it is hard to want to stick around and support.

[bbarrera]

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@jbalfoort wrote:

Do we have any updated communication on the new firmware release?

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No. An update is coming, sometime, and it will fix the alarm issue according to Fitbit employee/moderators. Not sure if any other bugs have been acknowledged by Fitbit employee/moderators.

[SunsetRunner]

Yea, Fitbit needs to up their PR game big time. I don't own an Ionic and after reading this post about firmware update and a very obvious lack of communication with end users; i don't think i will get one since this type of products succeeds or fails based on firmware updates and a constant software dev cycle.  

I work in software too and IT and know the processes and Fitbit really should consider offering a "beta testing" program with the more advanced users/early adopter types.  These bugs sound pretty major and should have never shipped w/the device and we know how well management knows/understands software dev cycles and product readiness.. /sarcasm....   This thread basically confirmed my initial thoughts; beautiful hardware, bad software/OS and basically a no buy until firmware updates arrive to make it a proper v1.0 product.

[climbbike]

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@SunsetRunner wrote:

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@mr_manager wrote:

As a developer and a long-time fitbit user and Ionic seemingly early adopter, I'm kind of disappointed with the byzantine nature of the release schedule. I would think that in this day of continuous delivery we might be seeing bug fixes roll out weekly, if not daily. I have had an ongoing issue with the fitbit deciding my walk is done before I do, and also, I'm getting kind of tired of bringing my hand up "just so" in order to see the time. I am tremendously hopeful that these are two of the issues being addressed in the next release. I'm frankly feeling like a beta tester who wasn't given advance or discounted access to the product I'm actively testing for the company.

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So you would want to see weekly or daily updates? So you are a developer as well? So could you imagine the QA going on testing builds every day or every week? Hint .. it isn't going to be very good there would not be enough time.

Having updates once a month is good enough me, I don't want to spend my life installing software and I'm sure the testing department is less likely to die of a heart attack from over work. As a Dev I would have thought you could see why daily/weekly is not a good idea. This isn't a video game, the software needs to be tested on tons of devices on multiple platforms. Very complex indeed.

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Seriously!? What kind of old school company do you work for. We release 10-12 times per DAY for our core website alone. Stops making excuses for Fitbit. It's perfectly reasonable to expect them to communicate at release fixes on a reasonable schedule. Months does not equal reasonable.

[mlindgren]

Embedded software development is a totally different beast than web development. Don't get me wrong, I'm not very happy with the update cadence at this point either, but your argument is silly.

[climbbike]

They used to say that about web apps as well. Anyhow, of course it's different, but waiting an entire quarter to release basic fixes is unacceptable. I have a number of devices from different brands and most of them release fixes within days or at least a week or two of release.

[BREWSKl]

Downloading my first firmware upgrade right now. (Other than the one that gets automatically DL'd when you first set it up). I'm hoping for more clock faces and features with this firmware upgrade. I'll let you know what it has once it's all done downloading.

I also had problems with the wallet app but after communicating with the support they told me an update to the phone app was coming. It came and now the wallet works. 

[WendyB]

There is an update out now. I'm getting it right now

https://help.fitbit.com/articles/en_US/Help_article/1372/

[BREWSKl]

That looks like such an awesome and informative page! 

...Too bad Fitbit has failed to keep the version current. At the bottom of the page it says "Last updated: December 5, 2017" (Today) but the firmware version (25.27.16.7) and description (added Fitbit pay) are still the old one from September (3 months ago)...

P.S. Still downloading new firmware will update once complete.

[WendyB]

There are more clock faces

[Paul201065]

I have just downloaded the new update .i now have new clock faces and apps available took about 30 mins to download update then sbout 20mins to install so far seems to be working fine.

[MattFitbit]

Hey everyone! 

I am super happy to announce that we have released a new firmware update for Ionic which includes a bunch of new clock faces, apps, and games. 

You can find more information on what was released in this update by following the link, here. 

To help keep the community tidy, I will be closing down this thread, but I hope to see all of your comments in the new firmware thread I posted above.