Why am I locked on the activity screen and can't view my home screen?

[scadivey]

I recently switch to the Fitbit Ionic. I have had a Garmin Fenix 3 and a Samsung Gear S3 in the past. On each of these, once you start tracking an activity, you are able to navigate back to your home screen and continue using the watch as normal, WHILE it tracks your activity. I was able to change music, read notifications, and use all of the other features on my watch, without ending my activity.

Now, I get my Fitbit Ionic, and I find out that in order to change the playlist, I have to completely exit out of my activity in order to even change the music? That alone is ridiculous. I made the switch so I could join the community and compete with my coworkers, but this is severely making me regret this decision. 

[N8teGee]

Hi @scadivey, good to see you in the community.

During an activity press and hold the left button, swipe from the left side of the screen to the right, you should now see the music control screen. To change the music source you wish to control, tap the 3 little dots in the bottom left corner. I've never tried controlling music myself but I would assume you can change your play list from here? 

[scadivey]

Nathan, I was able to find this, however, I couldn't find out to change the actual playlist without ending the activity, going back into the Pandora app on my watch, and selecting a different playlist. I'll try it again in a few minutes. I would love to find out that I've been wrong about this. Give me about a hour and I'll report back.

[scadivey]

Got it quicker than I thought.

So when I do that, and touch the three dots, I can choose to listen to
music from phone or my watch and choose which speakers/ headphones. Can't
change the playlist, or even the music app. Can just pause, play, go
forward, go back. So, my original suggestion still stands.

I do appreciate your help though!

[N8teGee · Accepted solution]

Ok I see, thanks for getting back. I can only assume that it's because it's a "3rd party app" which is separate from the system music player. The Ionic doesn't allow for multi-tasking, although this isn't really multitasking but still falls foul of that restriction.

I've just had a look on the feature suggestions board and there are two similar requests you may wish to add your vote to. This is how the Devs gauge interest in a particular feature. 

Access to full music functions during workout tracking

Access Apps During Exercise tracking

[scadivey]

Oh, awesome! I'll throw my support behind those! Thank you for your help, Nathan!

[N8teGee]

No problem @scadivey, I look forward to seeing you around the community!