Menstrual Tracker is Awful

[TheMuffinBee]

I know there are other posts like this, but if enough people add to the pile, maybe Fitbit it will do something about it. The menstrual calendar UI is just really, really poorly done. The previous one was much better and far more intuitive.

The most egregious issue that stands out when comparing to the previous calendar is that you must view each month individually, rather than seeing a seamless calendar that shows the months joined up seamlessly in a scrolling format. I don't know what man made this design choice, but periods do not fall neatly into each month, especially if you have long periods. Knowing the first day of your previous period and counting days in between is so helpful. Having to bounce back and forth between calendar months to keep count of cycle days is incredibly obnoxious and cumbersome. 

The icons are difficult to parse at first glance since the ovulation date icon is so noticeable, while the ring indicator on the current date is far more subtle. The calendar symbols also don't communicate what they mean through icons that make sense. Having a flower symbol above an ovulation date tells me exactly what it is. A big black circle that doesn't match the rest of the calendar makes me think it is today's date rather than part of the cycle. It is just bad UI and counter-intuitive.

The choice to have the days of the week at the bottom of the calendar (instead of at the top like literally any other calendar in common use) is quite franky baffling. Like...why? Why did anyone think this was even something that needed to be changed? Again, it's counter-intuitive to standard calendars.

Having a natural color gradation between your period and fertile days when they overlap is so much easier to read than the weird stripes they have now. It previously emphasized the nature of an imprecise biological function much better than the rigid display they have now. 

Also, the color palette is ugly. There, I said it. A minor note, I know, but it really just looks ugly and non-cohesive from a design standpoint.

This has whole thing has bugged me for a long time, and I'm finally remembering to make a complaint about it. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. The newer calendar is just a giant downgrade from the previous one.

[andie.holm]

I agree with quite a bit of what you say. User Interface design is super important and it's hard to believe that Fitbit involved any women in designing the recent changes.

In addition to all of the very on-point points you make, here's my own complaint and request to add to it!

I used to be able to click on a day of the month in Fitbit and see what day of the menstrual cycle it was, such as clicking on today and seeing "day 4 of 28" for instance. This went away in a recent update and it has made understanding my cycles harder. Fitbit should really bring this feature back.

Scrolling down to see date ranges is not helpful as then I have several additional steps to take to find the same information: scrolling down, finding the correct date range, doing the math to figure out which day im on of 28 or so... which is all incorrect if Fitbit has started saying my cycles are 27 days, which I can't tell in the updated User Interface.

10 seconds and 3 clicks is generally the patience and attention span of users, and Fitbits updates to the menstrual health interface make the whole product frustrating and more difficult to use. Tracking menstrual health is The Number One reason I use fitbit so these changes are disappointing. Life is already difficult as a woman, Fitbit should try to not make it more so.