Fitbit Inspire - set up difficulty

[Porty2019]

Hi everyone, my daughter has received a Fitbit Inspire for her Christmas present.  This is the first time I have tried to set up a Fitbit.  I have charged it up but the screen on her phone is stuck on the Fitbit logo and the url www.fitbit.com/setup.  I have set up a Fitbit account.  It is driving me crazy!!  Please help before I take it back and exchange for another one.

[Muski7]

We have the same situation. Maddening. I've just been on a online chat with fitbit support who recommended I restart both my phone and the fitbit (by attaching it to the magnetic charger, holding down the button for 5 seconds until the smile icon appears and the fitbit vibrates). There also something called a 'firmware update' available on my account which I'm supposed to try. 

[Mkincork]

Thank god I'm not going mad,  I'm reasonably tech savy but this is nuts..have installed app, created account but now can't set  up the new HR Christmas present!

[McRKild]

I am in similar boat. Our two sons, 9 and 11, got Inspire and Inspire HR for Christmas, and I have been going around in circles tryng to set up just the Inspire for starters.

Last night I realised from browsing forums that the only fitbit you can set up to manage for someone else under your supervision, is the Ace model. You have to be 13 to have an older age range model. This morning I set up a dedicated email for my 9 year old but giving him a birthdate of age 13. And when I try set up fitbit account for him using these details, it is still saying ineligible for an account.

I am beyond frustrated with the whole thing and ready to return the two fitbits for something easier to set up.

Any suggestions please???

[Ficussur]

I too am having difficulty setting up the Inspire on my computer. I've successfully set up two previous Fitbits (different versions) to different accounts, but this one's proving to be a bigger challenge. Using Fitbit Context, I get to the point where I have to choose my device, and it doesn't give me the option of the Inspire. Can anyone help with advice please?

[Porty2019]

Hello - I may try this and see what happens.  I also have the same issue as one of the other posters that my daughter is 9 years old - the fitbit is a present from her grandparents.  I have just decided to let her use my account.  Very bad communication on what products are for kids and what are not.  

[SunsetRunner]

I can't get mine nor my husband's Inspire (gifts from tech expert son who lives miles away) to do anything except show the fitbit url logo.  I have downloaded the connect software multiple times onto my Mac Pro, but can't even get the bluetooth to recognize either Fitbit.  My son may get these right back.  Also, the website window asking for the model involved stops at the second row and won't scroll down to Inspire!  This is really annoying.

[HobieG]

Same problem as everyone else posting here. Received an Inspire HR to replace my Alta HR that died. Can't add the Inspire HR to my phone, my tablet, or my desktop. With the phone & tablet, I click the "Set up a device" in the Account window. A window opens that allows me to select the Inspire HR, then in the following window I click the "Set Up Your Fitbit Inspire HR" button. The screen flashes and returns me to the Account page. I even updated the Fitbit app,  restarted my phone, and restarted the Inspire HR. The desktop option doesn't even list the Inspire as an addable device. This is frustrating.

[McRKild]

I tried again this morning, same methods as before and it worked. To accomplish this, my 9 year old son is now 19 however! But I'm ok with this as it will be me monitoring his account, he does not have a mobile phone yet so I'm not concerned about this as he is only interested in step counting/distance at this age.

When I tried the app again on my phone the screen was totally different when I logged into my account. It allowed me to add a child, but it was still insisting had to be Ace or Ace 2 even though I had put his birthdate as a 13 yo. So i then tried to set him up on him on his own account, again it kept saying ineligible for an account I assume because of birthdate. I put in up to age 15 and it was still saying inelegible so out of pure frustration I put in age 19 and it worked. So delighted. The set up was straight forward from there. (I found an excellent video on youtube that talks you through the set up steps.).

Now to go do the same for my 11 year old, he wants me to make him 21 : )

I think the system was just totally jammed the last two days. It was a totally different experience today

[McRKild]

I have set up my second son sucessfully now. It looks like 16 is the minimum age to have own account. It's not ideal as the sleep recommendations are based on their 'ages' 16 and 19, for a 9 and 11 year old, and I definitely don't want them thinking about calories, but they are delighted to watch their steps counting up and distances reached. They've moved more in the last hour than the last 3 days!

Such a pity have to set them up under their own accounts as it's obviously way easier to put them on my account. Santa brought them these models as he felt the kids ones looked like kids ones, and the 11 year old will grow out of it way quicker than the 9 year old. 

[SunsetRunner]

I gave up: multiple tries to set it up on my Amazon Fire (it said I had the wrong pin….what pin???), smart phone (it wouldn’t download the software), MacPro (no Inspire option available), or PC (no Inspire option available). I packed them up and sent them back. No one needs that kind of frustration!

[Muski7]

I managed to set this up once the firmware update finally worked (took four attempts). I was also able to set up an account for my nine-year-old son via my own account by going into the family account section and then creating a child account.

[McRKild]

@Muski7 how did you do that for the Inspire, it only gives the two Ace options when go to set up child account? Once I saw that (wasn't able to get as far as family account the previous two days of trying), I went and set up their own accounts, by changing their DOB. But I'd much rather have them under my details for handiness

[governor83]

Had the same problem.

Kid got it for his 10th birthday, had to register him as 20 y.o.

Insipre just stuck with the logo and setup-url.

Device plugged in to outlet for charging, not able to recognize it or find it via android smartphone.

Reset the device 2-3 times (while charging holding down power button until vibration and on-screen smileyface).

Using the fitbit app via win10 PC, it worked though, as expected..

Downloaded the fitbit app for windows (via windows store, free), logged in via the newly created fitbit-account, and setup device, easy peasy.

I see alot of people struggling with Mac, so that might be a problem, I don't know.
Anyways, had to update the Insipre HR immediately during "registernew device" wizard, this is slow but it works.

They should state you need a computer in order to set it up first time, since bluetooth wont recognize device until you've completed first setup via computer (or maybe it just needs new firmware before shipping).

Also, why the f do you need to be minimum 16 to use it? It should be a choice, or at least the family-account should allow for other devices than the crappy ACE model