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I agree with many of the others. I know there may not appear to be enough users requesting the bluetooth LE off functionality for fitbit to consider it, but I also know of several hundred, Yes Really, who would consider it, fitbit devices, at my location alone. There are 8,000 military and 12,000 civilians affected by the bluetooth rules at my location alone. I traded a fitbit flex for a first generation jawbone with my son-in-law for that reason. I love the Surge and want one, but I can't justify it if I can't turn the LE radio off while I am at work.
Please don't just consider, but make this an option. You will get a number, Most Likely thousands more at $249 a pop, of new customers with this functionality. Most people I speak with on the military base I work at love the look and function of your products, but won't buy them because they cannot disable the bluetooth. They get written up in sensitive electronic areas for active bluetooth devices and could potentially lose jobs.
One older gentleman specifically stated he came home and threw the device in a drawer because he was written up for a violation at work. He loves the device, but can't afford to lose his job. Thanks for implementing this as soon as possible.
Moderator Edit: Edited title for clarity and word choice
I am unable to wear a fitbit device at work because we are not allowed to have bluetooth or wireless devices in our buildings. My employeer has about 3,500 employees at my location, and almost twice that many at a second location. I know of many other people in the same situation who would buy a fitness tracker, but feel it is a waste of money to buy one if they cannot wear it all day.
I think a tracker like the Fitbit Charge HR that does not sync via bluetooth would allow you to target this group of people that are being overlooked by other fitness trackers. It it were able to sync by being plugged in to the headphone jack or to a pc, that would allow myself and many others to be able to wear it at work. Simply being able to turn the bluetooth off would not satisfy our security requirements, so it would need to be non-bluetooth . I think there is an opportunity to target this niche and I would love to see Fitbit be the one to do it.
Please make it so that we can demonstrate that BlueTooth is turned off. For those of us who work in environments where BlueTooth is forbidden and we could lose our jobs, being able to show a supervisor that it is indeed switched off is essential.
Me and my friends will not buy any of Fitbit devices anymore if the bluetooth is always turned on.. So i think it's the right time to implement this vital function, the original post is dated 1 year ago.. come on. Thanks
Please could a moderator reply to let us know whether this feature we are requesting is possible on the charge hr. Also will the new Alta have the ability to turn bluetooth off? Thank you.
There are a number of reasons why folks may want or need their tracker's bluetooth to be off. This may include:
Work in the military
Work with sensitive equipment
Day of Sabbath
Conserve battery
Instead of creating a new tracker that syncs differently or finding a way to turn off bluetooth on the device indefinitely, why not simply schedule a quiet bluetooth time where the device's bluetooth turns off for a specified time?
For instance, if your work shift is 9am-5pm and you work with sensitive equipment, schedule your quiet bluetooth time to be 8:45am to 5:15pm. This would work much like an alarm would work. Set it in the device settings and sync. When that time hits, it just goes into that mode; when it expires it reverts. Additionally, you don't need to remember to turn it back on.
If you want to revert the tracker back to conventional (bluetooth active) mode immediately, perform a device restart.
Like lillie said, can anyone reply please? Today has arrived my carge HR. I will wear it for one day, if this situation doesn't steps forward I''m be forced to return it
Best return it unopened as nobody at FitBit seems to listen to their customers concerns, requests and advice on the BT issue here. Get the new Garmin Vivosmart HR for a few $ more as it lets you switch BT off and it's waterproof.
I use my Vivosmart as my only watch, it has anough functions and the clock is clear and always on, so found no need for anything else, except missing a countdown timer - it is slightly big to wear at night, in daytime it is light enough to forget you wear it
No but one things for certain - you'll always know the time! Most people I know seem to wear trackers on their other wrist - unless of course they have a smart watch with a tracker built in.
I'm really disappointed, I know I'll find my fresh charge hr today at home, but I will be forced to return it and take the Garmin... Disabling the BT is a really simple feature to add, and the Fitbit is hands down more discrete and cool looking
It is smaller and more discrete but personally I think the ability to turn Bluetooth off is absolutely essential. I feel for you having bought it and having to return it immediately. I bought three as Christmas gifts and when I realised that BT was on permanently I had to get them all back and then replace them as I didn't want my family exposed to BT 24/7 - a lot of hassle and disappointment.
In reality no tracker will last forever and I'm sure eventually they will all be replaced by smaller and even more discrete devices - hopefully whoever makes them will make it abundantly clear whether BT can be turned off.
This should have been a feature from day one, I am honestly stunned that you cannot turn bluetooth off on the Fitbit HR. I don't know that I would have bought it if I had known you couldn't turn it off. Now that I have spent my money it sucks because I just assumed like every device I own that I could turn Bluetooth off. Heck even my car lets me turn it off if I want, can't understand why the engineers at Fitbit left this most basic feature out.
It is evident that they are not so smart. Losing potential customers by not implementing a 5min of coding function? Yes they do. This forum and suggestion section is pure fiction, I read the topic about the "Move remainder" yesterday, it has been flagged as "Implemented!".. yeah, only for the alta.. really implemented.
This is marked SOLVED and it is NOT SOLVED! Please make it possible to turn off automatic syncing in a future firmware update, if you truely value your customers. I for one am considering the Garmin Vivofit because it has the ability to manually sync. I love Fitbit but being health conscious, like just about all your customers, I would greatly appreciate the ability to do so and could remain a life long Fitbit fan/consumer. Thank you!
Please spread the word through online reviews and forums because prospective customers need to know what they are buying and expected to put up with. Most of us have found out too late.
However, I stayed away from fitbits for a long time because the BT feature!
I, along with a large number of people here am not super excited about wearing a device 24 x 7 which may be emitting some kind of communication waves, so close to my body!
Until recent when someone bought this 'charge' fir me as a birthday present!
I guess I am going to have it on & off.... however, I'd be much comfoirtable if there was an "ON" & "OFF" option for the Bluetooth or wifi....
Please add the option & a provide a firmware update for all fitbits to let users turn bt and any other form of communication on & off!
To @nicksterx, The status is status quo. Fitbit does not seem insterested in adding this capability. I have posted on these boards several times since 2015, and not once has anyonefrom the company responded positively to my posts. I ever started a petition on change.org asking fitbit to implement this feature since they were not responding to my posts here, but fitbit deleted my posts where I included the link to the petition. What is the use of having these forums if they are not taking into consideration customers' needs and ideas? A few days ago I called and emailed fitbit's customer service again to ask if anything had been done, but as usual the person on the phone has no idea and just spews out the company line that all BT is deemed safe. I feel that talking to fitbit is like it must have been for tobacco companies in the 1950s fielding questions from the early adopters of the idea that tobacco products were harmful. Talking to anyone at fitbit about the BT emission not being able to be turned off has just been a big waste of time for me. I keep thinking I might have to resort to the Garmin that someone suggested here if fitbit continues to ignore our request for BT emissions to have the option of being turned off. Good luck to you.
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