Add Lloyds bank to UK Fitbit pay

[lexi83]

More bank compatibility for uk Fitbit pay versa users. So far Fitbit pay is not connected to any major banks in the UK. The very few that fit bit pay is connected to I’ve never even heard of. So as a UK versa owner I have the special edition and can’t use the very feature that separates it from the the normal versa.

is Fitbit pay going to compatible with the major banks in the UK like Barclays, Lloyds, Santander, HSBC, NatWest, TSB, Metro Bank, Halifax, Royal Bank of Scotland etc and also I haven’t seen any where (shops) that accepts Fitbit pay yet.  

Moderator Edition: Labels and format

Moderator Edition Jan 14th 2019: Retitled to focus on Lloyds Bank in particular rather than all UK banks. Updated thread with links to multiple individual UK banks.

[Flying_Kiwi]

KayJay78 as you can see you are one of MANY people from the UK having the same complaint here so if you're not with the one 'big name' or few 'smaller' supported organisations in the UK and don't want to have to use a workaround via a 'middleman' organisation (why should you have to), I'd be looking to return it for a refund and let your money do the talking.

A review of the Terms and Condition of this forum found the following: 'we shall have no obligation to review the submission'. Somewhat tellingly, that was the very first thing on their list!

[DanaBoo2808]

Please can Lloyds and Monzo banks be added to the fitbit pay

[Smith92]

With the current covid pandemic when will Fitbit pay update in the UK to allow contactless visa debit payments from UK banks, none of the high street banks have been added so most people can't use this function even though it's advertised as so, this is needed to help reduce the spread of the virus and better protect your users

[Odyssey13]

Fitbit can only add banks that agree to join the program. Talk to the managers at those banks and tell them it's wanted.

[Smith92]

Hi odyssey13 , thanks for your comment, I brought this as the contactless payment method was advertised as a function, surely its Fitbit's responsibility to contact the banks not mine, I personally don't see how me talking to my local bank manager will help things , surely its something at a corporate level and not something that can locally be arranged, if most high street banks support contactless cards/mobile payments I'm not sure why they wouldn't agree to support the function with fitbit unless an agreement cant be made on service charges etc , I just wish the issue was clearly explained before I purchased an expensive sense.

[YojanaFitbit]

Hi @Smith92, thanks for explaining why you would like to have the option to see Lloyds bank to UK Fitbit pay. I've moved it into a similar suggestion which has been updated as "Under Consideration". I hope to see you around.

[Smith92]

Hi, I'm with NATWEST not Llyods 

[cosimo193]

I can't see First Direct mentioned anywhere here (but there are 21 pages). I need First Direct to make it worthwhile considering replacing my existing device.

[SaraBurnside]

This really needs sorting out. Lloyds is the biggest bank in the Uk, and it seems there is only one high street bank that is compatible with Fitbit pay. I bought a new Fitbit to be able to use this feature and most of the banks listed here are definitely not mainstream! Come on Fitbit. Highly disappointed 

[Flying_Kiwi]

I couldn't agree any more Sara but given its been a few years and many pages here of being 'under consideration' maybe its time to consider returning your Fitbit watch as not fit for your usage in the UK? Google have said they're buying Fitbit and Fitbit haven't said they don't want this to happen. Google's own Operating System of choice on smartwatches is called WearOS and existing devices with this often have Google Pay installed (as in whats on many Android phones). This is already extremely well supported by many UK banks as well as many others worldwide (similar to Apple's payment app). Why would a new owner of Fitbit want to eventually reinvent the wheel by having to update Fitbit Pay to include many missing banks when they could simply use Google Pay on all of their smartwatches instead?

[NeilD22]

This has been “under consideration” for just under 3 years.

Fitbit - can this please be sorted, surely this doesn’t need 3 years to make progress 🤦🏻‍:male_sign:

[SunsetRunner]

Most of the banks that are available for FitBit Pay are US based banks. It would be beneficial for UK based banks to be available for this feature too. For example, NatWest, Nationwide, HSBC, Lloyds Bank, Barclays etc

[JuanFitbit]

Hi @SunsetRunner , thank you for your feedback and suggestion about the banks. I moved your idea here as the suggestion for Lloyds Bank already exists. 

I also found the suggestions for the other banks you mentioned: 

Barclays Bank for Fitbit Pay

Natwest bank added to Fitbit Pay

Add HSBC to Fitbit pay

Please visit them and leave your kudos for each of them. 

Please keep sharing your ideas

[DMI-31]

Wouldn't it be a great if Fitbit would support more UK banks like Lloyds Bank UK this feature at crucial times where contactless is needed to the extreme situation since it's the new norm "stop the spread of covid" you don't need to touch your Fitbit device to pay for whilst you do on your phone which could have transferred on to it from holding other items in store etc
Who else agrees !?
Come on Lloyds Bank sort it out & make a difference to the world of Fitbit users

Moderator Edit: Formatting

[balbip01]

It’s now been years im afraid and FITBIT have taken no notice and don’t suspect they are bothered in the slightest. If it wasn’t on the small print of their product description it would be a scandal of how they have got away with this in the UK

Sent from my iPhone

[Flying_Kiwi]

@balbip01 & DMI-31 you both make really good points. Its important to remember that consumers should be voting with their wallets. This means that if after buying Fitbit Pay equipped products in the UK, a customer is disappointed to find that their bank isn't directly supported, I put that down to Fitbits failure to make it clear that Fitbit Pay has incredibly poor uptake by UK banks. I also believe this should be grounds for Fitbit to offer a full refund to such affected customers - or at least back the relevant retailers to do so.

On the bright side, I read online that in Europe, Googles Purchase of Fitbit has recently been finalised. I also note that some recent Fitbit devices now have Google Assistant integrated into them. I dont think it'll be very long until we see new Fitbit watches using Googles WearOS operating system (instead of Fitbits entirely proprietary one). The good news is that WearOS supports the GooglePay app and that is almost universally accepted in Europe by banks (at least compared with Fitbit Pay).

[thanos23]

@DMI-31 You still need to touch your watch to put your pin number in, so
your post makes no sense.

[Flying_Kiwi]

Given Fitbit watches that register heart beat rates will be 'looking' at the blood vessels in the wearer's wrist to sense what's going on and relying on electrical signals (so will know if they're being or have been removed), I don't see why a pin can't be entered when the device is first put on and then have Fitbit pay activated automatically by NFC detection when the watch is placed on/near a reader. This assumes no further action is needed if it's desired to use the default configured card for payment. Surely anything else is making things fiddlier than needed for a low value contactless payment?

I've never owned a Fitbit device because they've still to make a device with the right features to go with my Pixel phone (including Google Pay) so I'm just saying how it should be and not necessarily how it actually is. 

[Flying_Kiwi]

Oh and thinking about it a little more, to avoid the possibility of someone surreptitiously skimming your smartwatch, it could be made a requirement that the watch be shaken to activate the contactless payment function first - also a useful idea for any one armed owners (I'm sure there are a few).

[thanos23]

That's not even vaguely how Fitbit pay works.

[jannerbuoy]

Please have Lloyds bank support Fitbit pay 

[Flying_Kiwi]

Hopefully Fitbit Pay will be scrapped in favour of Google Pay soon (which already includes mainstream banks in the UK) and hopefully it will be made to work as I've described above so pin entry isn't required before each usage - just once after the watch is put on and then have the watch remember this info as long as it doesn't detect it has been removed. It may not be how Fitbit Pay currently works but it'd be the best and most convenient way for an NFC capable smartwatch to make payments with Google Pay.

[Bebo]

Sent from Yahoo Mail on Android

[jannerbuoy]

Many thanks for the update 👍

[SunsetRunner]

Please add Lloyds Bank in the UK to Fitbit pay so I can use this function