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I would like the hide me feature to be added back to the options because when I am injured I don't like to have my friends being able to see my steps. I like the option to be hidden!
haha - love it but yes the competitive edge is why we are fit bit users I guess (even if it only against ourselves) but when I am being a bit slack or going through yet another surgery I don't want others to see.
It seems counter-intuitive to the privacy functions to not allow users to "hide" their activity. We can still route on our friends, even if we don't share our step information. From my perspective, I had a knee replacement last year, and am STILL getting my steps back to where they once were.
I sometimes get comments from people of "why aren't you walking more?" or asking me if something is wrong, because my steps tend to fluctuate a lot from one week to the next. This was available once upon a time, and I really feel, as it appears many others do, that it should be made available again. Can we please have this brought back in a soon firmware update, or dashboard update, for those who want to be more anonymous, and just track our own steps without being competitive?
Since I am the consumer and purchased your product with my money . I feel should have the option to decide whether or not to hide my steps to whomever I choose.
I think it is a shame that you aren't able to privatize your step count from your friends. All other information is able to be private.
I have experience a lot of difficulty over the years with anxiety related to exercise and how I am perceived by others. I find going to the gym scary for fear of being laughed at or judged.
Don't get me wrong, I love my friends and don't mind them knowing what I am up to ref exercise. But at the moment I am wanting to take my band on-and-off on some days, to wear a 'dressier' watch. But because I cannot privatize my accurate 7 day count on the ranking board, I am scared to do so. I think if I miss recording a day or two of steps, it will look badly on me.
Mental health is much more in the limelight these days with much more help towards awareness - I would hope that Fitbit might appreciate that sometimes "friendly competition" can equal anxiety to some. Be able to make the choice is best.
Hi @sjtuppence, thanks for explaining why you would like to have this option. I've moved it into a similar suggestion which has a lot of votes. As the more votes and comments an idea has the more visibility and momentum it gains. You can learn more about how Fitbit decides what suggestions get released in our FAQs.
What has happened now is that I am not syncing my app as I do now want to sharemy step count. This means I do not know what my sleep schedule is or my heart rate stats. Or other things I use Fitbit for. I am so disappointed.
Boo! After years of resisting, I finally succumbed and got a connected device to help track health issues. I did it reluctantly and only after friends assured me that everything could be made private. Now, in my initial foray, I'm presented with a glaring "middle finger" to my privacy from the company that says, "here, we could make this private -- as we did with the other 13 data point -- but we're going to go ahead and refuse you your privacy." At least I can just never make friends in the first place, I guess...
A: of course every single thing about my profile should be able to be made private (actually, the default should be private if I had my druthers)
B: It looks like this used to have an option for privacy and fitbit took that away! If so, could someone please explain the rationale for making a conscious decision to reduce privacy and take away a user's choice in managing their own data? (and why, just this one?) C: Could we get an estimate of when the privacy setting will be the same for "Average Daily Step Count" as they are for all other data?
@gleffI've been hoping this feature would be re-implemented for over two years now, and sadly, I can't imagine that they ever will... Which is a shame, because it has been that long since I've been able to use FitBit in any social capacity. If I can't hide my steps, and I need a break from having that data displayed to all of my friends.. then it just means I can't have any FitBit friends.
We as a family had 5 fitbits, all but one of us have moved on to better devices. Only because the blaze was pretty new. That was 2 years ago. It's really a shame. A bad decision by Fitbit. I just wonder how many other customers they've lost that haven't spoken up.
Also disappointed this was removed - I loved sharing my steps when I was active and well, but since developing ME I want to keep my inactivity private. I still want to be able to track any progress, sleep and heart rate but privately. I've just been avoiding wearing it which is such a waste, as it really benefits my recovery - so I may just have to delete all my friends!!
Once I've recovered I'd then like to be able to share again, but I'll have to readd my friends back. This definitely has the opposite effect of community when you need to delete everyone! I hope they review this 🙂
I have been asking and asking for my step count to be private as it used to be. I have now taken the sad step of deleting my friends. Psychologically this has upset me. My right to be private is being abused by Fitbit. I accept many people want to compete- that is great. I do not and should have equal rights. Please get it sorted Fitbit before you lose a fan base when their devices need changing.
Yes, PLEASE add this feature back! I don't want to have to delete all my friends on Fitbit to be able to use the app (and thus my Fitbit!) without a negative impact on my mental health. I've essentially stopped syncing my Fitbit because being forced to compare myself to others is bad for my mental health and activity levels (and thus physical health!). It is ridiculous that there aren't better privacy options.
So I understand that you (fitbit) don't want to make this setting private because you want us to be part of a community... It's ironic then that I am going to make sure I have no fitbit friends and join no communities so I can keep this data private.
You need to allow a privacy option to opt out of weekly rankings/leaderboard listing among friends. This is my private information. By the same token, you need to allow us to be able to keep our daily step counts private and our identity private. This is inexcusable. Inexcusable. If this doesn't change, I will switch to a different, and privacy guaranteed, device! I am very glad I sold my Fitbit stock. This is absolutely inexcusable.
Hi @SunsetRunner, thanks for taking the time to share your feedback with us. This feature suggestion already exists so I’ve moved your post here. Don't forget to add your vote!
I don’t understand why this thread has been going for years and nothing has been done about it! Ridiculous! Just give us the option back! We should be in charge of our own privacy! I have in a challenge right now and I don’t want to be part of it. Why can’t I turn my steps off for now so I don’t look so bad compared to them?
There should be a way to keep your daily step count private. Everything else can be private, but the only options with daily steps is "friends only" or "public."
Hi @sadieh1926, thanks for taking the time to share your feedback with us, this feature suggestion already exists so I’ve moved your posthere as it is not currently planned. You can keep adding your votes to this suggestion so we can keep tracking this request overtime. Learn more about how Fitbit decides what suggestions get released in ourFAQs. I hope to see you around.
When you are doing a variety of exercises the step count will be different. The feature should be turned off but be able to see your step count in your weekly summary that can be texted or emailed. Please work on the Android application. This feature is turned off with iPhone users.
Hi @Miriamsc, thanks for taking the time to share why you would like to see the option to hide your average daily steps. This feature suggestion already exists, so I’ve moved your post here. While we don’t currently have plans to release this feature, we always appreciate the passion and creativity that comes out of this Community. Since we know this idea is important to many of you, we have left voting open to continue tracking interest and will post another update if anything changes. To learn more about how Fitbit decides which suggestions get developed, visit our FAQs.
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