Alarm for heavy sleepers! Requires steps to turn off

[srmercer88]

PROBLEM: There is no alarm that will help heavy sleepers ACTUALLY get out of bed.

SOLUTION: We are wearing a Fitbit! Make the user get up and walk (where the tracker counts a preset number of steps... i.e. 5 or 10) to disable the alarm vibrations!

Of course this can be an optional feature placed into the mobile application and Online, but I know that this would be an extremely useful feature for people like myself! 

Moderator edit: edit title for clarity & Labels

[SeanH]

Make the silent alarm not stop until the person takes a select number of steps(ex. 10 or 20). I have woken up to the alarm but do not HAVE to get up because the alarm goes off after five seconds or so. 

Moderator Edit: Edited title for clarity.

[bcape]

This a great idea! that way it forces (no pun intended) people to get out of their bed and get moving in order to wake up. Other apps have had people do things like take a quiz or even pay money in order to stop the alarm, but I think making people physically get moving is perfect for this device!

[patriot71]

So far the vibrating of the Force has only woke me twice out of the 6 times I've set it. I even set 2 alarms today, 5 minutes apart and it did not wake me. Thankfully my spouse woke up and we weren't late for work. 

[SeanH]

My Flex wakes me up but its very easy to just wake up for a few seconds while it's vibrating and go back to sleep. And there's no indication to the Flex whether you have woken up at all. I usually set one alarm on my Flex and one sound alarm on my phone just to be sure, but having to do both alarms just defeats the purpose of having a silent alarm on my Flex.

[tbrock]

This would be fantastic. The current alarm I am regularly turning off while I'm still in bed...and then I just fall asleep again. This would force me to get up and walk around. Fitbit, please consider this!!!

[SunsetRunner]

Probably only for people who don't have a problem getting up but I would like to see a feature where turning the alarm off, turns the stop watch off. 

[Oracledba]

EXCELLENT EXCELLENT EXCELLENT idea.

I would love to be able to set 30 steps as the only means to shut off a vibration alarm.

without out 30 steps the vibration alarm should continue for an hour.

with 30 steps I'm out of bed and starting my day.

if im willing to jerk my wrist 30 times to simulate walking well than so be it at least it was an overt action to dismiss the alarm.   Either way it FB did everything it could to notify you it was xx:yy o'clock.

GREAT IDEA.

[SonnyDC]

I also endorse this idea that a user through Fitbit.com or their respective mobile app could select to have the alarm require a user defined quantity of steps.

I'm not saying replace the current way (tapping the flex), but have it be an option within the fitbit.com or mobile app to choose between the current method and a new one driven by locomotion.

[ztips72]

I totally agree with the concept.

I have ME/CFS and it is far too easy to go back to sleep after a bad night just by tapping on my Flex.

Setting it to record a personalized number of steps to turn off the alarm and switch it to active mode is a feature that should be implemented.

[mdweeb]

You would be able to just shake your arm if you really wanted to make it stop, but it is still a great idea as long as it was only an option. I prefer the button or it turning off on its own.

[patzwz]

This would be so great for me... I always have the hardest time getting up and am a notorious snoozer. Even if it can be cheated by shaking an arm, that would still require enough physical motion for me to actually wake up. To have this as an option would be wonderful.

[Shireeniebeanie]

I like that!  I need an incentive not to snooze.  I'd be tempted to take it off and throw it across the room, but even that would wake me up.  🙂

[MattSando_]

Tough to implement as people (like me) who set hourly reminders to get up and move about would find it annoying when you're unable to get up and move about (meetings, phone-calls, when driving, etc...) plus battery life will suffer massively. The vibrating motor eats a lot of the battery.

[jtsparks]

I would like to see the Surge have an auto snooze feature (turn on or off) that allows you to snooze the alarm but it will continue until you get up and begin to take steps.  This would help to motivate you more to get out of the bed. Thanks.

[Opivali]

Not so much into the auto snooze idea, but persistently bulging you until you turn it off or take curtain number of steps is a cool idea.

[REDACTED]

I'm loving my charge HR. One feature that I think would be very useful and in line with the product is to set an alarm that would only turn off after X steps taken.

It's as easy (for me) to turn it off in the morning and go back to sleep as a normal alarm clock. But if it forced me out of bed to turn it off by having to walk 100 steps or something I would be more inclined to stay up, and do my workouts in the morning.

[NeedSmartAlarm]

please firmware update...

[hyperionus]

@MattSando_ it is quie easy to implement in fact.

Each alarm can have a checkbox "Repeat until X steps are made", X being user defined.

Alarm 1 (morning alarm) has the option checked

Alarm 2

Alarm 3 etc. (daily alarms) do not have it checked.

As for the vibration and its impact on the battery, I would suggest making the alarm not continuous but with a user defined Snooz time.

This way, I can choose Alarm 1 to snooz for X minutes until I make the X number of steps.

Alarm 2, 

Alarm 3 (alarms set during the day) will not have nor the snooz time option defined or activated, nor the X steps to go before cancellation.

I do believe these options would be super cool to have and FitBit should really consider them seriously for the future firmware updates and they are not like rocket science.

Cheers. 

[drummer_robb]

At the very least, it shouldn't stop vibrating until the user interacts with the device somehow.

[V8]

+1. This idea is awesome!!!

[MrBreadWater]

The Flex already does this. It's 50 steps.

[zorosnax]

A feature could be that to stop the silent alarm in the morning the user would have to get out of be then walk around.

[Finmaster]

I sleep very deep and have always had trouble waking up. The alarm mode today just vibrate a short while and then turns off automatically. My question is can you make a button on alarm that is repeted until you wake up and get moving? And also make so that you can write a name to the alarm?

[yosph]

Would it be possible to have an option to require 20 or 50 steps (could be set by the user) before the silent alarm vibration stopped? This would force individuals to get out of bed and get started with their day. I currently find myself having to set multiple alarms, because they're too easy to shut off.