Allow More Fitbit Devices than Ace to Family Account

[thewarden1618]

I am frustrated that I cannot give my Fitbit blaze to my daughter and use the family account. The only device it will allow you to since is the Ace. The Blaze is far better and it would be extremely useful to her. The only way I can have her use the Blaze is to lie about her age and create a single account for her. Please allow other devices on the family account for minors. 

Moderator Edit: Title for Clarity/Added Labels

[tanusscott22]

I agree, the family account needs to allow any fitbit to sync. My son has some sleep issues, and the detailed sleep data on the Alta HR has been awesome for him. Also when my daughter gets her period the ACE has no female cycle data like the charge 2. Also since the Ace doesn't have a HR monitor it won't auto recognize my son's exercise during recess, or P.E. class. Major fail on the part of fitbit. Parents should be allowed to decide what device is best for each of their children, and be able to link it to their family account. 

[ftbtistonedeaf]

Not supporting a child's use of the charge 3 is stupid.  Correction:  Fitbit is STUPID.  You have got to be kidding.  After I purchased two of these for my kids, the company is going to tell me they don't want my business.  The people who made this decision will be replaced if the company has a significant future.  How ridiculous can they be?  Now I need to research other devices.  I need to return this garbage to Costco.  What a waste!

[Joyce_88]

I absolutely agree that is just silly to not be able to pass down fitbits on the family account. Having to go out and buy a child specific band is just rediculous. 

[llrau]

Just bought two Charge 3 devices - one for me and one for my child. I have wasted the entire morning trying to set them up. I can't set her Charge 3 to my family account and do not want to create a separate account for my child. This makes zero sense. My child is a swimmer and has refused to get an Ace. Many thanks to all the folks who have posted here to ask for more Fitbit devices to connect to family accounts. Fitbit product people: please sort this out.

[Vicky79]

I’ve just bought a Versa and given my 8 year old daughter my old Alta and try adding her to my account as I family member, but it said only aces can be added. I tried setting up her own account but it wouldn’t let me due to her age. There’s no way for her to tracker her steps. She really want to set me challenges. Please add this to your development  plan.   

[dbbd]

Fitbit has it all wrong.  This isn't about the types of data that can be collected about kids under 13.  This is about the freedom of parents who take responsibility for their kids to give their children a more advanced Fitbit device if they choose to.  Maybe the more advanced device is for an older child, maybe the parent bought a new device for themselves and would like their child to use their old Charge, Versa, or whatever they were wearing.

This comes across as an effort by Fitbit to push the Ace on people who don't really want them.  The choices are to purchase an Ace or create an adult account and lie about the user's age.  If the only workaround is for the parent to create an adult account with a separate email address which, in theory, provides less control for the parent, who are we protecting? Who benefits?

Add that there is nothing on the packaging, on the website or in any other information about the various Fitbit models that a child account cannot be created with higher end models.  The only way we find this out is AFTER we've made the purchase, opened the packaging (which makes returns more difficult) and tried to register the child in the family account.

There are nearly 10 pages of replies full of people who just happened to find this discussion.  How many haven't found it? How many have contacted Fitbit? How many silently returned their device?

Something to think about: For every customer complaint there are 26 other unhappy customers who have remained silent –Lee Resource."

Moderator Edit: Formatting

[Lillithbear]

Totally Agree!

[woo49]

So when setting up an Inspire HR for a 10-year-old, my only option is to lie about his age? That seems like a bug. 

[SLarsonL]

Definitely agree. Got Blaze as a gift. Child under 13 already likes wearing charge 2, why buy a new tracker? Can't sync to family account and not spending more $ when this is a foreseeable option.

[Smaceachern]

Agree. It is so frustrating that my kids already own Altas, but I cannot add them to my family in the app because they don’t own Aces. This comes off as gimmicky and a money-maker...not a community-builder. Please Allow More Fitbit Devices than Ace to Family Account. Thank you. 

[HockeyMom99]

Yes, Yes, Yes 1000 times yes.  Please add my comment to these in favor of allowing other FitBit devices to be added to family account.

My son received a InspireHR for his birthday. (same price as the ACE with more features)  Was told by sales person that we could link my existing FitBit account to his and be able to used. Beyond aggravating to find out this is NOT the case.  He is super active, playing ice hockey and baseball as well as weekly sports fitness training classes.  He is very interested in tracking his activity, sleep, HR etc during the day as well as challenging me to daily fitness challenges and goals.  Technology should be available to enable parents to add any FitBit devices to an existing account and manage like family share.  He would still have access to all the features on his IOS device for activity tracking and while still allow parents to set account parameters to control the other things like location features, friends, etc. It's not rocket science...

PLEASE and Thank you!!

[VS2008]

This is frustrating. Almost a year of comments on the topic and still no solution? I found this because I gave my daughter my old flex awhile ago that I hadn't been using. She has just been on my account. I am now shopping for a new device for myself. I am trying to figure out if it it possible to have two accounts on the same phone? Has anyone done this? If I lie about her age, make her an account, and also have own account can they both work on my phone app at the same time? Actually considering purchasing a different brand for myself to not deal with the headache. 

[SmuchAbout]

I agree with everyone here. I purchased two Charge 3s for my sons, one who is below the age to have his own account. We chose the Charge 3 for silent alarms, guided breathing, and sleep tracking and can't believe it cannot be added to a family account so we can see this information from our phones.

[Aglsteven]

Please allow any Fitbit tracker to be added to a child account. 

[RoxanneMM]

It’s May of 2019 and still no progress. It would be really nice to be able add any device for your child to the family account. With the family account you can monitor your child’s activity easily. When they have their own account, you have to go to their device to see how they are doing. Please add an option to add any device to the family account. 

[ODPBen]

I have just brought my twin boys Fitbits today on their 11th birthdays. Really disappointed at this issue, shooting yourselves in the foot @Admin! 

Had to do same workarounds as previous, lie about age and compromise children’s online safety just because of this restriction that seemingly needs ONE app update!

please fix!! 

[Tam.klinger]

As per doctors recommendation my son has been wearing my Fitbit Alta, especially at night. He was recently diagnosed with a sleep disorder. The tracker has helped us a great deal. I made the decision to buy myself a new tracker believing I could log my son in as part of the family app. After sadly purchasing a new Fitbit I have learned I unable to do this unless I purchase an ACE. After this experience I don’t see me purchasing another Fitbit or recommending it to someone else. Fitbit should fix the app and allow families to do what is best for them and their children. 

[SunsetRunner]

This is horribly annoying. It’s my child and I decide what is ok or not. Another vote for charge 3 access under the child account. Good night it’s synched with her phone which has access to way more than the watch/tracker. 

[Dclarepdx]

I agree! I bought my son the Inspire HR...and we can not set it up. We as parents should be able to determine what device we purchase for our children. My son has health issues and we purchased it to track his heart rate. So incredibly ludicrous that I have to lie about his age and I won’t be able to track it from my device. Please change this. ASAP! 

[LuciaFitbit]

Hi @Tam.klinger, 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!

[Kristinu79]

I 100% agree that I should be able to use my older devices for my children. As a loyal Fitbit owner, I upgrade and don't want my older, still usable, Fitbits to just sit in a drawer. I have an Alta and Alta HR that I want to hand down to my children and monitor. Hopefully this will be resolved sooner rather than later!!

[admumbai]

its been an year now. FITBIT , are you listening?

[Gorengan]

This suggestion has been around for over a year.  It is clear that the ACE is not a suitable product for many children, that many parents are not satisfied with FITBIT's position and that competitors are offering a far superior solution for parents and their children.  It is time that FITBIT stated what their intent is with the future offerings that can be linked to a child account instead of offering the usual platitudes that appear in this thread from time to time.  My son could be using either my wife's or my old device or could have a new product from another manufacturer as the ACE doesn't meet his requirements. This will inevitably lead to the whole family moving to another brand which would be a pity but is the end result of this ridiculous marketing ploy.  Is it worth disenfranchising loyal customers in the hope that you flog a few more ACEs??

[cecilia.pearl]

Already bought 3 Garmins for the grands. Haven’t switched my husband and myself

Sent from my iPhone

[JJ9000]

I just gave my daughter a Versa lite for her birthday and like everyone else on the thread I was stunned and amazed to realize I can’t link it to her kid account. This is totally unacceptable. Please fix this ASAP.  The terms of service should allow parents to accept liability for letting their kids use a Fitbit product before they are 13...