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

[JAMaharg]

So, I recently upgraded my fitbit.  I was giving my alta HR to my 10 year old daughter, only to learn that I cannot sync it to a family account because it isn't an Ace.  Then, I come to the forum and see that this has been an issue and a request for 2 1/2 years.  

I feel that this is unfair and costly.  It forces parents to possibly have to spend more money on a tracker that their kids may not want.  Which then defeats the purpose of even getting the kids a tracker to begin with.  Plus some older kids want or need some of the additional features on the other trackers.  Plus they do not like the look of the ace.  From a company standpoint fit bit is likely to now lose money because families are going to go with other options instead of purchasing a fitbit

Please update this for your customers 

[Chrekyb]

If you offer a family account i am confused if parents cannot set up a option to select the fitbit they want to add to that account for their child . Fitbit have assumed every child likes ACE. My son does not.lime it all. It looks to childish are his words. I don't what he data out their hence i created a family account. You are missing a trick.

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Wow....2018 some.of these were raised

Not must listening to your customers if you haven't realised the logical request here.

Today I was about to set.my sons versa 2 up on the family account yet I can only add an ACE or ACE2.

You have assumed all kids / parents would like Ace...no they wouldn't and no they do not.

I am sending my fitbit back. I sincerely hope you listen to your customers. All parents / adults to open the family account with the option to add any fitbit - otherwise whats the  point.  Also stop forcing people down a road on which they do not wish to travel. 

I am just 1.customer but  as an organsation fitbit should remember 2 things

1.

It can cost 7 times more to acquire a new customer rather than service a current customer.

2.

Always listen to your customers.  As Richard Branson once said - if you do not look after your customers somebody else will.

I am now off to find a smartwatch that allows mt to do what I want!

[LizzyFitbit]

Hi @Chrekyb. Thanks for sharing this suggestion about allowing more Fitbit devices to be set up in a Family account with us. This idea was already requested in the Feature Suggestions board, so I’ve moved your post here. This will help us to keep the forums organized and make sure the suggestions don't get confused, or split a popular vote. Click on the thumbs-up to show your support.

[SarahMulkerrin]

I gave my 8 year old son my Charge 4 and am absolutely disappointed that he can’t use it on the Fitbit Family Plan.  It is ridiculous that only the ACE trackers can be set for a minor. I see this has been an issue for awhile and can’t believe there have not been steps to change this.

[Emhurdel]

Absolutely yes! My daughter loves my versa lite, and I w as thinking of upgrading to the versa two and giving her my lite, but now I'm annoyed that I HAVE to buy the ace to have her on a family account. 😕 super frustrating! 

[Janinadawn]

Agreed! 3 years in and they are missing an entire market by restricting children to only using the Ace devices.

[Tinaz79]

My son’s keep popping out too. I’ve now glued it in. If it pops again, I’m not wasting my time looking and going to buy Apple watches instead. 


Sent from Yahoo Mail for iPhone

[Irisheddie77]

So after more that two years and almost 500 comments, Fitbit still do not allow a parent to allocate any device other than an ace to their children? What absolutely awful consumer response. You do not deserve us as customers. 

[keneasson]

I agree with all the other frustrated, upset or angry parents who have bought a Fitbit watch for their under 13 year old(s), only to find out it won't work without them having to give a false age. 

This information should be in big block caps on the product, and on the order page "This product won't work for children under 13" don't wait until my child has it half setup on her OWN PHONE to find out that her brand new watch is unsupported. And the worst part of the user experience, is on the app it doesn't even tell you this - I had to try and log into my account and only there and then did I learn that only the ACE is supported on a Family account.

When we upgrade my son's watch I will be doing my due diligence to ensure whatever company makes it will kindly give me permission to allow my kid to use their product. From the age of the initial request here, I suspect this is the last Fitbit product we will be buying.

[garry24]

Wow,

Still no response from Fitbit other than we are considering the feature request which they said in 2018. Three years on and parents are still having this problem.

Place a sticker message on all of the packaging, for 13 years + only.

Also, just add the feature, you have had over 3 years of angry parents. or dont you care.

Sent from my iPhone

[SunsetRunner]

This is insane that so many of these highly requested features have been sitting here for YEARS!  How about you fix the things that should have been native to start with, instead of coming up with "new" ideas?!

[Alinoe]

I just bought 2 Inspire 2 devices for my kids of 10 and 11 year.  The Ace 2 are really to childish for almost teens.

Strange I can't find a +13 label on the boxes I bought.  Seems like I'm forced to change their birth date.

[openfun]

It is fairly obvioius that Fitbit needs to improve it's Family account capabilities. It's dissappointing that this fundamental ability to have a family of fitbit users, with different "Fitbit" devices. Hopefully, someone at Fitibit will see the light, before some of my famliy members stray away from Fitbit devices all together and go to Apple or Samsung, which is the likely outcome for more families if Fitbit doesn't do something about this issue. It's been almost 3 years and this still has not been resolved. Let's hope something will be done fairly soon to allow a family of Fitbit users to be created. Otherwise Fitbit's "Family account" is fairly useless, to put it kindly.

[JennLesher]

It is extremely frustrating that I cannot give my child my charge 2 after upgrading to a charge 4. I think, like many others, that it should be up to the parents what device their child uses. I think Fitbit should allow all of the devices to be connected under a child account.

[openfun]

I agree 100% with you, but it seems as though fitbit hasn't commented on
doing anything about it. Some of my family household have decided to get
non-fitbit watches as a result. too bad for fitbit.

[brydesigns]

3 years an no movement?? I only just found out about the family account, so wanted to dust off my old Charge 2 for my daughter. But I can’t add it to her child account and she doesn’t have her own phone, just a Kindle Fire Kids that also doesn’t allow the Fitbit app (it’s only available as an Alexa plugin now…).

[DallasI]

I would like to be able to add my old Versa to a family account. It would be great if I could add it to my phone too. Just switch between accounts. Then I would have app control and could see how he was doing. I'm sorry but forcing parents to buy the kid appropriate device just looks like a cash grab. You are not responsible for what my kid does with his device.

[Cannulator]

Countless posts in support of the improved diversity in child device access.

• Child safety
• Parental supervision
• Family connectivity
• Child fitness
• Motivation in age appropriate devices
• Recognition of children as digital natives and capable of using modern tech easily.
• A tech company taking social responsibility

The worst part is that no one replies from Fitbit is that they don't even reply after three years except for moderators expecting us to be patient.

These will be the last devices from this company for my children.

[karice01]

My oldest daughter is turning 12 this year and would like a Fitbit that looks older & different than her younger sister's. Fitbit, please stop assuming that ALL children under the age of 18 want to wear the exact same device, with only a couple of color choices. 

[Smllnmghty]

Please expand the styles of devices a kid can use and still sync under the my family section of the parent app. Right now it is limited to acer models

[JuanFitbit]

Hi everyone! Thank you for your feedback and comments. 

Hi @Smllnmghty , thanks for explaining why you would like to have the option to for more models to be compatible with the Family Account. I've moved it into a similar suggestion which has been updated as "Under Consideration". I hope to see you around.

[Chrekyb]

@JuanFitbit moving our posts to the similar suggestion which apparently is under consideration  does  not appear to be doing your CUSTOMERS any good. I find it shocking that no updates are provided on this despite your customers making their frustrations know.   Pretty shocking service with no communication = poor customer service. 

If it is not too much to ask, can someone please provide a full update to you customers 

Thank you

[kemedhaug]

Putting to words what I, and others with me, think about this. 

Suggestion posted some 3 years ago. "Promoted" a year ago to status "under consideration".

Let me guess what the marketing dept. are 'considering': 

"Let us have the customers believe that this may happen any time now. Let kids be nagging their parents. Let them lie about their age. Their lie is not our problem, and we sell more units this way."

This is all I see likely to be behind the "under consideration" tag. Avoid hand-me-downs, and/or hold the costomer/parent hostage towards any legal issue.

If "adult functionality" for some (non "ace") devices were truly the issue, the simple solution is to make an alternate "family firmware" with those features disabled, and offer this as an optional downgrade for protecting underage users and for legislation compliance. It should not take a year (or three) to implement this, had the supplier  wished to do it.

The real reason is not child protection. It is cashflow protection.

My wife and daughters will still be using their Fitbits. My youngest will lie about her age, with consent from her parents. If anyone asks me about the product, I will ask them to look elsewhere.

I will be happy if Fitbit convinces me that I am wrong. I think I have made it clear what is required to convince me.

[openfun]

I Agree 100% with the post on 05-02-2021 03:24

[AmandainTogo]

Agreed 100% this the last two comments. No changes since 2018.