The Fitbit Community is a gathering place for real people who wish to exchange ideas, solutions, tips, techniques, and insight about the Fitbit products and services they love. By joining our Community, you agree to uphold these guidelines, so please take a moment to look them over.
I think you should be able to sync with your phone and then upload data at a later date. Let us store data locally so that an internet connection is not required to see current stats.
I don't really care about the privacy aspect - I quite like having my data in the cloud, where it's accessible through multiple devices. I do care, however, that I can't see what my Fitbit is saying if I don't have internet (OK, I can, but I have to dig it out of my pocket). I very much like that my Fitbit syncs to my phone - except it doesn't, without internet.
And it is really frustrating to have walked for ages, pull out my phone, open the app...and get "Fitbit.com is down for maintenance". I truly don't _care_ that the website is down for maintenance, I want to see my _current_ data in the app! I wouldn't even mind if it said "Historical data is not available" (as it does sometimes, not sure why); it's the current data I want to see.
What I would like is for the Fitbit to _actually_ sync to the phone, and the phone a) display that data and b) store it for quick uploading to the website when internet becomes available. Why should the phone have to query the gadget, when it gets back to internet, before it can upload? It does seem to have to, based on the delay when I get a connection, which is a waste of time and battery for both devices.
I wrote to Fitbit and got this _very_ confused and confusing response (in part):
"It was really necessary to have internet connection in order for you to log in and sync your tracker's data using a mobile device. The app itself could store all the data that you synced using the tracker as it will be part of the historical data when you go on to the previous dates on the app."
It says the app could store the data - so yay! but it doesn't. Why not?
I am occupied as a sailor and have long period of offline time usually around 4-5 month,
I have bought Charge HR and deeply disappointed from that lack of capability.
Can truly understand the motivation here, but hey, even to configure alarm watch or change time zone?? Really needed feature for me.. Please respect our need and help us to enjoy the required minimal service level needed.
This is really frustrating! I wanted to change my alarm last night to get up an hour earlier to go for a run. Even though my phone and my fitbit charge hr are right next to each other , it needs Internet access to do this? Seems crazy.
Please enable the app to calculate graphs from data without having to sync with the web service. Most fitness apps nowadays can do these calculations on the phone and then sync the data to the cloud. At the moment - no internet connection no graphs. I stay in an area with very dodgy internet connection / reception.
1. Although I'm not a Security Expert as some are, it would seem to be a great way for theives to put malware in your app S/W so that they could record keystrokes for bank passwords, etc.
2. And, I find I often do not log out from my dashboard when I'm through using it. I suggest you rely, at the minimum, on cookies to know if a user of a dashboard is from an authorized user that matches the computer connecting.
3. I fully agree with others who have stated the data storage should be in my Mac rather than somewhere at your site or in the cloud. There is no good reason we should have to establish and internet connection to use the dashboard and no good reason to have to log in and log out each time to synch or see our current data.
I agree. The main reason I got the Fitbit flex was for the silent alarm and that it works with my cellphone (Nokia Lumia 620 running Windows 8.1 denim). I usually wake at 5am or so either for work or just go for an early sunrise run. I don't want to wake the family with my audible alarm anymore and the silent alarm has proven to be great the few days I have it now. But I obviously want to be able to use this feature on a trip as well where I don't have connection to the internet. I don't care much for synchronisation of the rest of my data and all that, but I'd be really happy if I could adjust my alarm offline. Just that, the alarm really.
There are many times on a walk when I cannot connect to the internet, or when I'm on vacation and away from an internet connection with my phone. It would be useful if the Android app, or really any of the applications would use local storage to save data.
I'm guessing MOST users actually think this happens, and are confused why they cannot sync when their internet is down.
I'm OK with needing internet connection to look at previous day's data. I'm glad you don't cache that data. IE clear the data cache once it connects and transmitts the data.
I currently have the Charge and am looking to upgrading to the Charge HR or SURGE. The issue I have with all of your models is the requirement for internet access to sync data (either via mobile app or bluetooth on my laptop) I currently serve in the Royal Navy and spend long periods of time in locations that offer no internet signal, wifi or any connectivity; and cannot log my data efficiently as I cannot sync my fitbit without the internet access. Surely there must be others out there who have this similar issue? I understand that without the ability to access the internet for updates etc it leave the software open to bugs and no fixes, but I also believe in this day and age it must be possible to offer an alternative way of syncing on bluetooth without internet. I am away for around 3 months at a time and there is very little connectivity on the middle of the ocean so your consideration of this matter in future models would be gratefully appreciated.Many thanks 🙂
I am also one who completely agrees Fitbit need to add this functionality as soon as possible. I am aircrew and one of the major reasons, amongst others, for purchasing my Charge HR was the ability to set silent alarms - however I was so disappointed when I discovered that an internet connection is required to be able to do this. Surely it is just a simple bluetooth link from the phone app to the device!
It would be perfect to be able to set a silent alarm as it would be very beneficial to me and my colleagues with Fitbit devices to be woken silently whilst taking our crew rest on board. Please fix this with an update!
I endorse the request to have an offline dashboard. At a minimum, a way to sync the download with a phone or a computer without internet access. I will be using my Charge HR for 2-3 weeks without Internet access.
Yes, I was on a long bike trip for about 10 days without a data connection. I feel it is a serious limitation not to be able to see my stats while being offline. Hey, there is not always Internt and travellers often have local data plans!
I can't believe that by design you can't sync your Android/iPhone with your FitBit device unless you have an internet connection. Fitbit really has to address this in an update - plenty of us go "off grid" when hiking and we also travel overseas without data roaming.
Unless Fitbit only wants to target the demographic that sits in an office with WiFi all day, RETHINK!
I'd really like to be able to acces fit bit wherever I am in the world. Sad to hear there are problems with lost data, if wifi is not available. I cant access my food diary unless I use data from my phone (which is limited) .It seems fit bit is mostly available on wifi but not the food diary.
My main difficulty is in logging foods. Can anyone tell me how to easily log food using kilojoules and gram/kg weights. I've been adding all my Australian foods as favourites but cant use the swipe to move function on my phone so far to get them easily into todays food. Have to enter then pick one from the favourites/US list.
I see many requests to sync when offline, but to me that is secondary to at least being able to simply being able to update the clock (and alarms) when offline and travelling.
The clock becomes a useless feature and even a drawback when it is wrong without a way to correct it. I routinely travel through many tiem zones, often internatinoally, where data service often isn't available or is spotty at best. Once on a plane, you want to update your clock to the destination time zone, and maybe set an alarm to wake, which you can't currently.
Once you get there, you still can't update the clock until you find a WiFi somewhere.
To me, this is not simply requesting a new feature, but fixing a major bug. How can you have any kind of clock or alarm feature yet be tied to an internet connection to simply update the time???
This is a really good idea, as I have only had my fitbit a few weeks I haven't come across this problem uet, but will do shortly when I am away on holiday.
Trying to synch time zones and alarms when out on a two week camping trip was a major PITA. We were a week in before we were able to get enough internet connection to accomplish even getting our fitbit clocks to show local time.
This should have been an obvious feature. I was very surprised when I found I could not set the time on the device itself. I too will be traveling soon and will be in a situation where I will cross time zones and not have access to any internet devices. We need to be able to set the time directly on the Surge. Afterall, it is a watch!
Join us on the Community Forums!
Community Guidelines
Learn the Basics
Join the Community!
Not finding your answer on the Community Forums?
Go to the Help Site
Contact Support