Allow to customize Active Zone Minutes Goals

[Jocrab]

Allow users to revert back to active minutes or be able to customise zone minutes. Preset goals are too high and unreachable for some. For those with health conditions or on medication, pushing themselves enough to increase their pulse to the higher fat burn zone can be either impossible to do or extremely dangerous.

Moderator edit: Clarified

[imd]

I completely agree.  I have no problem with a new measure being added, but why take away the old one.  I've been tracking the activity minutes measure for a number of years, and have used it as a target, which has suddenly disappeared. 

Every measure and statistic has pros and cons, but I strongly value having a static measure to know whether I am progressing or not; I had an activity minutes target for 2020 which I now don't have and find it utterly demotivating.  When I purchased the Ionic I was pretty disappointed with it as a 'smart watch' since its not very 'smart' compared to the apple, however I stuck with it because I really valued having a consistent measure over time and a long history of data, if Fitbit are going to arbitrarily change measures then I might as well just swap.

[joeyxl]

i am having the opposite issue people are having with active zone minutes. im clocking 24-40 active zone mintues from just doing basic tasks due to my heart rate getting high. i don't think ill even really follow active zone minutes as its wildly inaccurate, unless even though my heart rate is high, it really is in "fat burning zone". it seems the active minutes were a better idea. 

[harshani]

Well, ladies and gentlemen.... Fitbit has NOT listened to any of the complaints here or anywhere in this forum regarding the unreliability of the zone minutes and why people should have the right to chose between active and zone minutes.

They already started the "get in your zone" in the app to sell their zone minutes.

Super 

1. Disrespectful

2. lack of understanding behind the zone minute science

I want my money back!!!!

[mkamoski]

Yes, I see they are responsive, and unlikely to bring back regular
active minutes, so I plan to start shopping elsewhere soon, but if
they add active minutes back into the tracking app and watches (Versa
1 and Charge 2) then I may reconsider. -- Mark Kamoski

[pkj]

I agree. Without the ability to use the previous functionality, when I next upgrade it will be with a different tracker.

[bobby2478]

My thought would be to add a new "Active Zone" with heart rate below "Fat Burn Zone", which for me is 120 bpm. I can go on a 2+ hour walk for 15,000 steps and get ZERO Active Zone minutes because my heart rate was below 120 bpm.

You could award partial points for this regular zone below Fat Burn, which could be something like 0.25x or 0.10x per minute. In other words, if you went with 0.10x credit, if you went for a 10 minute walk you'd get 1 minute credit for active zone minutes in this new zone.

I understand the premise behind this feature, to award extra credit for minutes spent at a higher heart rate as it's more taxing. But it would seem to me that getting SOME activity, even at a lower heart rate, is better then not doing anything at all. Which is why creating a new zone and awarding partial credit would at least show your activity still counts towards your goal (albeit you will need to do a lot more to hit your goal).

[ar909]

Upgraded my versa yesterday and regret it very much. If their goal was to get more engagement by people complaining here, they got it. I had to join to complain about this "feature". BRING BACK ACTIVE MINUTES. Otherwise time to buy an Apple Watch or Garmin tracker.

[Milo1134]

My experience was the same

L.

[pkj]

100% agree

[SunsetRunner]

I’m not a fan of the new zone minutes for reasons other than what people have been saying. Personally I end the week with about 300-500 zone minutes because of the 2x points for cardio and peak zones. I really dislike this because it gives an inflated estimate of my activity. I want to know how many minutes realistically I’ve spent exercising, not this ego inflating number. 

[pkj]

Based upon the variety of concerns with the new zone minutes, it would seem like a good idea for Fitbit to allow the option of using the old active minutes for those of us who prefer it.

I ask Fitbit to listen to its’ loyal customers before many of us seek other fitness tracking options.

For myself, active minutes are a fundamental component of what I want the tracker to do. I much prefer raw data, active minutes, rather than data derived through an algorithm telling me what someone else thinks I need to know. I am a personal trainer and exercise instructor, and prefer my own analysis of my progress.

Is anyone at Fitbit listening??

[pkj]

Sadly, I have also started looking at other options. I have had a Fitbit since they first came out with the flex. There are aspects of the Fitbit that I prefer above other trackers, but this particular feature is a deal-breaker for me.

[JonErrington]

It's not just the return of Active Minutes for me, it's the end of Fitbit making decisions on how we are to use our devices that really is necessary and the complete disregard about genuine concerns and feedback from customers.

For example, Sleep score may be an annoyance, but at least i can sweep past it to the useful sleep tracking information, but the very fact that i cannot set the feature to default to the display i want is another problem. They decided that what was really of importance to me was that they tell me what they think my score is. I've never met anyone who is remotely interested in the Fitbit score, yet it cannot be turned off.

This Active Zone Gibberish is utter pants. It is not fit for purpose. It fundamentally takes away one of the key scores i wanted when i bought and decided to use my Fitbit, yet the only response i've had from a few support monkeys is along the line of: "Fitbit is constantly striving to improve it's services and offerings..." The biggest joke being that the feature they have implemented was not even what was asked for from the feature request they claim to have now completed!

Zero responses from Fitbit or any indication of even listening about concerns means that i'm now out. I turned off the AZM as best i could (reduced weekly target to 1 step and removed from view) and now just guess my exercise levels, because I refuse to justify the behaviour of **ahem**s who think we'll all just forget about it and keep giving them money. Rumour has it that I may be getting a new "watch" this Christmas, so bye bye Fitbit. I may just be one customer, but from the comments and feedback on your social media pages, these forums and from feedback amongst friends and family, i won't be the last to say thanks, but no thanks.

[pkj]

Well said. I 100% agree with you. The sleep score is of absolutely no benefit to me, but like you said, the raw data is still there so I can still work with the tracker regarding sleep tracking.

I will be sorry to give up my Fitbit companion for the past several years, but with complaints falling on deaf ears . . ..

[Feedback2]

The active zone minutes feature is the most frustrating feature ever!!!! Please go back to the active minutes like before ever since this new zone minutes none of the minutes gets recorded. I was frustrated enough to consider moving to a different device after using Fitbit for 5 years now!!! 

[SunsetRunner]

I am a therapist and while I can get more exercise on the weekend, in between clients all I can do is walk. I can walk intensely climbing stairs at my office for a half hour and see a few minutes of zone minutes. It’s upsetting to work hard and not see the pay off, and instead have to not log into the app, but log into my dash board on a browser to see the active minutes.

you need to let this be an option. I’m also pissed that I returned an Apple Watch with the argument of “I liked what my Fitbit tracked” to now be forced to used something that is so unmotivating. 

[Guy_]

As Heart rate on Sense and Versa 3 is not accurate, nor are Active Zone Minutes which are based on it.

So a choice of the older Active Minutes makes a lot more sense

[Guy_]

As Heart rate on Sense and Versa 3 is not accurate, nor are Active Zone Minutes which are based on it.

So a choice of the older Active Minutes makes a lot more sense

[PaulaYvette0628]

Agreed.  I am a cancer patient and had been using FitBit activity minutes to support health goals.  Please provide a choice or as much as I love my FitBit, an alternative will selected by me and other convalescing patients.

[pkj]

Sadly, with Fitbit’s failure to return the option for active minutes, I have switched to the Apple watch today. Good luck to everyone. Keep moving!

Signing off for the last time.

[Annieoakleaf]

I miss my active minutes. I track exercise for work and zone minutes are making more difficult. I just took a 38 minute walk and only got 17 minutes.

[Kauper]

I bought a Fitbit Alta after my double-lung transplant in 2016. I finally replaced it with a Charge 4 because the Alta kept shorting out on me. I’m so disappointed to see the active minutes are gone! I’m on high doses of beta blockers and now when I do “moderate” exercise, my Fitbit registers that I’ve done half as much. Please bring back the active minutes! Maybe my own fault for not doing better research but I would not have bought this Charge 4 had I known of this change. 

[hayleyhill92]

I am so pleased this has been mentioned, I thought my Fitbit did an update and stopped working correctly.

I have a health condition that affects my ability of gaining any Zone Minutes now. Whereas i'd gain at least 60 minutes Active Minutes after a walk, and now I get 0.

This is needs to be changed! 😬It's so demotivating. Makes you wonder if Fitbit is worth using. 

Has a member of the Fitbit Staff made a comment on this?

Thanks😊

[MarlaG]

I posted about my dislike of zone minutes back in September & stated that if it didn’t change, I’d look for a new device. I still have a Fitbit scale & will continue to use it regularly but my Versa has been relegated to the junk drawer in favor of an Apple Watch. Maybe I should be thanking Fitbit for forcing the undesirable change that motivated the replacement!!

[hayleyhill92]

Update:

I have made a comparison between my age & being 53y/o with how Fitbit have changed the HR 'active' and 'HR zones.'.

My alternative way around this issue is I have changed my age to 53 and it now appears to have set the HR zones to a similar range that was needed to log active minutes before the new update (with active hr zones).  Eg, fat burn is back to 105-125bpm+ which is what it was set to before I believe.

Hope this helps guys.

[cellz]

I think it is absolutely unacceptable that you took away the functionality of a device without approval of the user with an update. If you not just extend the software and give the user the configuration possibility you need to really notify the user with warnings before the upgrade if he wants to accept the loss of a functionality. No company should ever do this and should be sued for such an action.Seriously you should apologize to the affected users and handle this issue with super high priority. And I tell you this as a person who is not interested in the active minutes.