Allow us to choose between "Active minutes" or "Active zone minutes"

[ophelialnc]

Please include a data field for real time active minutes, an essential metric you took away to replace with Active Zone Minutes or be able to choose which I want to see. I had to return my Charge 4 because it was missing this info. I just need a field that tells me how many total real minutes in a day I spent in active heart range. I cannot use active zone minutes in the same way.

Moderator Edit: Clarified subject

[LizzyFitbit]

Hi @JoB28, thanks for sharing this suggestion about having the option to track active minutes instead of Active Zone Minutes 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.

[Phoenix211]

It's just a shame that Fitbit aren't listening to their customers!

[JoB28]

It is a shame. I don’t want made up minutes either for time spent in cardio. For me zone minutes are just random numbers, as they give you extra ‘minutes’ for cardio & no minutes for activity that isn’t in ‘fat burn’

i had a Fitbit one before this, only changed to the inspire 2 as the battery was knackered, it did exactly what I wanted otherwise. Now I find my steps aren’t accurate either, I got 400 steps for washing up yesterday. I’m thinking of returning it. 

[Kyes_guy]

I don’t like the active zone minutes on my recently purchased Sense, can you bring back the active minutes? It makes it much better for walks and activity when I’m not just looking to be in cardio zone. 

[Jellybeanqueen7]

Agreed. If my heart rate goes up from stress I get bonus minutes. It’s
ridiculous.

[timfisher]

Looking through all the comments on this thread, it definitely seems as though I'm not the only one who finds Active Zone Minutes to be nearly worthless. I've seen other people comment that it actually decreases motivation. I 100% agree. I don't even pay attention to Active Zone Minutes because it seems almost arbitrary as to how they are accrued. If other people like them, great. But can you please bring back straight Active Minutes and just give people the option of which they want to use? Active Minutes actually encouraged me to close the ring on my clock face. But like I said before, I don't even pay attention to the Active Zone Minutes ring. It's completely useless.

Specifically, I created a clock face for myself so I want access to the activeMinutes property of the User_activity API.

[Rich_Laue]

@timfisher if throws the case, where are the votes? Why only 209? 

Why was the request for active zone minutes more popular? 

[timfisher]

@Rich_Laue If what was the case? (I'm assuming you meant "if that was the case" and "throws" was just a typo).

All I said is that plenty of people who commented on this thread find Active Zone Minutes to be worthless. Your question is irrelevant to what I said. "Why only 209?" That question is meaningless because my point was that in the universe of the people who have interacted with this post, there are plenty who don't find Active Zone Minutes to be useful.

Now...did I not say that for the people who do like it, great, keep it? I sure did. I just asked for the option to use either.

So what is the point of your comment?

[Jrdr15]

Does the clock face you created only show active minutes and not zone
minutes? I would love to see/test it if so!

[timfisher]

@Jrdr15 Unfortunately, no. The only thing that seems to be easily available through the SDK is Active Zone Minutes. I started exploring the option of tapping into the weekly exercise goals but the few minutes I spent looking into that made it seem as though you would need a companion app to access the web API if that would even work at all.

Hence the reason I asked to just bring back the activeMinutes property. I mean...keep the ActiveZoneMinutes interface. That's fine! I totally get that some people prefer that approach. I just personally find it to be unhelpful and not motivational.

[Jrdr15]

Oh I completely agree!!! I play soccer for hours at a time. I hate looking
at my watch and seeing over 250 active zone minutes when I only played for
half that. I want to know real active minutes in a day. Zone minutes would
be a separate, go look it up thing. Leave em there, but it shouldn't be the
main measurement. I could go on and on... they messed up something that
worked fine and was mainstream across other brands.

[timfisher]

@Jrdr15 Yes, exactly! Listen, there have been times I've woken up in the morning out of a dead sleep and had an Active Zone Minute or two. C'mon. That's not helpful to me. I felt like the measurement of the classic Active Minutes coincided almost exactly with my actual physical exertion. Now I feel like I could do the exact same activity two nights in a row and get completely different readings on that ring. So I don't even pay attention to it anymore and that's disappointing.

[Jrdr15]

Agreed! I did set custom a heart rate zone for my min to my max heart rate.
That'll give me "active minutes" but I have to go into the app to look at
and see what I did that day. It's a pain. I want my legit ring back!

[timfisher]

@Jrdr15 You got my hopes up as I read custom heart rate zone but then I realized that wouldn't work either. Lol!

The reason I made this clock face is because I found one in the store that I loved when I got my first Versa. When I got my Versa 2, I put it on that, as well. But then I got my Sense and it looked like that face had not been updated for the Sense (at the time I got it, anyway). I couldn't find another face I liked as much as that one, so I was like, alright fine, I guess I'll just recreate that one on my own. So it's literally just for me. I side-loaded it onto my Sense. I won't put it in the store because I 100% ripped off the design from somebody else. Well, not 100%. I did add a battery meter that I enjoy.

It was fun figuring out how to do it, though!

[SunsetRunner]

It seems that since the requests to have Fitbit track Active Minutes instead of Active Zone Minutes (or both) go back to 2020, I'm not confident that this will do any good. But here goes anyway.

I compete with friends who do not have Fitbits using an app called Stridekick. I recently discovered that Stridekick picks up Active Minutes, which I can't see on my Versa 2 or the Fitbit App. I can see them online, so my Versa must still be tracking them. I cannot figure out how the Active Minutes relate to the Zone Minutes, making the zone minutes useless to me. I contacted customer support through Chat and was told that I could see Active Minutes on the app. I found this same information online. But what it was pointing to was historical information only which I cannot see as too much time has passed and wouldn't be helpful anyway. If my Fitbit is still tracking Active Minutes (which I believe it is), please find a way to track it and view it on my Versa 2 and/or the app. I'm not saying get rid of the Zone minutes. Some people may prefer that. Just give us an option of either or both. Thank you.

[Rich_Laue]

@SunsetRunner have you read the help doc? 

What are Active Zone Minutes or active minutes on my Fitbit device? 

[Marprelate]

While it is helpful to know which devices have active zone minutes and which have active minutes, and to know how the active zone minutes are calculated, it still does not the problem for people who, for whatever reason, prefer to track the other kind of minutes while they are exercising. Sure, you can find out the score on your laptop when you finish, and there are few things more annoying than finding you have 59 minutes of your 60-minute goal.

Why can't the device show both? It seems to me that active zone minutes may be helpful for serious athletes, but people may have all kinds of reasons why they prefer active minutes. If the goal is to keep people active (I suspect it's only to make money, and why should we be surprised at that?), active minutes work. This is one situation in which Fitbit could be all things to all people, but apparently those who just want to keep moving, including the disabled and the elderly, are not important enough to warrant the very minor change in programming that would be entailed to make active minutes available on all devices.

When my ageing Alta finally dies, I doubt I'll be buying Fitbit. I wonder how many others have voted with their feet (pardon the pun).

[Rich_Laue]

I was simply answering the question asked. How are zone and active minutes related. 

[Marprelate]

Yes, you were. And I appreciated the information, but I wanted to make the point again. Thank you for providing the link.

[Baj227]

Please return the Active Minutes to Charge 4.

[YojanaFitbit]

Hi @Baj227, thanks for explaining why you would like to have the option to see Active Minutes on Charge 4. I've moved it into a similar request. I think that a lot of users would like to have this option on their Fitbit devices. You can learn more about how Fitbit decides what suggestions get released in our FAQs.

Thank you again for your participation in the Feature Suggestions Forums.

[Deb88M]

Just replaced my Fitbit Inspire HR with Inspire 2 and am so disappointed. Been a Fitbit user for many many years but this change to zone minutes is a deal breaker. Please change this feature back to real active minutes. I glad there is a 45 day return policy but hoping Fitbit listens to the community and makes this change.

[DavideFitbit]

Hi @Deb88M, thanks for taking the time to share your feedback about the possibility of changing from Active Zone Minutes back to Active Minutes. I noticed that a similar suggestions has already been posted, so I’ve moved your post here, this helps to keeps the boards more organized. Make sure to add your vote as well to support this suggestion, this helps the team of developers to keep track of popularity and demand over time.

Thank you again for your participation in the Community!

[Tb7782]

I can’t stand wearing activity trackers on my wrist. They count ridiculous motions as steps, (wash the dishes? Folding laundry? Shifting in vehicle) so I wear mine in a clip, on my shoe. It’s way more accurate.
Main motivators in Fitbit are active minutes & step total. All devices need these basic functions!

Moderator Edit: Formatting

[Odyssey13]

Hi @Tb7782  these are wrist based devices and they count your hand movements as steps. If you were pushing a cart or holding something in your hand while walking, it would have a hard time recognizing the steps.