Allow us to move or delete Cardio Load prompt

[BonBon7]

There is a new Activity called Cardio Load on my home page and I cannot move or delete it. I don't care about it. I want to see my Steps on the top of the list and now I can't see them because of this new Activity and the size of my iPhone mini. This is ridiculous.

Moderator Edit: Clarified subject

[miminaz]

This number is rubbish and I would like to be able to completely disable it. After a sleep score of only 52 and being sick, why am I being pushed toward a cardio Load of 90? How the recommendation is made often is nonsensical. And then when I hit the x to close it in "Today" it still comes back half and hour later!?

[Lili-94]

What I enjoyed most with Fitbit was the positive encouragement. Even when
you were far from a target that you'd set, the Fitbit reminders were never
critical, but they were still effective. With Cardio Load, I'm faced with
a metric that I don't want, isn't applicable for my lifestyle, and that
annoys me every morning. And it annoys me whether it tells me I haven't
done enough or that I've done too much - I've never had it say anything
like "good job, you've been training at the right levels, keep it up"!
That would be a Fitbit message. I don't need or want my Charge 6 to prod
me, maybe some people do, but the only thing cardio load is going to
persuade me to do is to get rid of my Charge 6 and move to a less arrogant
competitor.

[jersen]

Fitbit describe this issue as “Under Consideration”. I cannot see what is so complicated about allowing users to switch this feature off.  Why would you not allow us to do this without delay? It so obviously hugely irritates a sizeable cohort. It so obviously damages that cohort’s view of Fitbit/Google. What does Fitbit/Google hope to gain by denying choice in this matter? I regularly delete my Cardio Load data in order to manage this feature. When it reappears I utter words out loud or silently, the last word of which is not “on”.

[MaXPainT]

The pop-up shown when the tile is turned off is an obvious bug which should take less than five minutes for a developer to fix. If it takes that long to fix something that small I can't imagine how long it takes for something bigger to be done.

I've been rowing daily for two years. Then I've got myself a fancy pixel 3 watch and started following the cardio load algorithm. Two months later I quit rowing. The algorithm is broken. Maybe it is good for someone  who is preparing for olympics, but even when set to maintain fitness instead of forming a healthy habbit it will push you harder and harder and shame you when you fail to reach the target. At the start if the two months my maximum target load was about 60 which took me something like an hour of rowing to reach. By the end of the two months it was giving me ~140 on a daily basis. I am not a gym bro, I don't have the time and the will to spend a couple if hours daily to avoid the shaming messages.

The messages are generated at the start of the day when you have 0 points on the clock, so almost each day you start with an undertraining risk message until you get to your workout.

[LizzyFitbit]

Hi @miminaz. Thank you for your product feedback about being able to delete the Cardio Load prompt from the Fitbit app with us! We've found a similar request and merged yours with it. You can find it here. Please vote on the existing thread to help us track interest. To learn more about how Fitbit decides what product feedback is developed, visit our FAQs.

[Amysrecord]

I agree with other commenters. I had the shaming cardio readiness app notification. I do not want to track this metric. Please allow us to remove this reminder unless cardio readiness is turned on. 

[GoalTorrent]

I agree with all the other comments that we should have the choice whether we have this as part of our screen.

[Bexielou]

Haha it gets worse! For whatever reason the app has become so buggy and even the watch update... It lost my workout last Tuesday. The watch recorded it fine but it wouldn't sync to the app, after a restart all data was lost. Now the stupid thing needs me to be above 200 to "get back to it". So not only the cardio fitness is ridiculous, but the app is more buggy than ever and yesterday showed more steps than the watch. I assume Google is slowly trying to kill off fitbit so we move to Google watch series?! Obviously someone has no business acumen... Why would we stay!?? 

[vjcskid]

Someone earlier suggested deleting the cardio data. I started doing that and the messages disappeared for several days before I had to delete again. Now it looks like that doesn't work either. The last app update messed up the data display too so now the values are crammed to the right side of the screen and the font is off.

 

[miminaz]

Thanks all. I already have a pixel watch and there are still bugs. I love android but I am really NOT enjoying the Fitbit system. 

Hello... Not everyone measuring their health is a runner, AND there is current medical and health science that support some people NOT beating themselves into submission with loads of cardio.

Fitbit needs to get current and more flexible.

[Dee95]

The request to remove the cardio load pop up or at least give the option to turn off notifications has been under consideration since December 2024. 

when I spoke to customer services about this I was informed there was no way of stopping the pop ups. That they are part of the program. They agreed to pass on my feedback to the development team.

It’s clear from the posts that there are multiple issues with the pop ups. Fitbit / google what are you actually doing about it? How long will it be under consideration? Seeing some things have been under consideration for years does not bode well. 

I’m currently looking at Garmin and Apple Watches as alternatives to change over before I loose the plot with any more unhelpful cardio load pop ups. 

[Bonniebonnie]

I had been deleting cardio load weekly to get rid of the messages. But then, I toggled cardio load on to delete it like usual - and I noticed they had saved several months of cardio load data. It was never deleted all this time. 

Now I'm concerned what Google is actually doing with my data. It is not being deleted when requested. It only clears something small enough to postpone the pop-up. 

I demand data transparency!

And, please just turn off the pop-up. People can still use cardio load without the pop-up if they choose to. But, everyone who chooses NOT to is screwed over. 

I bought into fitbit before this issue and I feel I'm not getting what I originally paid for. 

[OKmamaJ]

Well that is mildly terrifying, but it explains something that has been niggling at the back of my brain the past few weeks...

I do the thing every Monday morning where I go in & "delete all cardio load data", and it works. No popup for the rest of the week. But that Monday morning popup has continued to reference my activity level, saying things like "you've been more active lately, so your target cardio load has increased to ##-##". I just assumed it was basing it on my general activity level rather than continuing to store cardio load data.

Do we have any European people on this thread? I'm pretty sure that Google refusing to delete the data when requested would count as a GDPR violation... Alas, I'm over here in the US where corporations basically own us, so... bleh.

[Lili-94]

Hi,
Regarding the General Data Protection Regulation, if you are covered by the
GDPR, (or other similar legislation, because more and more states and
countries protect your individual right to privacy), then you have a
number of rights, including access to your data, the correction of errors,
you can exercise your right to disappear and you can withdraw your
consent. In the case of Fitbit/Google, they have access to our data
because we gave our consent by using the product. However while I'm not
sure that the Cardio Load pop-ups qualify as personal data, but the
measurement of your Cardio Load is based on an analysis of your personal
data, the exercise you did, etc.

And that is where your comment becomes very interesting. If you look at
the Fitbit privacy policy from September 16th, 2024, it states the
following:

*"HEALTH AND OTHER SPECIAL CATEGORIES OF PERSONAL DATA To the extent that
information we collect is health data or another special category of
personal data subject to the GDPR, we ask for your explicit consent to
process the data. We obtain this consent separately when you take actions
leading to our obtaining the data, for example, when you pair your device
to your account, grant us access to your exercise or activity data from
another service, or use the female health tracking feature. You can use
your account settings and tools to withdraw your consent at any time,
including by stopping use of a feature, ...."*

It might be possible to ask Fitbit/Google to remove the Cardio Load because
it's processing your personal data in a way that you hadn't intended when
you purchased/started using your Fitbit device.

In my particular case, I live and work in France, I have not made any
choices regarding the Cardio Load, but I did notice that sometimes the
pop-ups state that I've chosen to "maintain" my fitness level. I've never
consulted my Cardio Load data because to consult it you have to use the
feature, which means you consent to it. In my particular case the
underlying algorithm is not applicable - so I can't be bothered.

Are are any DPO/Fitbit users out there - what do you think?

@lizzy Fitbit - can you please add this to your review process?

[HydeParkBooks]

Adding my vote to get rid of this discouraging feature Cardio Load. I do not want it never asked for it. 

[SaraBee81]

Also adding my vote to remove the cardio load banner. I have cardio load switched off, yet I am reminded about whether I'm under or over training everytime I open the app.

I cant train more. I'm happy with my output. I train on specific days becauae of family commitments and other scheduling!

 

[dylan_smith]

i made a forum account just to upvote this and beg. yes please

[CoCoLove10]

This cardio load nonsense is intentional. They make it difficult for you to get rid of, even knowing that it’s WILDLY unpopular. 

I found a way to temporarily disable it, but it still returns after a couple weeks. I’m looking at other brands now. 

[Dawlishdaisy]

Seriously considering leaving Fitbit because of these awful cardio prompts and the new sleep graphic. Lots of comments to the same effect so I hope things change. 

[md57]

So, how can this be in any way meaningful. I'm 67 years old and today did 130 AZM (amazing, right?). Yet Fitbit popup says I'm undertraining! 

 

[LadyBel]

The Cardio Load and attached Target banner that pops up *every* time I open the app is so shaming and damaging. I am really being harmed by this feature. I've disabled the data but the banner still shows, and the Cardio Load still shows in my daily exercise summary. It makes me feel like dirt. Please remove it. I find it so demoralising and I don't want to use the app anymore. 

[miminaz]

Exactly.

[Jstroix]

I just spent 15 minutes figuring out how to login and comment just to share how irritating this feature is. Cardio load is NOT my current goal. Seeing this message every day is just DEMOTIVATING when I want to focus on other things. Please make it possible to fully opt out of this feature. 

[candace626]

After I just deleted my cardio load data, as I do every Monday morning, wanted to stop by here to echo everyone else - please let us turn this feature off. It’s inacccurate and demoralizing. After a week of increased exercise, it still tells me that my activity is low and needs to improve. We should be able to opt into that if we want it - it seems that most do not. 

[OKmamaJ]

I gave up & canceled my Premium subscription. At this point I would quit using the Fitbit app altogether, but I'm locked in by my Pixel Watch. 🙄