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Please allow challenges to be accepted from the Dashboard. I do acess them on my phone but the I MAC is much easier to see.. Seems like this has been a request for a few years now. What seems to be the hold up ?
Why is Fitbit dragging it's feet in not enabling Mac users to accept challenges via the dashboard on www.fitbit.com ? I'm retired, don't have a smart phone and frankly don't want one. Also I bought a Macbook Pro laptop because as far as I'm concerned it's operating system is far superior to that of any Windows PC and it's free to upgrade to the latest version. I suspect I'm not alone in this. I would like to accept and issue challenges from my younger friends and family and show them there's still life in the old dog yet ! Don't underestimate the grey vote and mac users.
BarryAgain I agree completely about putting Windows 10 on my Mac. I went to Apple about 5 years ago and used a boot camp like program that made my Mac slow and decided against keeping it.
Just put the challenges on the dashboard and that will solve all of this.
I guess 'try to compete' (with < 8% marketshare) is in the eye of the beholder. The fact still remains that it's still free to upgrade (unlike you represented).
Yes, Mac users number a fraction of Windows users. Thus it makes sense, from Fitbit's perspective, to design their programs for Windows FIRST. But it does not make sense to design them for Windows ONLY. Of course they have the right to do that if that is the company's choice, but -- frankly -- what I find most upsetting is that Fitbit hasn't even communicated about this! That is very poor customer service. They could say "this is more challenging than you might think, for XYZ technical reasons, and it will take us another year to get it done." or "sorry but due to PQR this is not going to be available in the foreseeable future" or "we're almost there -- look for it this fall!" but instead we get... radio silence. For almost TWO YEARS since this conversation on this forum began.
And @PureEvil, it seems obvious to me that people who choose Macs do so for reasons. Those who want or accept Windows as an operating system, use Windows machines -- those who use Macs generally choose them for specific reasons (varying person to person of course). So hearing "why don't you just put Windows on your Mac" is a very bizarre question to me. I mean, one can buy a cheap Windows laptop for about the same cost as a Fitbit! If someone felt they simply must have access to the challenges I suppose they could just go get a Windows machine purely for that function! But you know, that doesn't make much sense either, because that's not how people use their computers. People want the access to the challenges on the computer/operating system they actually use throughout their day -- and again, the main problem here is not just the lack of access to challenges per se but the lack of customer service communication on the part of the company about this request, so that people can make their consumer choices based on accurate information.
As a designer/developer I just want to add my sense is that they can't do it easily is bull_tiki. I mean -- you did it for mobile -- you can do it for desktop. Period. No harder, probably easier. No excuses. You just don't want to. Your mobile apps work on Android - would you really have the cohones to suggest you won't make a mobile app for IPhone? Sure..... that would be a smart move, right? So just admit you won't do it for both Windows and Macs.
It's not really fair to characterize this as Fitbit cares about Windows and not Macs. The fact is that Fitbit is very consistent about how they support their platforms:
PC's get Fitbit Connect and the online dashboard.
Mobile platforms (like Windows Phone, Android, and iOS) sync through bluetooth and get access to challenges.
Here's the wrinkle. Microsoft made it really simple to share code between mobile platforms and full Windows (search for 'Universal Windows Platform' if curious), which is precisely what Fitbit did to enable their Windows 10 App. If this weren't available, I doubt there'd be a Fitbit App on Windows 10.
I assume that you can run an iPad/iPhone App on the Mac under the emulator when developing. So why can't you run these iOS Apps on the Mac? This would certainly address the lack of challenges on the Mac (just run the iPad app on the Mac); this is a more interesting question to post to Apple... Why isn't this available?
I don't run a Mac nor do I know how difficult it is to enable bootcamp to run Windows 10. If you want the real cheap solution, get a cheap, unlocked Android phone or Kindle tablet (for < $50) use it on wi-fi and run the Fitbit App. At the end of the day, I'm just offering viable options in order for you to participate in challenges.
@PureEvil I'm sorry but I don't even understand what you just said.
Because I'm not familiar with the tech terms for things I don't have or use. I have no idea how apps work; I've never used one as far as I know. I have no idea what Fitbit Connect is -- as far as I know that's not what I use. I have never used a mobile platform or bluetooth, as far as I know.
I have in the past had and used Windows computers. For [reasons] I switched and now use a Mac. A laptop. That is all I use to connect to the internet. If fitbit isn't compatible with that, it should have been made clear upon purchase, that I will only be able to use [these] functions and not [those] functions. I probably would still have bought the fitbit, but at least I would have made an informed choice.
I don't want to add Windows software to my Mac, for [reasons].
I don't want to have to look at two dashboards (or however that would work) to see my fitbit data, challenges included.
I do not have a smartphone for [reasons] and my desire to see/participate in fitbit challenges does not override that choice or those reasons.
As others have said, this doesn't appear to be a difficult design issue for fitbit -- so why don't they just do it?
And as I have repeatedly said, regardless of the reasons why fitbit hasn't stepped up to create this option, why aren't they communicating with those requesting it, so that we know the actual situation?
I don't know how this "Votes" score works but perhaps the more comments we add to this post the more the votes increase and the sooner we'll get what we want for the Mac.
And @Chris_Bott you are correct -- I just looked back earlier in the thread and it's apparently been listed as "Under Consideration" since October of 2014. So I no longer think "that's an encouraging sign that they're getting ready to release it".
@ARockStar, Apple has a feature that allows you to boot other OS's on the Mac, they also need to have updated drivers for that OS for their hardware however... This is Apple's page on Windows 10 and Boot Camp. So you can boot Windows 10 from your Mac and run the Windows 10 Fitbit App.
@PureEvil why should I have to boot to Windows 10? Does Windows have a boot feature to Apple? No! All Apple users went to Apple for their own reasons so why should we have to go back just to get an app? Just out the darn challenges on the dashboard! That makes more sense than having to get "another app" that takes up space on my computer.
Hi all, this is Erin. I am the one who originated this post YEARS ago. Just to let you all know that I directly ping FitBit techs occasionally. Same response…
Re: Bootcamp on a Mac - remember that FitBit has lots of different types of users. Folks that need this feature do not have a smartphone. Those folks are most likely not candidates for undertaking a Bootcamp install (I am speaking in general of course).
Workarounds *should* be unnecessary. Just add the **ahem** feature to the web based desktop!
@edunne Hi Erin...Have you attempted to call Fitbit and/or send them an E-mail describing how many people Voted on this Topic and the many responses, concerns, feedback, ect. that this Post has received since the onset (which has been going on for Years)? This just makes people ponder whether it's even worth placing an idea in the Community if it does not get attention like this Post for example.
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