Heart rate zones alert feature

[kingtut1975]

 Many fitness enthusiasts and individuals of whom base their workouts on target heart rate zones would really appreciate a heart rate alert feature implemented into the new Fitbit Ionic as well -if possible ALL Fitbit watches. This feature would allow a Fitbit user to manually set their Fitbit watch to alert the user once their targeted maximum and minimum heart rate has been achieved while performing a workout. Â The watch would vibrate on the user's wrist alerting the user when their selected heart rate has been accomplished or met allowing the user to more cater their workouts to stay within a selected threshold. Â Implementing this feature will also serve well as a safety feature which can alert the user when their calculated heartrate is dangerously high or above the maximum threshold that they set enabling the user to adjust their workout accordingly. Â Some Fitbit users I can imagine and many other individuals have cardiovascular/heart related issues which prevent them engaging in a workout that is too intense therefore a heart rate alert feature implemented into the new Fitbit Ionic would make the watch more marketable to the present customer base, a broader audience of fitness enthusiasts, and desirable to a whole new market of individuals of whom have cardiovascular/heart issues and will really appreciate a heartrate alert feature implemented into their fitness/activity trackers. Overall, implementing this feature will likely increase popularity of the watch, increase revenue, and appeal to a wider range of individuals that are taking steps to improve their health through daily workouts but are limited to what they can do due to cardiovascular/heart concerns. Â Implementing this feature can likely be as simple as have software engineering add it to a software/firmware update which will allow it to perform identical to the silent/vibrating alarm feature already included in most Fitbit watches anyhow.

Moderator edit: updated subject for clarity, format & labels.

[Nikola84]

I have to say that this is funny to me. When I tagged all of the members of fitbit community team that can do something about this (I skipped web site staff and language specific staff), my comment was edited by a moderator to remove all the tags. It would be much nicer if he actually addressed the issue here instead of modifying my post, but god forbid that people here do what they are supposed to 🙂 And then a post from @IncredibleBulk was deleted... This was his post minus the tagged community team:

"I fully recognize this is probably going to get removed for being 'mentionspam', but how else do you expect your users to get your attention? I'm hoping it at least catches one of you before it is taken down. This feature has been being requested now for quite some time and as mentioned in the above post, it is the 8th most requested feature for a variety of reasons - specific heart rate training, alarms for cardiac patients, etc... etc...

Personally, I live and train in Oregon. When I run - most of the year, my surge is buried beneath layers of clothing and waterproofing - I can't even see it most of the time, therefore, a vibration to let me know if I'm in the zone is essential. 

Would one of you just please pop on and tell us that you have no intention of implementing this request? That way we can stop bugging you and purchase a different product that will serve our needs. I have gotten all of my friends using Fitbit after I picked up my surge. I love the product, and so do they, but if it is not going to serve our needs - then it needs to go and something that will needs to be purchased."

Well done FitBit community team, as always we are here for you and not the other way around 🙂

[Gailstewart]

Surely they will respond. Its manners after all !


Sent from my Samsung Galaxy smartphone.

[Gailstewart]

Brilliant 


Sent from my Samsung Galaxy smartphone.

[BigHaole]

@Nikola84, @Gailstewart, if you read back through the pages and pages and pages of this thread, you'll see that the moderators have commented on this earlier.  What it comes down to is that the Moderators on this page are not the Product Managers who decide which features get built.  The Moderators have correctly labeled this as a good feature to add, and now it waits for the Product Managers to take action.  I'm losing hope in ever seeing this simple and valuable feature.

If I had to guess, I was guess that Fitbit is targeting the daily wear/calorie counter market.  And the Charge HR is very good for that.  It's easy to wear every day, it gives you good data.  And if you are focusing on your calories in/out, it's the perfect tool.  I think that is the big portion of the tracker market.  There is a smaller audience that wants it for use in exercise (real-time HR tracking) or for critical heart-care issues (again needing real-time tracking).  Fitbit isn't targeting our two groups and it may not be the right tool for that, given how it tracks average HR, rather than instantaneous HR.  Just my 2 cents.

[JoanneOrzech]

I have afib and  my son purchased the fit bit charge to so I can monitor my heart rate. However sometimes I look at it while I'm watching TV and my heart rate is 163. Very high. It would be nice if I could be notified when my heartbeat starts to rise like that. It could save me from having a stroke!   Please escalate this request

i have a charge 2

[Gailstewart]

Exactly 


Sent from my Samsung Galaxy smartphone.

[Łukasz]

Fitbit is good but needs improvements. I wonder if they listen and will release this year updates.

[Egbeed]

Please modify your blaze alarms to include a preset max pulse. 

[ionFreeman]

I feel like on behalf of FitBit and Cardiologists everywhere -- for neither of whom I can really speak -- I should say that the FitBit Blaze is not a medical device. If you die because your FitBit heart rate fails you, it's not their fault.

I'm kind of backing off on this feature request. Just Googling around

http://www.livescience.com/56459-fitness-tracker-heart-rate-monitors-accuracy.html

https://www.cnet.com/news/how-accurate-are-wristband-heart-rate-monitors/

https://www.wareable.com/fitbit/fitbit-sued-over-heart-rate-accuracy-2137

Wrist-based heart-rate tracking and the FitBit Blaze in particular are fine for white people to get resting heart rates, but they can't be trusted for higher rates. You need a chest strap. The Polar FT1 and Garmin fēnix® Chronos and wrist monitors that rely on a chest strap. I don't know that FitBit has one.

They haven't implemented the feature probably becuase it would lure people who really needed heart rate monitors to cheap out and use a FitBit, which would then result in harm to their users, which they don't want.

---

[gdgrise]

I was not interested in this feature as a life saving medical alert but
instead as a training feature. It telles you when you are in the zone you
wish to be and when you push to hard and exceed that zone. You can't even
put bpm screen on display for more than a few seconds. Having to stop and
swipe to screen defeats workout. Sounds like very easy to implement but
clear fitbit does not intend to ever do so. Perhaps when enough customers
switch over to garmin, they may see the light.

[ionFreeman]

@gdgrise me, too. I was alarmed by @JoanneOrzech .

The Blaze will tell me what it thinks my heart rate is, but it's somewhere between five lower and ten higher than what the chest strap says. It'd be pointless putting an alarm on that.

[gdgrise]

2nd attempt, this time I used the click here button.
I was not interested in this feature as a life saving medical alert but
instead as a training feature. It tells you when you are in the zone you
wish to be and when you push to hard and exceed that zone. I also
realize a wristband device will be intermittent in its readings, It
appears to be good enough for my usage. You can't even put bpm screen
on display for more than a few seconds. Having to stop and swipe to that
screen defeats workout. Also while a chest band would be more solid, I
really don't need that and fitbit does not offer that either. Sounds
like very easy to implement but clear fitbit does not intend to ever do
so. Perhaps when enough customers switch over to garmin, they may see
the light.

[Nikola84]

@ionFreeman

You are correct that fitbit trackers should not be used as reliable medical instruments. But adding this feature to, lets say, surge which is still the only "serious" sport tracker that fitbit offers (has GPS, HRM, etc.) should be a no brainer. And, as I mentioned in my earlier post, they can start by making this feature available only during activity tracking (not 24/7). This way people that are focusing on hart rate based training can enjoy their workouts more and not worry about constantly checking their tracker (that can often be tricky, if you are wearing long sleve shirt or jacket). Many running apps have this feature if you have connected heart rate monitor, so there is no reason for fitbit to skip it. Especially since they have all the components they need (like buzzing notifications that are triggered by certain events like finishing a mile while running).

Side note: Similar device from garmin (vívoactive HR) that costs the same as surge has it, so it would be good if fitbit can keep up with the competition.

[gdgrise]

And if they are concerned about the surge losing heartrate during
workout, they can, with a series of buzzes, alert you to the fact and
you can re-adjust the fitbit. That would not be as disruptive as ahvine
to slow down to swipe the bmp screen into view.

[SrATHiker]

Excellent point ionFreeman. At last a reason for Fitbit not taking action
that makes sense to me.

[JoanneOrzech]

I'm not asking for anything exact.  I just want a wArning when my heart rate is rising so I can then use other medical device to check what's going on 

[ionFreeman]

@gdgrise This actually works for me. I have QuickView (and Heart Rate) both set to "On". I tap into the 'Today' screen to see the heart rate when I start, and I see it every time. I don't actually know what time it is, but I do see my heart rate without touching the Blaze.

@JoanneOrzech I use it to tell me if I should definitely be hearing the HRMonitor App, which frequently disconnects from the monitor and has to be restarted.

[User1979]

I'm a psychologist and am in tune to the various behavioral reinforcers for encouraging activity. I definitely have a positive association with hitting 10,000 steps and my wrist sensing the vibration of my FitBit and watching fireworks go off. I think creating a vibration alert for when my HR crosses over from "Fat Burn" to "Cardio/Peak" zone would be a reinforcer for me to engage in more cardio-intense activities. For those who don't want this option, it could be something that can be turned"Off" in the FitBit app settings. 

[JoanneOrzech]

Thank you for your comments.


I don't have to do anything either to see my heart rate... I just look at the screen and I have the face that always shows my heart rate.... and I just quickly turn my wrist and the screen lights up. However, I cannot tell when my heart beat starts to get really dangerously high... unless I look at my fitbit. I am a person who gets no other symptoms... just a rapid heart beat. It would be nice to have an alert that tells me my heart rate is rising -- I would set it for 120 pbm and if it hit that number, then I would be checking my heart rate on my other device (blood pressure cuff/heart rate monitor).

[Ketelep]

I am just using my Fitbit fore 1 month and I am missing the heartbeat alarm when going to high.  I don't like looking my fitbit during training.

[gdgrise]

Sorry, no high alarm with the fitbit. That is the reason for the
complaints in the forum. Ionfreeman mentioned using quick views on phone so
heart rate remains visible on phone during training. I have not tried that
yet but would be better than pausing and swiping on fitbit.

[gdgrise]

ignore my reference to quickview, appears to only apply to clock face and does not seems to work on my surge anyway.  A vibration alarm is what I wanted. 

[Gailstewart]

Ok x


Sent from my Samsung Galaxy smartphone.

[ZanderQ]

I saw a suggestion from around a year ago, but the feature is not implemented in ditbits with HR/BPM monitors.

Could you please implement a small configurable(max and min BPM) feature/workout that lets you know when you spent 15-20 seconds in max BPM, and then let's you know again when you reached the required amount of time in min BPM?

This is the best way to lose weight, you should have that feature.

[murphy.b]

+1 

Because of some medication I'm on, I also have to monitor my heart rate if it gets too low. So having the ability to customize the alerts for if, say, I go below 40 bpm, it would be very helpful!