Make “premium” features free

[NSJS]

Dear Fitbit, 

Until recently I have been very impressed with the caliber of Fitbit products. That was until you started providing features that consumers have to pay extra for. When I spent AU$270 on my Fitbit Charge 3, I did not expect to have to pay an extra $80 per year to utilise its features. This is a view that seems to be reflected widely in the Fitbit community. 

My suggestion is that Fitbit stop charging its loyal consumers for features that ought to be included in the purchase of the Fitbit device. The purchase price of a Fitbit device ought to include all features present and promised within the device. For example, if and when Fitbit finally releases the SPO2 feature it promised when we purchased the Fitbit charge 3, I expect that to be a feature that I can use without additional payment. 

I look forward to hearing your feedback on this proposal.

[SunsetRunner]

Goodbye guys. I returned my device today.

[GuyFit]

I guess that someone will say this isn't the place to post this, but the
app is getting slower and slower (particularly adding food to the log...)
really making it seem like time to look elsewhere with all the other issues
as well. Shame about all the money I spent on my Fitbit products and the
subscription I used to pay, until that service was stopped for no reason
and no replacement for it. Not looking good for you Fitbit, not at all.

[ealter]

I have to agree with a few posts here.  I look to the web interface to view my premium features and now I don't see them at all.  I don't really want to have the app do "everything" for me.

That said, I couldn't figure out how to purchase my premium subscription...I vaguely recall the only way to do this was through the app...again, I'd like the web interface to do this work.

[YojanaFitbit]

Hi @SunsetRunner! Great suggestion, thanks for sharing your feedback. I've moved it into a similar request. Post a comment or click on the thumbs-up to show your support.

[Nadia23]

I think a lot of Fitbit users are a little bit annoyed about the fact that we have to pay for Premium. I have to pay a subscription monthly/ yearly to have full access to my information. It's not like this is a cheap device and one would think that you get full access to all health stats. 

I honestly think that Premium should be dropped. Or at the very least made free. I am not prepared to pay monthly/ yearly for the stats my device automatically tracks. Its info I find rather useful. But I sure am not paying for it. 

Moderator edit: updated subject for clarity

[Odyssey13]

Hi @Nadia23  for many, knowing the basic (free) portion of any device or program is enough. For others, they want to dig in deeper and know more, for which, they are willing to pay for the extra programming and such to secure that data. No different than people who buy a car but don't want to pay the extra for the navigational panel that many of them have and cost extra. Why drop Premium for those willing to pay for it? Is the basic feature not enough for you and others? I have friends and family using Fitbit and none of them use Premium.

[EdsonFitbit]

@Nadia23 Thank you for your suggestion about getting full access to all health stats without extra charge. 

We'll see what other Community members think.

[Jaacheetah]

Is there any Fitbit product which does activity tracking & sleep tracking but also continuously displays the time ?

Even if it depletes the battery life....

Moderator edit: all-caps

[Angienunya]

I agree with this request.  As a long time user, it is a bit disheartening to see that those things which were part of my purchase of the tracker I now need to pay premiums for.

Additionally, one of the perks of the customer/fitbit relationship is that I buy the tool but you get to profit not just off my purchasing the tracker but also the data you have collected from me for many years now via third parties, marketing, targeted advertisement, so I actually think it is unreasonable to now further charge for what you have moved under premium that was free before.  Edited to add, I am pro-profit lol, so I do not think everything should be free, just that since I know there is some more $ earned off the data from customers that this premium add on is a bit incorrect.

[JonDavidL]

I understand your frustration having to pay for Premium.  I am currently using Premium and I actually like the added benefits.  My only complaint is that I think $9.99 is a little bit high for what I am getting right now.  I think a better price might be $4.99 a month.  Hopefully Fitbit will continue to add more information to Premium and really make it worth $9.99 a month (yes I understand you can pay for a full year and get a discount but with Google looming on the horizon, I don't want to pay for the unknown.)  Also, if Fitbit would let me see my SPO2 readings, I would much much happier paying $9.99 (hint hint Fitbit).

[quietplace]

Completely agree.  I would never pay for the service and feel it is unfair for them to ask us to do so after buying an expensive device already.

[MarcusKilgannon]

I have to agree here. The devices aren't cheap so I would expect all the tracking to be available. I think it's a little dishonest by Fitbit that they're pay walling tracking stats.

I don't need premium for almost any of the features - I just want my in-depth sleep tracking. I already pay for Crossfit to have licensed coaches train me.

The price for premium is insane if you just want tracking data. I wouldn't mind as much if it was a small monthly fee to unlock just all tracking data - and keep premium features like coaches, videos etc, at the higher cost. I still dislike Fitbit's direction in this entirely but at least have two subscription levels so people can purchase what they'll use.

[FinchFingers]

I completely agree as well. Removing features that were free before is incredibly insulting to their customers. We already pay for the device and having information it already tracks behind a paywall is ludicrous. I bought it for those features and had it for a year then it was taken away from me. It's super unfair when I bought it FOR those features.

[CompJunky]

I am with the above members.  I think it's insane to pay for the tracking that is already being tracked by the device.  Never had to do this with any of the previous devices I have owned.  I switched from a Polar tracker to this one for the added battery life and because of the SP02 feature but if I have to pay just to see my own information that's a little rough -- plus the fact that the SP02 readings can't be accessed on demand or at all at this point is pretty frustrating.  

[Bleeh]

I certainly agree.

All other devices I am aware of provide this information (and more) for the price of the hardware. Paying a monthly fee just so I can obtain access to MY OWN data seems like a rip off on its face.

After the recent firmware updates I decided to keep my Versa Special Edition for a while longer, as most major issues, such as failures to sync GPS data and Heart Rate tracking failures were finally fixed.

But having MY detailed data behind a paywall is a constant reminder to look elsewhere when I need new hardware -- it does more damage to the brand than the money collected from the three true-believer fans who may have signed up for Premium because of the more detailed data availability (Premium for guided exercise at least makes some sense, but even that is unwise). 

IMO, when Apple improves its battery life so that sleep tracking becomes viable, Fitbit with a paywall would have a really, really hard time competing.

If it wasn't for the paywall, I would have grabbed the Versa 2, because of Alexa. But I didn't, because I am actively looking to get out from the Fitbit ecosystem.

[SunsetRunner]

Remove paywall for premium features.... ridiculous after spending so much for device when it already has the data.

[CareyJack]

Agree paying for something that I generate is out of order... actually have stopped wearing my FitBit for the first time in years as each time I upgrade the app I am asked if I want to pay for something that was previously free.  FitBit you made your company with a device similar to competitors... the difference was the app and the data.. now looking at moving to Garmin especially given the Google purchase and uncertainty as to what the future holds...

[mrgt]

I just gifted myself with a new Inspire HR for Christmas. I've been a Fitbit Flex user for years. I am very surprised to see that I basically have to pay 80€ on top of my purchase to get access to ' Fitbit Premium' ?!

I understand that someone who does not own a device have to pay to access programs and workouts. But WHY would I have to pay if I just bought a new Fitbit device? 

What about offering a year of Premium with every new device?...

[Ronald1]

Hi everyone I ABSOLUTELY FULLY agree about not paying for premium. The $10 is actually ZAR 100 for me. The car analogy used by @Odessy13 bears reference: the car I bought called Versa promised SPO2. So if you paid for a car with a feature that suddenly disappeared how would you feel? @JohnDavidL Garmin offers the Data you want free. They, believe that since you paid for YOUR device you should access YOUR data. 
Fitbit will not accede to our request people therefore I am going to defect. If you don’t believe me just scroll through the Feature Suggestion to gauge how many requests were ignored:,”insufficient number of votes”. This begs the question: What, pray tell, is the point of Fitbit requesting feedback which they ignore??

[Harvey_G]

This is terrible and does feel like a way of extorting information I would suggesting the freedom of information act would say that gathering data and keeping it is against the GDPR.

Anyway my question asks before I have to subscribe for my daughters health reasons if I purchase Premium for the relaxation and anxiety tutorials is this purchase available for Apple Family sharing? Regards

[Alf28]

I just bought this watch because I was excited about many of the features. However if I'm going to get nickled and dimed then I'll happily sell this and go back to a standard watch.

[rudyten]

There is a **ahem** load of money to be made from your data. Very common business model. ROKU does it, Apple does it, Amazon does it.
Money is made by saelling you a product with limited features. Forums and Blogs and groups are provided to keep the sheep foolled and quiet. lol
Want something... Upgrade to a bigger better the device that is available to the Elite...those that have money that is.

Want data analysis that are not provided to the masses..pay premium.....

Odds are you data is also sold to marketing firms and so on.
Same data is analyzed in mass, and the result data sets are sold, like how often to older males run? how well do young women sleep? etc....

Things like fixing **ahem** that does not work, like step accuracy, or add more common sense features like letting the OWNER of the device set a simple setting device sensitivity or setting the amount of time the data is displayed on screen. 
Well..maybe if you upgrade to next new better shinny fitbit device lol

[Ronald1]

Hi @rudyten Brilliant Insight. Thanks for clearing that up. Sincere thanks friend

[Ronald1]

@ THigginsWx pardon the movie references: I think your posts were locked by the Borg from Star Trek. Also John Malkovich told me about you: you are besieged by a special league of **ahem**s who strike to destroy your logic. You have raised An excellent argument about sleep and you’re met with “Hulk Smash”. Still, your insight is sound. Great analysis Friendo. 

[Razmus]

If this very expensive device does collect information, I think it should be available to me. 

> No different than people who buy a car but don't want to pay the extra for the navigational panel that many of them have and cost extra. 

I think the better analogy would be people who buy a car, and don't want to pay extra for diagnostic messages when the engine starts to overheat, the voltage from the alternator starts to dip, or the oil pressure is low.  Can I get a car where all that is in one warning light, and buy a device to plug into my car to find out what's wrong?  Yes... but I didn't buy that cheepie device... this is suppose to be a premium product already.

I'd expect to pay extra to tell me how to use this product optimally.  The navigation panel analogy for my fitbit would be a virtual personal trainer which would use all the data to tell me how to get where I want to go... how to really achieve my fitness goals.