Option to show Kilojoules in Dashboard and all apps

Many countries favour using Kilojoules instead of calouries for enrgy input and output. Please add the option to choose in all relevent dashboard areas.

 

 

Moderator edit: Labels

542 Comments
CarlaK73
Jogger

So I just tweeted @FitBit a link to this feed...

Pierre_n
Jogger
Let's hope they pay attention - I've stopped wearing mine
Rohcan
First Steps

@dssims wrote:

Many countries favour using Kilojoules instead of calouries for enrgy input and output. Please add the option to choose in all relevent dashboard areas.


Yes we need Kilojoules 

CarlaK73
Jogger

Nope. I think they're ignoring me now...

I'm using My Fitness Pal, but it is most painful having to synch and wait for it to catch up as it doesn't refresh automatically (even through it says it does). Oh well.

litesport
Jogger

I too have tweeted to fitbit but no luck. I think we need to try to gather some momentum and get a lot more people to tweet their displeasure at being ignored.

SJKes
Recovery Runner
Agreed!
Axiryth
First Steps

Just picked up my first Fitbit today and was very disappointed to find there was no option for kilojoules. All nutritional information here in Australia is shown on packaging in kilojoules, not calories. It's really not too much to ask for the app to allow an option to show kilojoules for tracking. Look at the date this was first requested. It's taking far too long to get a very simple feature implemented. 

Craftyfrog
Jogger

Bought a Charge 2 today. Very disappointed to find that I can't change to Kj and now I come on here to find that people have been asking for the option to be added since 2013? I am now considering returning the product as its annoying to convert everything to an outdated measure because the US seems to be scared of the metric system...

MatthewFitbit
Fitbit Moderator
Fitbit Moderator

@arata Posts are only removed when they are in violation of the Community Guidelines. A Moderator will reach out via Private Message if this happens - you can always respond to them if you have questions about what is okay to post. Since this isn't relevant to the topic of this thread, messaging a Moderator would be the appropriate way to continue such a dialogue.

PeteCuthbert
Recovery Runner
As the "Moderator" obviously reads the posts, how come there has been NO action on the requests for kilojoules? The request is NOT unreasonable and our food is labelled in kj and conversion is laborious (and unnecessary if Fitbit did their job).


Love and light

Pete
MatthewFitbit
Fitbit Moderator
Fitbit Moderator

@PeteCuthbert You can always check the status of a Feature Suggestion by looking at the line beneath the title at the top of the thread. In this case, the status is "Reviewed By Moderator," which means this suggestion has been documented and reported to the appropriate team within Fitbit that would potentially develop such a feature. It's up to that team to determine whether the  suggestion fits their development roadmap, and when they might be able to devote resources to working on it. We continue to keep them informed of ongoing activity in this thread, but future status updates will depend on whether they make those decisions.

 

I know you'd like to have more insight, but that really is the extent of what we can provide right now: the suggestion has been heard and could possibly be implemented in the future.

Ugetsu
Jogger

Just to reiterate the points I made a while ago:

1 There is a workaround: install the free Loseit app. It can link to the Fitbit app and you can enter food data in Kilojoules. (You don't have to upgrade to the paid version; and you can still use it even if you want to gain weight.)

2 Tracking food can be useful, but less important than making sure your meals are fresh and diverse (e.g. include 10+ small veg portions every day). If you are time poor, invest it in ensuring food freshness and diversity first, then worry about entering data.

3 The food tracking in Fitbit (and some other apps) is outdated: e.g. following the 5:2 pattern is an important strategy: eating 25% of your normal energy intake two days per week. But you can't set this up as an option in Fitbit. You need to work out your own way to make the tracking effective. 

While the lack of action on Fitbit's part is intensely annoying, don't let it derail your own fitness/health program. Don't just take my word for it though, please investigate the points I made (BBC website may be a good start). The knowledge of the relation of food to health has been evolving fast. Many of the 'facts' we learned in the past have been debunked as myths. Changing our understanding as the science improves is as important as changing our exercise routines.

arata
Recovery Runner

"We haven't announced any specifics about when or whether this might be added. I understand that you'd like something more than that, but there simply isn't anything else to say on the matter right now. The good news is that the interest has definitely been heard by our team, and could be added in the future if it lines up with our development path.

 

Hopefully that clears up both of your concerns!

 

Matthew"

 

September last year, after 4 years.

arata
Recovery Runner

Misunderstanding? Your customer support is unfriendly at best and horrific at very best. Ignoring people for YEARS! ...

 

The moderators only delete negative comments about their products. This has been raised with them (ESPECIALLY MATTHEWFITBIT), but it's always ignored...

 

We are angry at you and have stopped buying your products because of your actions. Matthew, you are costing your company a lot of money.

MatthewFitbit
Fitbit Moderator
Fitbit Moderator

@arata Please see my previous posts. I've been very clear about the way that suggestions can become implemented - since we are working with finite resources, not every idea can be added to the development queue. I understand that you'd prefer to have all your desires actualized, but that's simply not how business works. Everything is prioritized, and some items stay in the queue a very long time.

 

As mentioned above, we don't remove negative or critical posts - we only remove content that is in violation of the Guidelines, and that is always accompanied by an explanatory PM. If you feel like you've observed behavior to the contrary, I would appreciate you sending me a PM with relevant information so I can look into it. Again, this discussion is not relevant to this thread's topic, so I'd appreciate you using PM to continue the conversation. Further off-topic content will have to be removed, as per the aforementioned Guidelines.

Pierre_n
Jogger
Hi - appreciate as moderator you can only pass this on - what would be
appreciated however is an indication of whether we are wasting our time
even bothering?

It is not against any reasonable guidelines to point out the request has
been mentioned multiple times by many people over several years for example
- it points out that acknowledgement is simply not good enough - the
question is whether the request is seen as in line with fitbit development
strategy and effort

What would be really cool is to find a forum where the development head
themselves acknowledge the request and explains where we sit in the
priority of things - we can then make an informed choice whether to persist
with fitbit or not and move forward
Brendcos
Recovery Runner
Hi Pierre_n, it's worth noting I asked this same question last year… it was one of the posts that were deleted. I was trying to ascertain if any of our efforts were likely to influence change, if there was a tipping point of posts or vote numbers, or over time, or not. I also DM’d a couple of moderators at their request. I didn’t get a reply to my actual query. I did get several posts deleted. You will need to make up your own mind what that might mean. I believe it means it is not worth it, but that is an individual choice I guess. All the best.
OzGav
First Steps
Interesting that this thread gets posts daily. At what point can we get a
response from Fitbit to say something like:

(A) we are looking into it and will come to a decision on it by xx date
(B) it is being considered for next update, which will be on xx date
(C) it is not something that is being considered
(D) we will consider it after we get x,xxx number of requests

Just something to give us an idea of Fitbits position in this issue so we
can all move on and stop getting daily emails on the thread, that seem to
amount to nothing except a reminder that our questions are still out there
about why no KJ option, and when if ever it will be considered. But there
is no response I can see other than in regard to side issues about whether
posts are removed or not. Can we just get some kind of meaningful feedback
on the issue please Fitbit?

Any business that wants to be or stay successful needs to take customer
feedback seriously. Even if the company or its managers disagree with what
is being requested, they should still acknowledge and respond to the
customer requests and provide some explanation of the company's position,
particularly when the issue has been raised by numerous people continually
over a period of years.....
OzGav
First Steps

I mean, just saying that the KJ option is a suggestion that has been heard and could possibly be implemented in the future, and resources and finite etc, doesn't give us any insight into fitbit devs attitude to this issue. It should be known for example if the option is being actively considered, and what features are on the radar for the next update. Meaningful feedback is possible, even if it is to say that KJ option is not currently being considered due to lack of sufficient requests. And if that was the case then also let us know what is needed to trigger a serious look at the issue (eg 1,000 requests) so we can make a judgement about whether to keep watching this space. If it's not actively being considered and not likely to be then let us know so we can unsubscribe the thread and move on..

Emiloly
Jogger

Yes! Please give us kjs!!! This is most frustrating 😂😂😂

nchpmn
First Steps

Over 500 votes Fitbit! Let's make this happen!

AnnaLOZ
Recovery Runner

Hello,

 

There were other threads with quite a lot of discussion regarding kj unit incorporation- which appear to have been deleted from the forums? Many of the Fitbit users were also leaving negative reviews on the App Store regarding the lack of metric units- these also appear to have been deleted. Is this Fitbit standard way of dealing with queries?

Prawner
Stepping Up

Needs to be done post haste. Sole reason why my wife hasn't bought a Fitbit. 

joood
Recovery Runner

Please update Fitbit to kilojoules as well as calories.

andrewcal
First Steps

want kJ please.

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