Permanent heart rate display during workout

[chiguy]

As a workout enthusiast I would like to view my heart rate on my Charge HR throughout my workout without having to hit the side button.  I would like to see an option that can be set to "keep display on during workouts".

Moderator edit: Updated title for clarity and labels.

[raha]

I did the same and returned my Fartbit Charge 2 and bought an Apple watch. It has been much better so far.

[BobbiP]

Thank you.

Bobbie

[crisley]

#Permanent Heart Rate Display Option

#Rich_Laue

If you go on any forum for any Fitbit device which supports heart rate,: Charge HR, Charge 2, Surge, etc.   the most frequent request is "Let me set the Heart Rate display ON and leave it on until I turn it off."

I know this will be a shock but that request is because the Fitbit is used during exercise.   It is often inconvenient to hit buttons while cycling,  doing jumping jacks,  playing tennis, etc.   On several of these forums the Fitbit moderator is shocked at the suggestion because "that will lower battery life"!   

The requesters aren't dumb.   They know it will lower battery life.   They just find that recharging their Fitbit more often would be a lot safer than hitting buttons while careening down a hillside.   

In selling these devices, Fitbit always shows the Heart Rate display in the photographs.   That's because marketing knows that people want to see the Heart Rate easily.    You'll never find any Fitbit marketing material which says "Note: you can't see this display without pushing a button, checking to see if the time display is up, and then swiping to see the Heart Rate (each time you want to look)."   Again, that's because Marketing knows that people would not buy the device if it sounded that hard to see the Heart Rate.    

Fitbit has to decide if its religion is "longer battery life" or if its religion is "doing what customers expect from the product."    So far you've whiffed on that one for two years!

Allow the Heart Rate display to be set to "ON until Cancelled" This isn't even a hardware problem.   It's a software problem.  Just add the option.  Or send me the source code and I'll code it for you next weekend, gratis. 🙂

[Afrancis1991]

I purchased my charge 2 approximately 2 hours ago I've researched these forums and over a year ago people were asking for an update to allow the option to have a longer screen time before allowing it to subside. After having this watch I'm thinking of returning it due to this lack of feature alone otherwise watch is perfect

[chrisagnj]

seconding crisley; the fact that this is 'just' lines of code is infuriating. how many programmers work here? more than a few i'm guessing. all i care about is continuous heartrate. I leave my surge parked on weights start screen but don't start it to trick the device into showing hr constantly. I get 3 DAYS battery life with the screen on. I figured the charge 2 would have the option but NOOPE. back to the store it goes.

[wendlynm]

I have been thinking about this too - especially when using to the connected GPS to show pace and distance while out walking/running.  I love that when I'm listening to music from Spotify I can see the artist/album art and would love to have my activity stats display with a quick look without having to unlock phone.  Please add!

[amy71193]

I am a nurse and some times just need to glance down at my watch quickly for the time, but can't do this with the Fitbit charge HR 2. A constant display is a must for me. Please fix this feature! Until then I am going back to my garmin Vivosmart that has this feature.

Moderator Edit: Edited suggestion title.

[pgonzalezm]

I totally agree with the coments in this posts. When you are working out, it´s better to stay the screen always on to view your pace or heart rate. Is a nice option to have

Please consider this, is a request that i found in all the forums i´ve checked

Thanks

Pablo

[SunsetRunner]

I've recently moved to the Blaze from the Microsoft Band 2 and really miss not having the display on when I'm working out or teaching a class. The MS Band does this and it's a great feature.

[Allenbart]

Agree with the other comments, and battery life is not a concern for us.  We want to see HR during our workout even if that means charging the device every day or before every workout. For cyclists the existing means of accessing the HR display are problematic. Imagine working hard along a technical mountain bike trail and trying to push the button or tap the screen; recipe for disaster...

There would be lots of additional sales of Fitbit devices to the serious exercise crowd when the continuous HR display was enabled.  Think about high end bicycle lights. They cost $300 and more and need to be charged before every ride. Nightrider sells a lot of high end lights. The battery life needs to be only long enough to last for one workout.

[Flyboy777]

Totally agree. I don't mind charging the device twice a day if required if this option would be made available in a future firmware release.

[verloren]

Would be great if you could drop this suggestion and just go like https://community.fitbit.com/t5/Feature-Suggestions/Customize-Quick-View-Display-Length-for-Charge-2...

In the app settings, there is already an option for heart rate to be on-off-auto. I keep it always on, so I get that nice green blinking light all day. But what you're referring to is screen on time...  Which is more relevant in that link, than what you've suggested here which is being misunderstood.

[shercalyps]

One of the reasons I purchased the Charge 2 is the digital clock and the ability to get metal bands for it. I decided to join the Fitbit world since they no longer make ladies digital watches with metal bands like Timex use to. I thought I might as well get something that would track my work outs etc and still be a watch.  It would be nice to have the ability to display the clock all the time.   I have seen other posts asking for the same.

Thank you for considering it.

[vuoreak]

I think https://community.fitbit.com/t5/Feature-Suggestions/Customize-Quick-View-Display-Length-for-Charge-2...

 is not enough. What is wanted here is really a continuous display. Both suggestions are good but for me continuous heartrate display would be more usable.

[mkiesow]

Hundreds of up votes and comments on this general issue over the last 2 years and no progress?  Is there any use in making recommendations on this forum?  Very disappointing...

[Fly753]

Instead of the whole screen timing out could the time be displayed Continually?

This better enables us to use the Fitbit as a standard watch without having to tap or make a large arm movement.

[Turambar]

Got my new Fitbit for Christmas. Loving everything except display time. I get the battery life argument, but PLEASE give ME the option to decide on the trade off between battery and display.  I wear a watch so I can keep time. Mostly I check the time with a subtle glance at my wrist while in meetings and such. I am finding myself swinging my arm up to get the display to wake, then I only get 3 seconds.  Would like an option for always on display, plus options for 5, 10, 30, 60 second sleep options. Thx.

[alimiller76]

Just got my Fitbit Blaze for Christmas. Absolutely love it but did a HIIT workout today and was disappointed about the screen not staying on. I had to use my Tom Tom stopwatch......I don't really want to be fiddling with my watch or using 2 devices during a workout. Be ideal at bootcamp when I don't need to see the screen. Hope Fitbit sort this out before they get too many disappointed customers!

[billp499]

 I am an out of shape health care professional, and I was excited when my spouse gave me this device. When I Googled the topic of keeping the display on continually, I see threads going back months to years asking for this, and the powers that be have apparently decided to not even offer this feature as an option. More electricity has probably been expended by folks like me searching for and commenting on what appears to be a simple firmware upgrade than might be wasted by the need for more frequent charging of the device. The lack of this feature makes it likely I won't use my new device very much or recommend this device to anyone else.

[Cal516]

This such an obvious requirement I am shocked it's not an option. Fix this yesterday, please.

[MikeSimone]

Yeah, me, too.

[lindajojo]

I recently bought the Charge 2, and it has this capability via Clock screen choice.  I am willing to bet a dollar that Fitbit will not be updating the original Charge HR in order to encourage purchasing the Charge 2.  I love my Charge 2, but hesitated to buy it because I felt this was manipulation on Fitbit's part, but I finally caved.  Good luck, I hope they still may update the original for you guys.  🙂

[RedFeet]

Thank you for your post!

My 1 year old Fitbit Charge HR is falling apart, so I will return it under
guarantee.
I hope it will be replaced by a new Fitbit Charge HR 2.

Many thanks!
Teun
--
Met vriendelijke groet,
Teun Roodvoets

[Severian]

Please consider adding the option to continuously display heart rate.

Or, currently if I lift my hand, it senses this and shows the time.  The option to choose what it displays when you lift your hand would be great.

I mainly wanted charge hr for heart rate tracking and monitoring during exercise.  It was surprising and disappointing that thelse simple features are not already implemented.

[BobbiP]

If you use the Windows Fitbit connect program (Be sure to turn off
BlueTooth on your cellphone so that it does not interfere), you can change
settings-- what is displayed when you raise your wrist (if anything) and in
what sequence data are displayed.

Having said that, the realtime display of heart rate is an average over a
1-minute period. While useful in real time, I find it more useful to later
connect with my Android app (no reason why the Desktop verion would not
also work) and review the graph of the heartrate. There still is a
discrepancy that I have not resolved. I remember looking at the device as
I was exercising and it showed 133 BPM, but when I checked the app, the
peak was only something like 115 BPM. So, it might be that averaging is
occurring in BOTH places, or differently than I assumed.

Good luck.