Smart Alarms that Wake You More Naturally (eg. in Light Sleep Stage)

[MikeHalsey]

I just got my Fitbit flex and I think it's fantastic.  If it monitors your sleep though it will have a good idea of when you're in deep (REM) sleep and when you're in lighter sleep.  You cycle between these two during the night on a pretty reliable pattern, and they're easy to tell apart as you don't move around while you're in REM sleep.  At least not as I understand things.

Could an update for the Fitbit modify the alarm feature please to wake you up as close as possible to your chosen time, but NOT during REM sleep?

This will allow you to wake more naturally, feeling refreshed, rather than how unpleasant it is when your alarm goes off in REM sleep.

Thanks, please all vote for this

Moderator edit: labels.

[Krissy78]

Love this feature on SleepCycle. Really helped to not wake up exhausted. Hope to see it soon on fitbit! 

[MihaiT]

I'm really dissapointed that my fitbit does not have this already. I'm more dissapointed that there's no app (third-party) out there that would use data from my fitbit to wake me up at the right moment.

[Opivali]

Sleep Monitoring

Devices and/or Applications that monitor your sleep and learn your sleep patterns should have some basic functions.

Alarm Times:

1) alarms need to wake you up when you want or need to be woken up. This can be done in multiple ways to achieve the desired results.

A) waking you up at a set time. This is a last minute no ifs ands or buts you need to be awake at this time.

B) waking you up in a time range, but no later than a set time. This is designed to take in to account your depth of sleep and wake you at the best time.

C) waking you up after getting all the sleep you need. This is based off of your quality and quantity of sleep. Once you have gotten what you need then it wakes you up.

Alarm Types:

1) alarm types are all about how or what wakes you up.

A) sound is the method we have used for many years and it works, but it could be better. The sounds we hear should be what we need to wake use up. Some people need the loud jarring alarms to get them going, but others do not. If I were to choose an alarm sound it would be the sound of birds in the morning gradually increasing in volume.

B) light is another way people have been know to use to be woken up by. With today's lighting controls or even just light bulbs and home automation light can be used to wake us up. Having a light bulb slowly brighten like a sunrise would wake some, but not all people. With the advent of home automation platforms like Apple's "HomeKit" and Googles "Works With Nest" along with services like "IFTTT" we have an opportunity to tie in more than one method for waking us up. Different wavelengths of light have either a sleep or waking inducing hormonal affect on us.

C) temperature is another method used to wake us up. When we feel a change in temperature we naturally want to wake up and set the temperature to one more conducive to sleeping. As stated in the area above under lights and how we can us home automation so it to can be used with today's thermostats. With a gradual increase in temperature to our desired day time comfort levels we would be inducing ourselves to wake up. The average comfortable day time temperature is between 72 and 76 degrees Fahrenheit while we sleep better between 65 and 68 degrees Fahrenheit.

D) smells have been used over the years also. Take the cooking of foods or the brewing of coffee and such. These smells for some do wonders to bring them out of sleep. Here is another example of where today's home automation can help us wake up and decrease our work load after we wake up. Today's coffee Brewers for example can be controlled through home automation. The brewer could start brewing coffee before it is time to get up and have it ready when you wake up or shortly there after.

F) movement namely a gentle shaking of apart of our body. More and more fitness trackers, smart watches, and those two combined have haptic motors installed in them to quietly either alert or wake us up. Being able to adjust the length, strength, and patterns of the haptic motors efforts is also a good way to wake us up.

Environmental Factors:

1) environmental factors are the things that affect your sleep.

A) light
B) temperature
C) sound
D) barometric pressure
E) the comfort of our bed, clothes, and sheets
F) our health
G) what we ingest
H) our stress

With the exception barometric pressure and the uncontrollable health illnesses these factors are controllable and/or monitor able. Through use of Fitbit's devices and Applications we could better all aspects of our health. Being able to tie into other devices to retrieve and provide data along with control we could learn what effect/affects us and make needed changes in out lives with what works. To do this we need more depth of data with better analysis and interpretation of the data. To that end we need to add capabilities to your products. The above is just a start.

[jodab]

I've been waiting for a very long time for the HR to come out, only to discover it doesn't have the two features I was actually planning on using it for (constant HR display, and "smart" alarm).

Like others said, this is SO obvious.  It's not like the "other company" has a patent on the idea, and it's not like the hardware isn't there.  Read reviews of fitness bands that have this feature and almost everyone LOVES it.  Some people say it's the only thing they use it for, in fact.

[Opivali]

Sleep Monitoring Devices and/or Applications that monitor your sleep and learn your sleep patterns should have some basic functions.

Alarm Times:

     1) alarms need to wake you up when you want or need to be woken up. This can be done in multiple ways to achieve the desired results.

          A) waking you up at a set time. This is a last minute no ifs ands or buts you need to be awake at this time.

          B) waking you up in a time range, but no later than a set time. This is designed to take in to account your depth of sleep and wake you at the best time.

          C) waking you up after getting all the sleep you need. This is based off of your quality and quantity of sleep. Once you have gotten what you need then it wakes you up.

Alarm Types:

     1) alarm types are all about how or what wakes you up.

          A) sound is the method we have used for many years and it works, but it could be better. The sounds we hear should be what we need to wake use up. Some people need the loud jarring alarms to get them going, but others do not. If I were to choose an alarm sound it would be the sound of birds in the morning gradually increasing in volume.

•  Sonos

          B) light is another way people have been know to use to be woken up by. With today's lighting controls or even just light bulbs and home automation light can be used to wake us up. Having a light bulb slowly brighten like a sunrise would wake some, but not all people. With the advent of home automation platforms like Apple's "HomeKit" and Googles "Works With Nest" along with services like "IFTTT" we have an opportunity to tie in more than one method for waking us up. Different wavelengths of light have either a sleep or waking inducing hormonal affect on us.

•  Phillips Hue
• LIFX
• WeMo Smart LED Bulb
• GE Link Bulbs
• Connected by TCP lights
• Lutron lighting control

          C) temperature is another method used to wake us up. When we feel a change in temperature we naturally want to wake up and set the temperature to one more conducive to sleeping. As stated in the area above under lights and how we can us home automation so it to can be used with today's thermostats. With a gradual increase in temperature to our desired day time comfort levels we would be inducing ourselves to wake up. The average comfortable day time temperature is between 72 and 76 degrees Fahrenheit while we sleep better between 65 and 68 degrees Fahrenheit.

•  Nest Learning Thermostat
• Honeywell Thermostats
• Ecobee
• Radio Thermostat
• Emerson
• Venstar Thermostats
• Lennox
• Trane Thermostats and Controls
• Big Ass Fans

          D) smells have been used over the years also. Take the cooking of foods or the brewing of coffee and such. These smells for some do wonders to bring them out of sleep. Here is another example of where today's home automation can help us wake up and decrease our work load after we wake up. Today's coffee Brewers for example can be controlled through home automation. The brewer could start brewing coffee before it is time to get up and have it ready when you wake up or shortly there after.

          E) movement namely a gentle shaking of apart of our body. More and more fitness trackers, smart watches, and those two combined have haptic motors installed in them to quietly either alert or wake us up. Being able to adjust the length, strength, and patterns of the haptic motors efforts is also a good way to wake us up.

Environmental Factors:

     1) environmental factors are the things that affect your sleep.

          A) light

          B) temperature

          C) sound

          D) barometric pressure

          E) the comfort of our bed, clothes, and sheets

          F) our health

          G) what we ingest

          H) our stress

     With the exception barometric pressure and the uncontrollable health illnesses these factors are controllable and/or monitor able. Through use of Fitbit's devices and Applications we could better all aspects of our health. Being able to tie into other devices to retrieve and provide data along with control we could learn what effect/affects us and make needed changes in out lives with what works. To do this we need more depth of data with better analysis and interpretation of the data. To that end we need to add capabilities to your products. The above is just a start.

[Roneckjr]

Agree! Please add!

[coldfact]

This is an obvious and necessary feature to have - and made even easier with constant HR monitoring.

This feature request was added 12-15-2013 and it is "under consideration".

What needs to be considered for over a year?! Please just do it!!

Thanks!

[Nikolay]

I was waiting for the HR and I like it , but it needs real smart alarm. I was under impression that it has it , but I guess was mislead by "smart alarm" name used. My wife has up24 and is much better as sleep tracker. 

Please add functionality ! I see that can not vote, but is needed to be a complete device ! 

[Alex78red]

Agree! Please add smart alarm! 

[Kursed]

I see that it has been two years since this request was added. Could FitBit please update the community on whether this feature will be implemented or not? I thought that I was getting this feature with the new Charge HR, but I apparently didn't do enough homework on it.

Please, please, please make this happen! Thanks so much!

[Rockeraz89]

Could not agree more with this idea. To be perfectly honest I thought that the Fitbit Charge HR had this feature already (should have done more research!). Seeing as this is a feature with other fitness trackers, surely Fitbit wouldn't need to reinvent the wheel (just change the fixtures maybe?).

[yoyebie]

Because fitbit team isn't responding for this request, I recommend you to buy Xiaomi Mi Band which is a lot cheaper ($19.99 in their offical store - http://www.xiaomishop.com/134-mi-band.html) and has smart alarm function and a lot more!

For example you can set up the band to vibrate when you receive a call or any notification on your phone.

Battery life is also a lot better than Fitbit - without 'vibrate on notification' function enabled, my band lasts ~60days on one charge. With this function enabled, it drops to ~40days.

I highly reccomend this band, because, as you can see, Fitbit team doesn't give a **ahem** about their users and they are focused more on the profit than the community.

[JNissi]

I think I'd buy a Charge HR if it had smart alarm functionality.

[Opivali]

I have many ideas like this posted already. Please stop by read and vote.

[Dan1234]

I was under the impression that the Fitbit Surge came with this sleep feature. It was one of the main reasons I purchased this smart watch instead of going with Samsung. Very dissapointed this is still being considered after the idea was suggested back in 2013. Where are we with this consideration?

[jantb]

Perhaps someone could tell us why this feature is difficult to imlement. Are there limitations that make it hard?

[CrinaBucur]

Since setting an alarm requires choosing a precise time for it,  I am under the impression that the sleep cycles are not being considered and that would be a pity, as the sleep monitoring function offers so many opportunities. Is there any intention from fitbit to implement such a feature for the Charge model? How soon would that be? I have read the sleep related help articles but this seems unclear and it's a feature I can't be without.

[mariton]

Hi everyone,

I think we need to face the truth: they don't give a **ahem** about this!

A lot of people keep posting, with a lot of hopes, thinking that their posts may actually help to support this suggestion. I come here on a regular basis just to check what consideration Fitbit give to its customers. They never replied to any of these posts, and it's been going on for more than 1 year now.

I am afraid any other post is just a waste of time...

[techjunkie860]

I have to agree with Mariton. That last update was pointless. We're waiting for so much more from fitbit and their flagship Surge. I would think updates would be more frequent.

[stephen_h_90]

I really hope this is added. For some reason i got surge confused with the jawbone and thought this had it. Little disapointed it doesnt. Could also add recomended time to sleep. the basis peak looks nice showing the rem states

[vxpbr]

I just got Flex for a birthday present and was SURE that it had a smart alart feature.

Deeply dissappointed that it doesn't. Shame.

[Mercutio]

i jusr ask for it on twitter! i really think is a very good idea and a more affient use of sleep tracking.

[Petech]

Yes! I would love this feature to be added.

[MHSorensen]

This feature would be great!

[Harrisburger]

Pretty obvious Fitbit is ignoring this request. NO reason it shouldn't have been added. "Under Consideration" for over a year? Why not just say this won't happen.