Support DD/MM date format on Charge 5

[correctthedate]

The new Charge 5 only has an American date format when set to an English speaking country, despite having an English date format for many non-English speaking countries. Please change the date format for the UK to DD/MM.

Moderator Edit: Clarified subject

[BigLittleDwarf]

I wholeheartedly agree with the user who posted this issue. Here I am in the UK with a brand new Charge 5 in 2022 and this issue has not been fixed yet:( The strange thing is that I had a Fitbit Alta HR that I got in 2017 and this was never a problem with it. I had to order the Charge 5 when my much loved Fitbit Alta HR died and customer support were unable to resuscitate it. I imagine that this would be a relatively quick and easy change to do so I am at a loss of why they still haven’t changed the date format yet.

[BingleyBeep]

This is absolutely essential. Displaying an incorrect date is far worse than showing no date at all. It’s also culturally insensitive - there are over 2 billions English speakers in the world, but less than a quarter live in a MM/DD territory. Fitbit have been selling watches and trackers internationally for many years - there’s really no excuse for this, given how easy it would have been to avoid.

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For that matter, this forum is displaying dates in enforced MM/DD/YYYY!

[Markus_Aurelius]

So many comments and yet still Fitbit ignores this bug. ☹️

Just keep adding to the votes, they are so arrogant they never reply, just ignore rest of world!

[Zaqster]

This feature absolutely needs to be updated to include DD/MM. It would be hilarious that this feature is not available, if it wasn't so incredibly annoying.

Please make this update a priority and get it fixed asap.

Without this mishap, I would be extremely happy with my charge 5, just started using it today. Now just pretty happy, hoping the sleep analysis features are as good as I'm hoping.

[Ruth_JB]

Still waiting for this update…. I’m using the Energy clock face for now, but we really need DD/MM ! 

[DaveTheFish]

Just upgraded my Charge 4 to Charge 5 after the plastic weld on the strap attachment on the pebble failed.  I don't recall seeing the MM/DD date format on the Charge 4, but sure annoys me on the Continuum face on the 5.

Given how simple this would be to implement, it demonstrates that it was missed as a requirement during the clock face development.

Also disappointing that after six months and 203 votes - at the time of this comment - we're all still waiting for a fix.

[SunsetRunner]

There won't be a fix.

Regards,

Martyn
Moderator Edit: Personal info removed

[davelee212]

I think you're right... I've since found a different clock face that works for me and is in "DayOfWeek, Month, Day" format

Dave

[SunsetRunner]

"There won't be a fix"   Is that official?

Has Fitbit issued any Charge 5 firmware updates? 

[DaveTheFish]

I've just reviewed the information about the feature request process and FAQs. Seems very unlikely that DDMM will get prioritised through this process if it's dependent on the number of votes.

I haven't read all of the posts across the 5 pages, but I'm sure - like me - others are disappointed about how the Charge 5 is marketed, with numerous images showing 'DD MMM' (e.g 23 Oct) on the Continuum clock face - including on the box the device came in.

Not sure I'm that bothered to return the device and seek a refund for this alone, but I am thinking about it; maybe switch to a Samsung Galaxy watch. Have others been in touch with Fitbit to explore their rights? 

[DaveTheFish]

I've just been in touch with customer support and will be returning the device for a full refund.

I have to say the customer support is fantastic. Shame about the lack of forethought when Fitbit developed the Continuum face and failure to catch (and/or address) the bug during marketing.

I've had a Fitbit for over two years now, let's see how I miss it... or not.

[Kiwit22]

I returned my Fitbit because it was clear on posts for other models that this was

a) a known issue,

b) not going to be fixed anytime soon.

So six years and several models of Fitbits later my loyalty came to an end.

Upgraded to a Galaxy Watch 4 (which due to a fortuitous discount only cost 15p more). Only (minor) complaint is with battery life but other than that no looking back.

[BingleyBeep]

Strictly speaking, this is a *bug report* not a feature request, as MM/DD is plain *wrong* for en-gb. I’ve changed my language to French for now, as they get DD/MM.

[SunsetRunner]

Please Fitbit add DD/MM support for the date format.

[Ouduk0]

You need to set the location to a country that is not US, Canada or any in Europe. I tried Mexico and it worked. THis will not change your time zone or anything else. Just open the Fitbit app, click on the profile icon on the top left - App Settings - Select location and puit Mexcio for example. Make sure Automatic TIme Zone is enabled so it uses the one on your phone.

[DerekVandivere]

Well, thanks for that! It is almost offensively dumb that it doesn't pick
up the proper units and formats, but that's one tiny annoyance off my list.

[Ouduk0]

I did not realise my previous solution also changes all the watch menus to Spanish. I have tried many other locations and the date format seems to be linked to the language, not the location. So any non English speaking country will show the date as DD/MM, while all English ones do MM/DD

[Markus_Aurelius]

Didn’t work for me, its already set to UK and Automatic - the date still shows in US format.

[elinlloyd]

I came here to make this same complaint!

It's SO frustrating for me as a New Zealander, as I have to do a double-take every time I look at the stupid American formatting to try to make it register. The US is the ONLY country in the world that insists on using this stupid MM/DD so it's infuriating that the rest of us have to be stuck with it to use our Fitbits! It would be SUCH a quick fix for them to add as well, they just need to recognise that it's a pretty big issue for us non-Americans. Fitbit is an international brand being used by people all over the world, so it really needs to recognise that and make these products more adaptable to all users.

It's great that we can choose between metric and imperial units, and we can choose whether the week starts on Monday or Sunday (for you crazy Americans) so why on earth can't we choose to have our dates CORRECTLY formatted to DD/MM? This is so **ahem** frustrating!! It's not just about fixing the clockfaces either, because this is also in the Fitbit app. There is just no option to modify in there. Someone needs to get in there and make that an adjustable setting, so that whatever clock setting someone uses, they can always adjust the date formatting accordingly. Please sort this out ASAP Fitbit! It seems like it would be a quick and easy fix your end, but it would make the world of difference for users. Thank you!

[DaveTheFish]

As I wrote above, I returned my Charge 5 (which I bought at a 50% discount under warranty), but wasn't offered a Charge 4 replacement until I asked for contact details to make a complaint. I returned the faulty Charge 4 pebble and the new one turned up yesterday with MMM DD on the clock face 🙂

[SunsetRunner]

It won't happen, they have no interest in fixing this as you'll see from
the previous posts

[Markus_Aurelius]

Fitbit just seem to ignore this and worse still consider it in this context as an “enhancement request" when its clearly a coding bug in the localisation of their products, as you say all other localisation elements work as they should so why not the main screen. Then to rub our noses in it, the advertising images show a DD-MMM date format - I imagine edited in Photoshop by the design department!

I have complained to the UK Facebook messenger account they responded, but do nothing about it! Its shameful for such a large company.

I’ll re-escalate on messenger again today.

Regards

Mark

[SunsetRunner]

It's especially annoying given Fitbit is owned by Alphabet (who are Google,
the largest tech company on the planet).

Regards,

Moderator Edit: Personal info removed

[Peter-C]

If they don’t fix this, the Charge 5 should be added to Fitbit Studio, so other designers can improve on Fitbits sorry offerings.

I mean, one decent analogue face would be nice.

[Nessa77]

Aussie here and we use the DD/MM format for dates............................please have this option available for us Aussies!