View SpO2 % in app and don't require SpO2 clock face selection during sleep to capture %

[mbarylski]

The SpO2 clock face has to be selected during sleep to view actual SpO2 % range and avg value in morning. Devices that support SpO2 DO collect the data since it shows up on a sleep graph. It's just the value doesn't appear. This is such a silly implementation. Just show the value in the app and clock face regardless of the clock face during sleep.

[pbug56]

A bunch of companies now have like hardware where it does work, including
in daylight. The best accuracy comes with a finger clip which most of us
couldn't really deal with all day. The one thing I think you could do is
provide a tool to calibrate it against your known finger clip.

[DaveS3]

My 3 finger clip sensors vary by a few % in total... Don't think I'd want
to calibrate against them. Maybe that's why the sense collects so much data
to get one reading.

[pbug56]

Interesting. Still, my interest in the readouts is to see if something
strange or bad is going on, especially if I don't feel well. I combine
what I feel and read out and then call my doctor. This is part of decision
making, not all.

3 years ago, I was feeling really awful. My doc had me using my nebulizer,
I had no SPO2 display. If I did, I'd likely have called 911 (my wife was
50 miles away) a lot sooner - at least knowing what I do now versus how I
felt. The SPO2 data would have been great to have, if it had worked then
and I had a good idea of its accuracy - I'd have added that to what I told
my doc. What actually happened was by the time my nebulizer was no longer
happened, I had a packed bag, called 911 and texted my wife. At the ER,
they were considering sending me home - way before getting tests back, but
then had me walk down the halls with a medical grade finger clip, after
taking me off of O2. They got to see how much my SPO2 dropped as I
walked. I was admitted, and a short time later they found that I had RSV,
some pneumonia not covered by vaccine - and more, and minutes later I was
in isolation. I have asthma, and I'd really like a viable real time SPO2
system.

[DaveS3]

Yeah I think that would be exactly their concern and reason for having all
of the disclaimers that the watch is not a medical device. They might be
better off tying the stats to trends rather than whether someone needs to
get to the hospital in the next 10 mins. They have access to so much data,
will be interesting to see how it can best be used by individuals. Thanks
for your dialogue!

[pbug56]

They advertised several models as having SPO2. They never promised a
diagnosis. I didn't expect one. But if I know my typical O2 level, and
I'm sick and I see a much lower number, now I know - hey, call my doctor.
And no, O2 level is not the only piece of a decision, but if I'm hard of
breath and have a low O2 level - hmm, don't want to think too hard - but
hey - get myself checked out. The super accurate equipment will be in the
ER, but odds are pretty good, that if I've had the watch a while, and test
against a finger clip that I've also checked against a known one, maybe in
a med office, and calibrated my watch against it, and repeat once in a
while, I'll have a good INDICATION of where I stand. And since a number
of other watches a varying price ranges already do this, what's Fitbit's
excuse for not providing what they already charged me for? Again, these
numbers don't go into the EHR's chart nor are they an official part of a
diagnosis, just a reminder to me to let a doc check me out.

Also, an INDICATION of how my ongoing exercise program is going. I watch
my pulse, would also watch my O2. It can even be an indication that I'm
pushing too hard. OH, AND I PAID FOR THIS OVER 2 YEARS AGO.

[meresydotes]

I think we need to step back regarding how often the reading is taken, the level of control we have over taking the reading, and how accurate it is and focus on the fact that you can only access the data that your fitbit is definitely collecting (that red light you see in the middle of the night is the SP02 sensor) if you're willing to at least sleep using their crappy clockface. Said crappy clockface changes visible stats whenever you tap it. And it VIBRATES whenever it changes stats. So, if your watch illuminates while you're sleeping and then something touches it, it's going to vibrate and wake you up. It sucks enough that my watch crashes and reboots sometimes in the middle of the night, causing it to vibrate and wake me up. Not to mention that it's just a bad clockface.

In conclusion, the most basic request should be for the fitbit to collect and report the data, regardless of the active clockface.

[DaveS3]

one thing I do is set the night mode schedule to turn off my clock face
when I sleep. you can do it manually too. mystery as to why the data
collection is controlled by the clock face - paywall or software
architecture driven..? or other?

[meresydotes]

I have scheduled sleep mode as well, and I've def caught my watch on anyway. Regardless, I've had fitbits for many years, back to the original model. They've always made weird decisions like this. Like, why are all of their chargers so terrible? It's just another nonsensical decision because they can.

[NorReb]

Any of the Vital stats should be able to be checked at anytime during the day. With Covid-19 still going crazy, O2 and temp are very important to keep track of. I am really surprised that Fitbit only checks them at night when you are sleeping. There are 35$ smartbands that have ECP and all vital stats at anytime during the day. Fitbit, get with it, you should be better than this. 

[pbug56]

IMHO, Fitbit has clearly chosen over a number of products including my
Versa to tell you a watch has without actually needing the watch to do
anything with whatever the capability suggests. IOTW the O2 sensor. Got
my Versa well over 2 years ago. Finally, a few months back, got the crazy
'out of range while sleeping graph without any numbers', now we finally
sometimes get an O2 sleep chart -IF we select the right app and watch face
(horrible face) to use to turn it on, instead of having a SETTING to enable
it, forcing us to stop using our favorite faces, and only working with that
face and if it decides we slept enough straight through - sometimes 3
hours, sometimes more. No rhyme or reason

Since most nights my Versa says I slept far less than I did, most nights I
get no chart. And even if I get a chart, usually the SPO2 face on the
Versa has nothing. Except this morning, when it said 99% on what the phone
app said was 90 minutes of sleep with no chart. The inconsistency and
randomness combine to make the sleep thing only slightly useful. And then
there's the day part - oops, there is no day part ever. Though many of us
need a day part, real time, as much as we need the heart rate, and we need
to download it too.

As others have noted, there are now a number of super cheap 'watches' that
provide real time O2 data. Why can't our Fitbits? Again, on off via
SETTING, not watch face, provide the API's so watch face writers can
include in their watch faces.

[cogirl303]

I absolutely agree with all the comments. It should show up under the "today" info. To not have this included, and not be able to track it unless you subscribe to the premium service, feels like a money grab to me. It is ridiculous that the only way I can track and compare this is to switch to a specific watch facee at night and take a photo in the morning. I expected better from Fitbit. It's s good thing this isn't a deal breaker for me.

[Marob]

 

So how am I supposed to know what this means other than my SpO2 was between
92% and 99%? When was it at 92%? How many times was it at unsafe levels.
Again I'm going to say, this info as presented is worthless.

[djdaigle62]

I totally agree with the majority of commenters on the SpO2 watch-face issue. My Garmin Vivo4 provides that functionality w/o a new watch-face. However, that device (Vivo4) fell short in my eyes regarding its SpO2 capabilities (lack of) in that it was a pain to get new readings on the fly. I purchased the Sense in hope FitBit was going to be an improvement - yet, on that front its more cumbersome. One shouldn’t have to sacrifice other readings and inputs for the sake of a dedicated SpO2 face. That functionality, when marketed as a feature, should be available either across all faces, be included as a watch widget next to the “Exercise”  section, and/or on the app.(mobile and desktop).. I love the battery life yet bought the watch for the SpO2 capabilities which I cannot easily use-very disappointing!

[SunsetRunner]

Why is this even a suggestion? Its obvious.

[mbarylski]

@YojanaFitbit More than 500 votes and still nothing from Fitbit. Can you please provide a response?

[pbug56]

While you're at it, more needing response. Just to be sure we've got it
right.

1. Before going to bed the other night, I made sure that my watch clock app
/ face was the SPO2 app - even on the SPO2 screen.
2. According to the phone app, then slept 2:57. Needless to say, zero
analysis or O2 info.
3. And then, without having even woken up over the next hour, or even had
my pulse go up, I'm once again asleep for 5 hours. This time I do get my
silly simple sleep analysis, and I even get the mysterious and nearly
useless SPO2 variance act screen, you know, the one without any times, real
numbers, or anything to make it usable - but hey, it showed almost no
variance. Though if there was, I wouldn't be able to tell when it
happened, maybe someone heard me snore loudly, etc. - but no, nothing like
that.
4. Looked at my watch, still on the SPO2 screen of the SPO2 app, and it
showed 0%. Wow, no variance, but for 5 hours I was obviously clinically
dead since I was not getting an O2 the whole time as per the watch. Pretty
amazing!
5. Several days earlier, I did wake up in the morning to show that watch
face saying 98%. That's lovely, but I couldn't exactly match it up against
anything in the phone app. In fact, most times i get the variance reading,
I get nothing on the watch. Plus, if I get a variance reading part of the
night, and nothing the rest, there will be nothing showing on the watch.

I'd seriously appreciate it if Fitbit consider a real implementation of
SPO2 as we've all asked for so many times. Plus we'd like Fitbit to
actually hire a professional programming team, complete with people capable
of alpha, beta, and post release testing, to actually come up with software
whose behaviour is actually predictable, consistent, AND correct (as
opposed to being consistently wrong). And to truly let us know what's
going on. All we get from you are new product announcements, useless
monthly newsletters without news, and little tell us nothing notes instead
of what we need. As a company selling directly and indirectly to people,
you need to actually develop some sort of customer relations team that
actually is connected to the products and the rest of the company. And
finally start giving us what some of us paid for well ove 2 years ago, and
without having to pay preumiums just to look at our own data.

And I'm curious about something - why is it so hard to look at detailed
pulse data? Why cant we see our O2 data? Why can't we see what else goes
into sleep analysis besides pulse? Why, 2 plus years after I got my Versa
can't I get reliable sleep info?

I know, I'm not going to get viable answers to this email. But I had to
try.

[mbarylski]

Looks like we might at least be getting the SPo2 reading without a clock face soon! https://www.engadget.com/fitbit-os-5-1-140002283.html. Can't wait to test the update. 

[jns2003]

Which is all well and good if you have a Sense or Versa 3, or are ready to upgrade. Not so much if not.

[SunsetRunner]

It also seems that this is limited to the USA at the moment. Fitbit really knows how to make their customers happy...

[cogirl303]

Sometimes no news is good news... especially when you compare it to near useless news like this. So if you didn't want to fork out $300+ for the Versa 3, tuff for you on enjoying the benefit of updated/upgraded features. Didn't I say something earlier about money grabbing? 🤔

[bobby2478]

For the Sense at least it appears this new feature (capturing SP02 value without requiring you to select SP02 watchface) is included in the new OS 5.1 update rolling out to the Sense now

[Rkoler]

I just updated my Sense. It says 128.4.15. When you say OS 5.1, what
are you referring to? I can’t find info on this. --
Rick Oler

[meresydotes]

I was poking around in the app. I think you need to download an app to your watch to get the SPO2 at will. I did read an article linked to previously that stated that the overnight checking wouldn't require the clockface, but it didn't say whether it would require the app. If you go into the Health Metrics bit (at least if you're like me and haven't been using the clockface) there's a link to download the clockface and another to download the app. it wouldn't let me download the app, cause I haven't gotten the update yet.

[pbug56]

They are updating the app - FOR THEIR NEW WATCHES ONLY. Supposedly you
won't need the official SPO2 at night clock face to collect O2 data on the
new watches once the new software gets out to them, and them only. They
will have several O2 clock faces, but I don't remember if ANY of them will
do real time O2 display, or just have you have a choice to look at for the
'average' overnight figure. They said nothing about other software
developers having access to this either, and I don't recall them saying
anything about downloading O2 data for sleep analysis or other purposes - I
could have missed that. So far, I can't tell if this is just rearranging
the deck chairs on Titanic or something actually usable. And nothing about
unlocking the O2 data or having a normal on off setting for data on Versa,
etc. Or having real time on anything.

[DaveS3]

You won't see 5.1 identified in the watch itself. 5.1 is a general version number. Sent from my Verizon, Samsung Galaxy smartphone