make female health tracking 'opt in' instead of 'opt out'

[spookisgirl]

While I can see the utility of the new female health tracker, as a 39-year-old female who had to give up all female body parts to breast cancer, I found having this tile come up automatically quite insensitive, especially as I am forced to 'opt out' by deleting it in multiple places (and it doesn't seem to go away).

Everytime I have to delete it from my app, dashboard etc., is a huge reminder of what I lost. I can't be the only woman to find this difficult and a painful reminder that I am no longer whole.

There isnt even a place to say 'no thanks, I don't have periods anymore'. Even if you say your last period was years ago and you are not on birth control, it adds default settings of 28 day cycle and 5 day periods.

Really insensitive. Please make it a feature to add, not mandatory until turned off.

Thanks.

[loisannh]

I totally agree. I don't need that information and don't want it showing up on my phone 

There should be a 'disable' option

[SantiR]

That’s an interesting idea and could be useful for some female users. Thanks for sharing your experience with us, thanks for being such a strong woman! Thanks for sharing this suggestion.

[pghkatrina]

Not everyone has family members that use fitbit. And as a woman, I personally didn't buy a fitbit to track my monthly cycle. It's for fitness and being physically healthy. So let's put these new features in settings with the ability to 'activate' them using a toggle for on/off or even a checkmark to turn it on. That way users who want them can use them, and if you don't you aren't bothered by them in the app.

[pghkatrina]

I agree! I said the same thing about female tracking AND the family options in my own post and a moderator (very ignorantly) dismissed and locked my post. Not everyone wants these features. Make them that you can turn them on or off.

[SunsetRunner]

I agree - while I still have all my lady bits and they mostly function - I am infertile - I do not need the painful reminder about when my apparent fertile window is. However I do still want the heads up of when not to wear a white skirt or shorts.

[Calathea77]

While you're doing this you can safely assume that anyone over 60 has finished menopause, and that's a really conservative estimate. There's a woman of 69 in the other forum who was very surprised to have this tracker show up. Of course, there are a lot of rather surprised men, too.

I'd suggest asking everyone who is possibly in a target audience the following:

Do you have menstrual cycles? 

Yes, currently

Yes, but not currently (pregnancy, birth control or medication) 

No, never

The phrasing may need some tweaking in order to avoid misleading people into thinking it's asking whether you are currently on your period. 

[elakat]

SantiFitbit   

That’s an interesting idea and could be useful for some female users. Thanks for sharing your experience with us, thanks for being such a strong woman! Thanks for sharing this suggestion.

This is a highly inappropriate response. Someone just told you that a poorly thought out feature of the app is causing them emotional pain. The appropriate response is to apologize and commit to fixing this, not say that making the feature opt-in is an "interesting idea."

There are plenty of aspects of this feature that weren't considered properly. Some people don't have periods and find the sudden appearance of the tile upsetting. Some people have periods but are infertile or don't want to track ovulation; why must they have a "fertile window" displayed if they only want to track their period? (Can you imagine the feeling of a seeing a tile on your dashboard telling you that there are 5 days until your fertile window when you actually can't have children but wish you could?)

The language is also extremely gendered, putting trans and nonbinary folks in an awkward (and potentially hurtful) position of having to use features labeled "female." And the name "fertile window" assumes that either a person is trying to avoid pregnancy or get pregnant, when lots of people are either not having sex or the sex they do have doesn't result in pregnancy.

[ANonyMouse]

I have to admit, I was excited about getting the Female Health Tracking feature on my Fitbit App, and did not think about how others would feel based on different reasons. I believe the automatic tile was with good intentions, however I believe that it could've had a pop-up that says, "We launched a new feature within the Fitbit App. Would you like to opt in to use the Female Health Tracking feature?" (Or something along those lines.)

It would also be nice if you can say what you're wanting to have tracked, and what information you want it to show. Like elakat mentioned, some people are unable to have children, and having that fertile window is very, I can't find the right word, demeaning? If you are wanting to have children, but know that you're unable to, that is just a painful reminder of what you want but can't have.

Perhaps it could be separated into two different options, such as, "Menstrual Cycle Tracking" and "Ovulation" rather than one "Female Health Tracking."

[mcsb]

I completely agree that this should be an opt in function.  In addition to the very valid reasons that were previously mentioned,  I was put in such a terrible position as a parent the other evening because of this.  My daughter found this and began asking me about the various forms of birth control.  This is not the way for a young girl to learn about unprotected sex, protected sex, and various birth control options.  I'm also particularly offended that the morning after pill is included as a box someone can check off.  Though I am pro-choice, I respect my friends/family members who are pro-life enough that I don't like seeing something they would consider a form of abortion trivialized as if its nothing more than a box to be checked. In practical terms, I also have a hard time envisioning a situation where someone would be reminded they want to use the morning after pill because of their Fit Bit app.

[DField0]

"Even if you say your last period was years ago

 and you are not on birth control, it adds default

 settings of 28 day cycle and 5 day periods."

Agreed. This feature is nothing less than INSULTING.

[LisaM35]

Its great that Fitbit added female tracking, but there are many reasons why someone may not want this feature turned on.  While the feature has been updated to not show on Men's accounts, there should be a choice presented to females in the Personal Settings section.  Just a simple Yes, please track, or no, please turn feature off.  Why a woman may or may not want this tracked is not Fitbit's business.  Give more choice to your users. 

Its not enough that you can just delete from every dashboard.

[DustyMoth]

I completely agree with the other women’s comments. Especially regarding the inappropriateness of the moderators response to a very personal reveal. Honestly that response sounded trite and robotic. I think a lot of work needs to go into the reworking of the female health tracker. It really should be optional. I have never used it as at 36 I had to have chemotherapy which sent me into menopause then a bone marrow transplant and finally a hysterectomy so I felt none of the current female specific features applied to me. I would however really like to be able to track other symptoms related to the health of the female bits I still do have. Female health is more than just periods or pregnancy. I suggest setting up a system that can be fully customisable that way each woman can set it up according to her needs. For instance I would like a reminder to do my pelvic floor exercises and the ability to track my progress. An applause sound bite would be great too 😀

[LizFitbit]

Thank you to everyone for your thoughtful feedback. We understand this is a sensitive topic, and strive to create the best possible experience for all of our users. While we do not have plans to make this a opt-in feature at this time, we have made it as easy as possible to opt out. You can learn more on our help site here or to opt out, tap 'Edit' at the bottom of the Fitbit app dashboard, Tap the x or - icon in the top left corner of the female health tile and tap 'Done'. For now, we will leave this suggestion open for votes (and closed to comments) so that we can continue to track community demand over time. Thank you again for your feedback and we will let you know if anything changes.

[Sheco]

Since you don't have plans to change the "Female health" function, can we at least shut it off so those of us without periods don't have to be reminded every day that we don't really count as female?

[Sheco]

Ok. Sorry. I just noticed that on the latest update it no longer says female health. And I was able to delete it.

[LuciaFitbit]

Hi @Sheco, thanks for taking the time to share your feedback regarding Female Health with us. This feature suggestion already exists so I’ve moved your post here. I'm glad to hear that you found the way to turn it off.