Will the Sense ever offer offline music support?

[SunriseRun500]

Will FitBit ever offer offline music/podcast support for the Sense or Versa 3? Is it even possible? As a former FitBit user, I was excited to purchase the Sense for its sleek design and added health tracking. But I refuse to run/exercise with a phone, which I would need to listen to music/podcasts with the Sense or Versa 3.

Moderator edit: word choice

[Tomtomato]

Probably not. It's not a technical limitation but a questionable commercial decision.

The Versa and Versa 2 have the ability to store MP3 locally. Fitbit has just removed the capability on the Versa 3 and Sense most likely to promote their partnership with Deezer and Pandora (push users to get premium subscriptions of those). 

Seems like a commercial decision overriding any common sense when it comes to runners: we will give them onboard GPS but not offline music playing...

I guess you can always buy a small standalone Bluetooth player for like $30, but quite annoying given the price of the Sense.

[PureEvil]

Hi all,

I believe that the Sense will allow you to store music, just not your own (local files) music.  This is what the music storage option looks like from the Windows 10 Fitbit App:

So it seems that if you have a Pandora (premium) or Deezer account, there's an option to store your playlist on the device.  I don't have either account so I can't really tell you how it works.

I think Fitbit changed this model due to the fact that the vast majority of Fitbit users configure their device with the mobile phones (which rarely have your actual music files).  Even on Ionic and earlier Versa models, the only way to put music on your device is to do it from your computer (not your phone).

I hope this helps. 

[Giampi71]

That's the problem @PureEvil , Fitbit didn't change the model, it just removed a feature. It doesn't matter if the majority of people use smartphone, Fitbit could have kept that the feature or even better gave the possibility to drag and drop music file from their smartphone.

The situation is even worse because Fitbit SDK doesn't allow storage access so third parties developers can't develop other music players or, for example, podcast players (notable lack of Fitbit ecosystem) 

[WillowJF]

Yes, they have apparently taken away the possibility of storing your own music.
This seems to be a sore point with a few people so this topic was started where you can vote to hopefully get FitBit's attention and make some changes.

Votes are highly appreciated 🙂

https://community.fitbit.com/t5/Feature-Suggestions/Music-storage-on-Sense/idi-p/4452403#

[Mizmelzy]

There may be a workaround. I know at one time Deezer did allow you to upload your own mp3's to your account.  You could upload what songs you wanted and then maybe through the Deezer app create a playlist? Maybe you would be able to download that playlist then on your watch?  I'm not sure if Pandora has the same option too?  Just a thought. 

[Giampi71]

It could be @Mizmelzy  and thanks for suggestion. However it would still require a premium Deezer account as opposed to the free Mp3 upload previously available.

[jkimrey]

Can someone with ios confirm whether deezer has an "In Progress" Playlist as mentioned here https://rainnews.com/new-deezer-playlist-collects-podcasts-in-progress/?

It doesn't appear to exist in the freezer Android app... 

[IrishPhenix]

That's why I bought the ionic and that's why I've stuck with fitbit, they need to get the straight.

[Kuriketto]

Bought the sense to be able to run without my phone. Then I find out that it can store music like my ionic did which made me mad. Then I go and get a spotify premium account to download Playlists to my fitbit, just to find out that only works with pandora?? Whats the point of this thing if I still have to drag my phone with me to work out? Might as well return it.

[SunsetRunner]

The only reason that Deezer and Pandora can store music is because they worked with Fitbit to develop their apps so had access to the APIs to use the storage.  Thing is the majority of the world can't use Pandora as it is US only and Deezer is a French service that is not very popular.  Definitely a commercial decision which is proving to be a bad one.  As to the point of transferring your music via a computer, it doesn't stop Garmin from providing local music playback which is transferred from a computer.  May explain why Fitbit market share has dropped to 2.6% whereas Garmin is 8% and Apple is 33%.

[ElanShenthil]

If you are ready to pay monthly subscription for Music the go for it. otherwise look for iWatch 

[Nikul]

Does iWatch has an offline mp3 upload feature like Versa 2 ? I guess it's time to consider an alternative option to Fitbit if that's the case. Disappointing that Versa 2 had something that Sense doesn't. 

[Nikul]

I can understand your feelings, hope fitbit folks do something about it 

Moderator edit: word choice

[zredsox]

Literally just spent an hour trying to transfer music to a new Fitbit Sense. Looked everywhere for the transfer button that I've used many times in the past with the versa 2. 

Finally, run into this post. Are you kidding me? You have removed features?

The entire reason I use a fitbit trackers is to have a lightweight device that has GPS where I can listen to music and podcasts that I transfer over before going out. Without the ability to transfer files, the watch is worthless to me. 

Welp, the Sense is going back and I'm done. You've lost me as a customer and that also means you lost my family too. 

Looks like Fitbit is actively trying to get rid of customers. 

Moderator edit: word choice

[Nikul]

Such a stupid move by google 

[jezrecc]

Really dumb not to allow the sense to store music. Used mine for about 2 months. It was pretty nice when I used the free deezer premium trial to store offline music but beyond that, it's such a pity to restrict a nice watch from it's capabilities. That said, I'm getting rid of mine. Good luck to fitbit and their business. I'm never buying another fitbit.

Moderator edit: word choice

[KiwiDes]

I have stored 300+ mp3 songs on my Fitbit ionic and carry my ionic in my pocket bluetoothed to my headphones while my sense tracks my exercise. I can’t wear my ionic due to the wrist burning issue, but it’s easier to carry than my iPhone.  I wish mp3 storage was enabled on my sense, otherwise the sense is a fine unit.  Shame a third party app doesn’t appear.  

[Rufous44]

@KiwiDes Nobody can develop a third party app to store music on device as Fitbit doesn't expose the API to make it possible.

[EdsonFitbit]

Hello everybody, thank you for visiting the Fitbit Community.

Our team is constantly working to improve our products and services but at the moment there are no plans to add music storage on Sense. For more information, please visit this post.

I am going to close this thread since it is too old, but if there is anything else we can help you with, please don't hesitate to start a new topic.

Have a nice day.