Redesigned Sleep experience now in the Fitbit app

[RebeccaFitbit]

Hi everyone! Starting today, you may notice a new sleep experience in your Fitbit app. If you don't have it right away, please be patient as it can take some time to reach all users. 

Check out what’s new by going to the Fitbit Community blog. 

What do you think? Let us know!

[JennyWillow]

The new Sleep Experience in the Fitbit App is absolutely horrible.  I hate the way data is presented. It is hard to read. I depended on this app to help me achieve and maintain a regular sleep cycle. I suffer from PTSD and regular nightmares. The old set up helped me chart my sleep cycles and which REM cycles were more likely to result in nightmares. I was able to work with my therapist to help me manage PTSD symptoms as they related to sleep disturbances. I feel as if I've hit a brick wall in moving forward with my therapeutic journey. It looks like someone within the Fitbit team has decided to become lazy and give as little data about personal sleep cycles as they can possibly get away with. Why change something that wasn't broken? Why not have a beta test group to receive feedback from actual customers before making a change as big as this? The only reason I pay for a premium membership is for the sleep app. I will be canceling the premium service if the Fitbit team refuses to listen to their consumers and are unwilling to make adjustments. Sometimes it takes a hit to the wallet before a company is willing to actually re-evaluate a bad decision and rectify the problem.

[klumpo]

I'm sure they'll dull the colors of Cardio Fitness and Heart Rate zones too. All in the name of dogmatic ui design.

[MaggieWelsh]

Its rubbish. Much more difficult to see sleep stages at a glance . 

[TallyGuy]

The recent changes to Sleep mirror recent changes to Exercise. I use a Charge 5 to record heartbeat while cycling for hours. I used to be able to use the GPS-generated map of my route to trace precise heartbeats at different points; now I can get only general groupings like moderate or vigorous.

Google has done the same with Sleep. I have long slept in segments. In the year that I've owned my Charge 5, I've known that I get health metrics only for a sleep segment of at least 3 hrs and sometimes not then and never for two 3-hr segments in a night. I'd get a light/deep report on segments or daytime naps of less than 3 hrs but more than 1 hr--again, usually. 

The new Sleep update not only presents data in a confusing format, but reduces data. I was getting only one segment overnight. Sometimes a segment slipped into the prior day, if it ended before midnight; sometimes it was lost. The new Sleep update offered less info about REM, light and deep phases of captured segments.

Two nights ago, I took off the Charge 5 before going to bed--and slept an uninterrupted 6 hrs (long for me). Last night, no Charge 5, and I slept 7 hrs in two segments divided by a 5 min waking interval. No more performance anxiety as to whether I'll hit 3 hrs in a segment to "earn" good data from Fitbit. No more irritation at my Charge 5's incessant downgrading of my time asleep due to body movement--when the movement is one of my 4 Rhodesian Ridgebacks that sleep in bed with me, but can switch positions without disturbing my sleep.

I bought the Charge 5 to track my heart rate while cycling, and I've done that for a yr. I think the device does a better job here than in tracking my sleep. But I'm wondering about its value. My intent a few days ago is to wear the Charge 5 at night maybe once a month--that's unchanged. Now I'm thinking I may wear the Charge 5 on the bike only once a week, as I (and Google) have collected more data on my 500 cycling miles/month than I'll ever need (or maybe that Google can ever sell). And I'd lose the tan lines on my left arm!

[LenaSz]

Wow the new sleep data is awful. It's so hard to look at and has so much less information. I miss how you used to be able to tap on the data and have the time display for each segment, and that you could slide to different screens that showed the different types of sleep separately. The way it's displayed now makes the data pretty useless. I wonder if it's better in premium, and this is a tactic to get you to pay to upgrade. Really disappointed with Fitbit for making this change.

[Lueds55]

I have premium & it’s not any better!

[Reb81]

I don’t like this at all and am actually considering other sleep tracking devices, having been a Fitbit customer for 8 years. This new display doesn’t work at all for me. The new graph is confusing and unclear and I can’t easily see the time spent in different sleep stages. Previously there were lines and hours/minutes spent in each stage, all very clear. I also loved the old display where you could easily flick back years if needed to see how your sleep had changed over time, very quickly seeing hours and minutes slept. Now there is a graph instead and it’s not easy to see hours and minutes actually slept, unless you flick back to previous days, one by one, which takes ages. When you look at months and years on the new display, this is an average only which is misleading because the whole month could have been good, but if you had a few bad nights, the overall score could be impacted by this. It was much easier to quickly scroll up and down, with the old display, and get a clear sense of hours and minutes slept each night. Also I don’t find the benchmarking easy to view compared to the actuals, it was so easy before with the lines and clear indicator of the deficit. I loved the old display are there any plans to go back to this? Please can you consider, I really relied on this sleep tracking function and now it’s lost a lot of value for me. 

[Reb81]

I agree totally with this sentiment

[Reb81]

I don’t agree with this, new format has just removed a lot of the functionality and made the tracker much more complicated to use. I would like a change if it adds value but in my opinion this does not 

[LenaSz]

Wow! I'm glad it's not a ploy to upgrade, but if I had premium and was paying for this I'd be even more upset!

[Reb81]

It looks like my comments have been removed. Feedback was requested, but it seems not being heard. This new sleep tracking display does not work. You can’t scroll through nights easily to see minutes/hours slept, it’s now an average. The benchmarking isn’t clear. The time spent in each sleep stage is also unclear. Please revert back to the old format. I am in total agreement with those that have said, if it isn’t broken don’t fix it. The old display was much better. I am considering other devices after 8 years with Fitbit, following this change. 

[Snotrat]

I just chatted with Fitbit and it does not seem like they have any
intention of going back to the old design. This app is supposed to be
awesome but they appreciate my feedback. I my regret my decision but after
being a loyal customer for about 10 years I ordered a new smart watch from
a different company. I was planning on upgrading my Fitbit but what seems
to be a complete disregard of what we want is driving me away.

[DLHib]

It is awful, sorry new is not better!

[Suzzief]

Nasty, not a very nice update at all, not progress.   Time to look for a different tracker

[bradnsj]

I agree, WHOLEHEARTEDLY

[patpat1155]

Dear RebeccaFitbit (moderator), and Google, by now you have received plenty of negative responses to the deployment of your redesigned sleep feature in Fitbit. For the many users that use this feature daily (and for those that sneak a peek in the middle of the night when you toss and turn) to track sleep patterns for medical reasons, this has not been a pleasant experience whatsoever. I have a sleep disorder where different foods/beverages impact the quality of stages of sleep, which impacts my daily routines. I have relied on this app to help me get the quality of sleep I need in order to feel the best I can. I have tried to adjust to your app change, as change sometimes needs time for one to adjust to. But this change is ridiculous, as the many users are trying to point out to you. It's sad that your team can't reach out to acknowledge a mistake, or the need/willingness/plan(?) to tweak the design to conform to what the users are saying. Remember, we are the users. Also worthy of noting is the repeating theme of how many users are saying they will be looking into a competitive product. Why would a company let that happen? Makes no sense!  If it has to do with a patent thing in the take over, say so. If not, it seems like it would be easy for Google to roll back to the old code and make users happy. And if you have to change code - listen to your users - explain yourselves so we know, and come up quickly with a similar, easy to glance at (especially when you wake up blurry eyed!) sleep feature.  Thank you!

[MrsR]

Awful, really terrible. Why fix what ain't broke? I use this part of my Fitbit more than any other part. I was thinking of upgrading my Fitbit to a newer one. Won't bother now, and will look at other brands.

[LenaSz]

That is really a shame! You'd think they'd take customer input into account. 

I just linked my fitbit account to my Google account, which I hadn't done before, and now for some reason my sleep data has gone back to the old format??? I don't know if those two things are related or if it's a weird coincidence.

[Tera87]

Here to say I agree. New update sucks. Who green-lighted this? I just cancelled premium, such a shame. 

how can they make such a bad decision?

[Tera87]

New update sucks! I cancelled premium. Get your act together, Fitbit!