Fitbit Ultra Operating Instructions
Fitbit Tracker Product Manual
Getting Started(#start)
Setting up Your Fitbit Tracker(#start-
setup)
Using Your Fitbit
Tracker(#tracker)
Using the Desktop
Client(#client)
Using the Website(#site)
Support(#support-help)
Statements(#statements)
Getting Started
Installing the Software
1. Navigate to www.fitbit.com/start(http://www.fitbit.com/start) and download the latest
software for your OS.
2. Run the installation file and follow onscreen instructions.
3. After installation, you will be taken to the account setup screen.
Setting up Your Fitbit Tracker
1. If you just installed the software, you will be taken to the
account setup screen. Otherwise, right-click on the Fitbit
Service Manager icon in the system tray application and
choose Account Setup (Windows) or double click on the Fitbit
application in the Applications folder (Mac).
2. On the first screen, create a new account or log in to your existing account.
3. The next screen will let you enter your personal information on your account. This information will
help the Tracker's accuracy when calculating the distance traveled and calories burned.
Installing the Software(#start-install)
Products(http://www.fitbit.com/p ro duct) STORE(HTTP://WWW.FITBIT.COM/STORE) Buzz(h ttp://www.fi tbit.co m/buz z)
Social(#)
Log in (https://w ww .fitbit.com/login)•Get Started (https://w ww .fitbit.com/setup)
4. The next screen informs you that it is time to plug in the base station, place your Tracker on the
base station, and press the button on the Tracker.
5. Finally, the Tracker will show a number for you to type in. This makes sure that the Tracker you are
looking at is the Tracker that the software is communicating with. After entering this number, setup
is complete.
Multiple Trackers can be used in the same household. To set up another Tracker, merely proceed
from Account Setup. You do not have to redownload the Fitbit software.
Multiple Trackers can be used with the same base station, or many base stations.
Using Your Fitbit Tracker
Charging
To charge, place the Tracker on any powered base station. For charging purposes only, the base
station can be plugged into any USB power source including (but not limited to):
A computer, whether the software is installed or not
A Wall A/C to USB adapter, commonly found with smartphones
A DC to USB adapter (vehicle power port)
It takes about one to two hours to go from empty to a full charge. You can charge more frequently
for shorter time periods for your battery to never hit empty.
A full battery will last a minimum of 3 days, but will typically last 5-7 days.
While on the charger, pushing the Tracker's button will display the battery indicator.
A battery indicator is also displayed on the website dashboard near your picture.
When the battery gets low, the Tracker will enter a power saving mode. You will see an empty
battery icon when you push the button. After several presses to the button, the display will stop
turning on to save the battery. Please charge your Tracker as soon as possible. The Tracker will
continue to collect data until it enters full shutdown mode.
To turn off your Tracker (other than draining the battery completely), place it on an unplugged base
station and press the reset button (found at the bottom of the base station).
To turn on your Tracker, place it on a plugged in base station.
Wearing the Tracker
The Tracker is best worn on your torso. This can include your waist or chest. You can also clip it to
undergarments. You might have to try different locations to see what works the best for you in
terms of accuracy.
The Tracker can be worn in the pocket for more convenience, but the steps and calorie counts will
be slightly less accurate.
Use the provided belt clip for thick belts and other thick clothing to prevent overextending your
Tracker.
The Tracker is water resistant, but not waterproof. Do not wear your Tracker during activities when
it might get wet.
The Display
Pushing the Tracker's button will cycle the display to show you:
Steps
The steps displayed are the total since midnight, or since you started a recording (see
Recordings).
Walking and running steps are displayed as one combined total.
The steps recorded by your Tracker should be roughly 95-97% accurate.
Distance
Distance is calculated based on your walking steps times your walking stride length plus your
running steps times your running stride length.
Running steps are determined based on the frequency and intensity of your steps, so some fast
paced walks might be counted as running steps. This will only affect the distance calculation.
The default stride length is based on your gender and height and should be fairly accurate.
Generally speaking, it's better to use the defaults than to incorrectly calculate your stride length.
For better accuracy on distance calculations, calculate and enter your stride length in your
profile settings (see Calculating Stride).
The displayed distance can be toggled between miles and kilometers by changing your height in
your profile from feet and inches to centimeters.
The distance display can be disabled on Fitbit Ultra Trackers from the setup screen.
Calories
The Tracker records calories burned based on your activities throughout the day and your Basal
Metabolic Rate (see BMR).
When you manually log an activity on Fitbit.com, the calorie burn associated with it will be
added to your Tracker when you next sync.
The total displayed is how many calories you have burned since midnight, or since you started a
recording (see Recordings).
The calories display can be disabled on Fitbit Ultra from the setup screen.
Flower
The flower grows and shrinks based on your activity level throughout the day.
It is a graphical representation of your activity over the past 3 hours.
Keep moving to grow your flower and keep it grown.
There are 11 leaves on a fully grown flower.
It will adapt as you become fit, so you will find it harder and harder to fully grow your flower.
The flower display can be disabled on Fitbit Ultra from the setup screen.
Floors (Fitbit Ultra only)
The floors displayed is a representation of the height you've climbed from walking up stairs and
hills. Escalators will count if you are actually walking up (doing the work), but stair exercise
machines will not (no actual elevation gain).
The floors display can be disabled from the Fitbit Ultra setup screen.
Clock/Time (Fitbit Ultra only)
The current time can be viewed on the Fitbit Ultra's display.
The time can be displayed in 12 hour format (e.g., 5:00 PM) or 24 hour format (e.g., 17:00).
You can adjust this setting on the Edit Profile page, which affects the displayed time on the
Fitbit Ultra, graphs, and input fields across the site.
The clock display can be disabled from the Fitbit Ultra setup screen.
Stopwatch (Fitbit Ultra only)
When in recording mode, a stopwatch is available as a display.
The time shown is the elapsed time since the start of the recording.
Chatter (Fitbit Ultra only)
Each time you pick up your Fitbit Ultra, words of encouragement are displayed.
Three words or phrases are stored on the Fitbit Ultra and are updated randomly each time you
sync.
The Chatter display can be disabled from the Fitbit Ultra setup screen.
Greeting (Fitbit Ultra only)
A greeting can be displayed each time you pick up your Fitbit Ultra.
The greeting is displayed after the chatter message if that feature is enabled.
Greetings can be 8 characters long containing numbers, letters, and many special characters.
The Greeting can be set, updated, or disabled on the Fitbit Ultra setup screen.
Lefty Mode
Fitbit Ultra Trackers can be displayed in Lefty mode which is enabled on the Fitbit Ultra setup screen.
Lefty mode is where the display gets flipped upside down so that to read it, the button is on the left
(pushed with the left hand).
Beginner Mode
Beginner mode displays the words before displaying the value with the icon (e.g.,Steps is displayed
before "7482" and the steps icon). After the display has cycled through each screen 5 times, beginner
mode will end and you will be in normal operating mode. In normal mode, the value and icon is
displayed immediately for faster viewing. Any time your Tracker is reset, it will enter beginner mode.
This will happen if you manually reset your Tracker (see Resetting Tracker), upgrade the firmware (see
Upgrading Firmware) or the battery goes completely dead and the Tracker is powered back on when
you place it on the base station. To exit beginner mode, simply press the button 20 times (which will
cycle between steps, distance, calories, and the flower five times each).
Recordings
A recording is similar to the trip mode on the odometer in your car.
To start a recording, hold the button down for 2+ seconds until you see the word Start. With Fitbit
Ultra, you will instead see a stopwatch start.
When in recording mode, the display icons will blink indicating that you are in recording mode.
The displayed stats will be the total since you started the recording.
To exit recording mode, hold the button down for 2+ seconds until you see the word Stop.
The next time your Tracker syncs, the recording will display on your activities page along with
additional stats such as pace, duration of the recording, a graph of your speed, and more (see
Activity/Recordings).
Recordings do not affect your data (how it is tracked or analyzed). It merely brings greater visibility
to that time frame.
During recording mode, Fitbit Ultra Trackers will display a stopwatch showing the elapsed time
since the beginning of the recording.
An example of a recording would be to track your morning run. If you put your Tracker in activity
mode at the beginning of your run, you can check the display to see your stats since the start of the
activity. The icons will be flashing, confirming that you are in recording mode. At the end of the run,
hold the button down for 2+ seconds again until you see Stop and the numbers displayed will again
be the total since midnight.
Tracking Sleep
To track your sleep, place the Tracker completely into the slot on the provided wristband and wrap
the wristband around your non-dominant wrist (i.e. if you are right handed, use your left wrist).
Once you are in bed and ready to sleep (not reading a book or watching TV, but actually trying to
fall asleep), press and hold the button for 2+ seconds. You should see Start indicating that you are
in sleep/recording mode. With Fitbit Ultra, you will instead see a stopwatch start.
If you check the display, the icons will blink indicating that you are in sleep/recording mode.
When you wake up, press and hold the button for 2+ seconds to Stop sleep mode.
Sleep mode also displays your steps, miles, and calories since you entered sleep mode. Once you exit
sleep mode, you will resume seeing your daily total.
After your Fitbit syncs, the sleep will appear on your dashboard and sleep page on the website. It
will appear on the day that you woke up (recording last night's sleep shows up on today's page).
If you forgot to Start and Stop your Tracker, you can enter the times manually on the Track My
Sleep page.
Note: The steps to track your sleep are the same as making a recording. Once your Tracker syncs, the
site will determine if you were trying to record an activity or a sleep and will analyze the recording
accordingly. Provided you are not starting and stopping the Tracker for an activity like reading a book,
watching TV, or another sedentary activity, the Fitbit website will categorize your activity or sleep
correctly.
Syncing Your Data
The Tracker will upload your data every 15 minutes provided you are within range of any plugged in
base station (about 15 feet for direct line of sight), the computer is on and not in sleep or hibernate
mode, the software is installed and running, and you have an active internet connection.
While out of range, the Tracker will look for a base station every minute until it syncs your data,
after which it will wait 15 minutes before searching again.
You can see when the last successful sync occurred by viewing your main page at www.fitbit.com.
Near your profile picture, you will see Synced with a time and date of your last sync.
If you want to force the Tracker to upload its data, place the Tracker on the base station.
While we recommend you sync your data regularly, the Tracker has the ability to store 7 days' worth
of detailed, minute by minute data. It will store summary data (calories, distance, and steps) for the
trailing 30 days. If you wait longer than 7 days before syncing, you will not see your minute by
minute graphs (except on the most recent 7 days).
Your Tracker is able to sync from multiple computers, as long as each computer has the Fitbit
software installed and a working base station is plugged in.
Upgrading the Firmware
Windows
1. Right-click on the diamond Fitbit icon in the system tray at the bottom right corner of your screen
(you may have to click the < to see hidden icons).
2. Select Fitbit -> About…
3. On the bottom left corner of the About screen, click on Upgrade Firmware.
4. Follow the onscreen instructions, taking care not to remove the Tracker from the base station until
the process completes.
Mac
1. Open a Finder window.
2. Navigate to Applications > Utilities.
3. Double-click on the Terminal application to open it. A terminal window appears.
4. Now enter: FB_OPEN_MODE="userFirmwareUpdate"
/Applications/Fitbit.app/Contents/MacOS/Fitbit
5. The Fitbit application will launch and upgrade your firmware.
6. Do not close the terminal window until after you have quit the Fitbit application.
Using the Desktop Client
The Fitbit Service Manager - System Tray Application (Windows Only)
The tray application provides a visual indication that your base station is plugged in and the Fitbit
Data Uploader service is running. It also launches the Account Setup screen used to link a Tracker
to a new or current account and to upgrade the firmware.
The Fitbit Data Uploader service is running and the base station is plugged in.
The Fitbit Data Uploader service is not running. The easiest way to restart the service is to
reboot your computer.
The base station is unplugged. Check the wiring and try unplugging and replugging the base
station's USB cord.
Note: Launching the Fitbit application by going to Start -> All Programs -> Fitbit -> Fitbit starts
the system tray application. All functions of the installed software are accessed through the system tray
icon.
The Fitbit Data Uploader - Service
This service syncs all your data with the website.
By default, the service will start when you log in to your computer.
Firewall settings (usually those found in a business environment) may prevent the software from
communicating with the website, in which case no sync can take place.
Upgrading the Desktop Client
Windows
Right-click on the tray icon and choose Fitbit > Check for update
Mac
Please go to http://www.fitbit.com/start(http://www.fitbit.com/start) to check whether
there is a new version.
Using the Website
Home - The Dashboard
Header Section
Your weekly goals can be customized by clicking on the Select another goal link.
Before you can view a weight goal as your weekly goal to display, you must first navigate to the
Track My Weight page and set an initial goal.
Loading...