Green Light on Fitbit Tracker! Why Is Your Fitbit Lighting Up?

Why Does Fitbit Emit Green Light?

As we’re all aware at this point, Fitbit trackers are specialized wearables, they aren’t (mostly) made for general usage. For what the company stands they’re pretty clear in their goal of producing top-of-the-class health trackers. So to expect them to act like let’s say an Apple Watch would be indeed lunacy.

Talking about Apple Watches do you know they are also the victim of Greenlight phenomena? Yes, even though they are not per se the health tracker yet if you’d notice your Apple Watch also does the same. And what’s even more fascinating is the reason “WHY” is similar to what applies to Fitbit.

Just like Apple our Fitbit trackers also use the greenlight only to monitor the heart rate. This is also what a learned person would call photoplethysmography or PPG technology. Basically what happens is that your smartwatch or health tracker would shine the green light on your veins carrying the blood. Given that blood contains hemoglobin (which absorbs green light very well – the reason why the color green is used). The reflected light back is used to measure the varying heartbeat.

“I Want To Turn Off The Green Light!”

Although I don’t think it’d be a good decision to choose to turn off the heart rate sensor, if the green light is really testing your patience, then you can do something about it. However, keep in mind that even after shutting down the heart rate function there is no guarantee the green light will go off too.

From what I’ve tested Fitbit has made sure it is activated by motion, so there is a chance that even when your Fitbit tracker wouldn’t be measuring the heart rate the greenlight will still go off when you will pick the wearable.

“So I can’t do anything about it?”

Well, there is one solution that worked out well for me, and it was to put my Fitbit into clip mode (you can try other variations to wear Fitbit too). So if you don’t want heart rate or resting heart rate or just anything to do with the heart, then it is the way to go.

How You Can Turn Off The Green Light!

If your mind is still made up and you want to turn off the function, this is what you can do:

• Open the Fitbit app and tap on the Account icon located on the dashboard.
• Go to your profile and navigate to the Settings section.
• From the drop-down menu, select the Heart Menu.
• Click on the option labeled ‘off’ to disable the Heart Menu.

Is Greenlight Harmful For Us?

In a word: No!

There is no scientific evidence that points green light from any type of wearable can have adverse side effects. However, you should be careful if you feel that when your smartwatch is emitting it you feel tight or strained around your wrist.

Because that’s what used to happen to me, it was not a Fitbit tracker, I’d just gotten a new Samsung Galaxy S5 and it had the functionality to measure the heart rate by the use of green light. So my experience was anytime I’d put my finger at the back and it would result in this strained pain that will last for like 5 minutes.

I don’t know why it used to happen, I do remember I stopped after a while. But given that I’ve had the same experience with Apple Watches too I reckon it is perhaps more to do with my body than the device itself. Yet on paper, you have nothing to worry about, it is 99.99% safe.

Alternative Method Fitbit Could Implement!

Perhaps it would never happen but there is another way that Fitbit could use to measure the heart rate and it is called Plethysmography (IPG). This method is different from the light-based PPG we saw above, though to truly understand its working we can refer to this analogy:

Imagine your body is like a house with pipes that carry water. These pipes are like your blood vessels that carry blood all around your body. Impedance plethysmography (IPG) is another way to measure how fast the water is flowing in the pipes. Instead of using a light, we use a small amount of electricity. We put stickers with tiny wires on your skin, and the electricity helps us to know how fast your heart is beating and how much blood is flowing.

Given the industry practice IPG is not used by smartwatches, it is neither practical nor convenient method to do so. Although, you might never know, one small innovation and things can change within a month.

Red, Green & Fitbit: Light It Up!

Just like greenlight is used to measure the heart rate Fitbit trackers also have the red light in their tool kit. However, only those Fitbit who can measure the oxygen level in blood have that redlight function. So if you ever come across it don’t assume your Fitbit has gone rogue and will take over the world. It’s just calculating the SpO2.

At least that’s what we’re told ; )