Why Does Fitbit Say Look Alive?
Imagine this: You are sitting in a college classroom, trying to pay attention as your professor lectures away behind the podium.
All of a sudden, your Fitbit tells you to “Look alive!” The entire class – professor included – stops and stares at you.
A few people chuckle, and your professor – who is clearly trying to hold back laughter – politely asks you to silence your Fitbit.
Embarrassing, right?
Well, that’s the Fitbit for ya. Smart Awake is a system that you can use on your Fitbit to wake yourself up. You can set an alarm for a specific time and have it tell you to “Look Alive”. But what if the alarm is not synced correctly and starts going off at inappropriate times?
Is there a way to turn off these pesky notifications and avoid further humiliation?
As is the case with any Fitbit, you can disable the notifications that you do not wish to receive – but there is a process that you must follow in order to successfully disable these pesky notifications.
If you don’t want to be told to “Look Alive”, then read on. I will let you know how to disable these notifications.
Why Does Fitbit Say Look Alive?
If your Fitbit is telling you to “Look Alive”, you have Smart Wake enabled. Smart Wake uses some algorithms to wake you out of a sleep. This is why the Fitbit tells you to “Look Alive.”
So, why exactly are you getting this message?
What does Look Alive mean on your Fitbit?
What exactly is Smart Wake?
How do you go about turning off these notifications and vibrations?
Your Fitbit doesn’t think you’re dead, does it?
Read on to learn more about why the Fitbit is telling you to “Look Alive.”
Why do you get a “Look Alive” message on your Fitbit?
You are getting told to “Look Alive” by your Fitbit because you have Smart Wake enabled on your device.
Smart Wake is able to send you notifications when it detects that you should be waking up from a slumber.
That’s why it will tell you to “Look Alive.” It is really just a fancy way of saying, “Hey, it’s time to wake up now!”
What is Fitbit Smart Wake?
Okay, let’s talk a little bit more about what Smart Wake is and how it works.
Smart Wake was originally relegated to only a select few Fitbit models, but now you can find it on models like the Charge 3 and 4, Ionic, Versa, and Inspire HR.
It functions along with your Alarms, although wake-up calls won’t show up in your Alarms settings.
Smart Wake essentially combines algorithms from things like your heart rate to get you out of your sleep state when you are in a light sleeping state.
This is supposed to make waking up easier than using the snooze button.
You are ideally supposed to feel more refreshed as opposed to being woken out of a deep sleep by your regular alarm.
How do you turn off Look Alive notifications on Fitbit?
You cannot make changes from the Fitbit app on your smartphone.
You set up Look Alive notifications when you set up an alarm.
You will need to set a new alarm and select a time that you wish to be woken up.
Then, you will see a screen with your selected time and on/off options.
Swipe up to scroll down and look for the Smart Wake option.
This will display a 30 minute time table for you to be woken up.
If you want to turn this off, simply toggle it off when you are looking at that option.
How do you stop vibrations with Look Alive notifications?
If the vibrations that accompany your Fitbit – including the “Look Alive” notifications – are bothersome to you, you can turn them off.
Vibrate notifications can be annoying, especially while you are trying to rest.
You can at least wear your Fitbit more loosely around your wrist, for starters.
But if you absolutely want vibrations turned off, you will need to make sure that you have disabled any of the alarms you have set if you do not plan on using them to help you wake up.
If you are on an iPhone, you can go to the Home screen and select the Clock app
Look for any alarms that are set and turn them off as you see fit.
Of course, you can do the same thing from an Android phone and turn your alarms off as you wish.
You can also simply put your Fitbit on silent.
To do this, you will need to:
- Go into the Fitbit app.
- Click on the account icon.
- Choose your device.
- Select Silent Alarm.
You can choose the times you don’t want your Fitbit to vibrate, which will just prompt the Fitbit to send the alarm notification to the display screen.
Does my Fitbit think I’m dead?
Your Fitbit doesn’t think that you are dead.
It knows that you are asleep based on your biological algorithms that it picks up on when Smart Wake is enabled.
Your Fitbit is trying to gently nudge you out of a light slumber so that you are not startled awake by an obnoxious alarm.
What if the Look Alive notifications do not stop?
Some users have reported that, despite their best efforts, they cannot get the Look Alive notifications to stop coming their way.
If that is the case for you, then you are going to need to contact Fitbit’s customer support services to get more assistance from them.
You can contact them and ask for help resolving your issue.
Also, check the user forums that Fitbit users since they will post on the community pages about issues similar to this.
Bear in mind that each Fitbit comes with a one-year limited warranty, so if you are within your warranty period, you might be able to get a replacement model if the problems cannot be troubleshot.
Closing Thoughts
Your Fitbit isn’t telling you to look alive because it thinks you look dead.
It is simply trying to wake you out of a light sleep – or what it thinks is a light sleep based on your biometric trends that are monitored by Smart Wake.
Smart Wake can be disabled if you do not want to receive these notifications, but it can also prove to be helpful for when you do need that gentle nudge awake.