Third Party Apps are not working properly

[DaDuck]

My experience with third party apps and watch faces on the Fitbit Ionic is that they either don't work or they require unusual payments (eg, joining twitter to pay).  For example, Walgreens app did not show rewards amounts, Strava App would not connect with Fitbit exercise data, New York Times App stopped showing headlines, Find my Car App couldn't find my car, Map App could sync to my current location,  Velocity App worked for a while, then developed updated it to charge $ for use and App stopped working,  Yelp App only located 1 or 2 Restaurants in my area, when there are actual several more.   Some of these apps worked on my iPhone but not on the ionic.  So I just gave up in the apps and just use the ionic for its basic functions.   Ionic a good fitness tracker, but not yet a good smart watch.

Moderator edit: updated subject for clarity

[MarreFitbit]

Thanks for stopping by @DaDuck! Sorry to hear that you've been having inconveniences with some of the Third-Party Apps. 

With third party apps, note that Fitbit doesn't own or maintain third party integrations. It's up to the owner of the third party app to implement or update features for their app so in this case is recommendable to contact the third party developer to learn more about future implementations. 

To contact the developer please open their app on the Fitbit App Gallery, scroll/swipe down and under "App Details" you will find the information.

Rest assure we are working to deliver better options to our users, so once again thank you for your feedback as this help us to continue our work. 

With Walgreen App, I recommend trying the following:

• Log in to your online dashboard.
• Revoke the access from Walgreens on your Fitbit account.
• Re-link both apps.
• Try to sync them again.

This should help you out!

With Yelp App, have you tried removing the app and downloading it again?

To remove the app please do the following:

1. With your watch nearby, on the Fitbit App dashboard, tap or click the Account icon > your device image.
2. Tap or click Apps.
3. In the list of apps installed on your watch, find the app you want to remove and tap or click it. You may have to scroll down to see some of the apps.
4. Tap or click the app > Remove.

Then, you can downloading it again:

1. With your watch nearby, on the Fitbit app dashboard, tap or click the Account icon > your device image.
2. Tap or click Apps > All Apps.
3. Browse the available apps. When you find the one you want to install, tap or click it.
4. Tap or click Install.

Once done, open it and check if it will give your correct location. Make sure that the location on your phone and Fitbit App are the correct one you are in too.

Have you tried unlinking the connection from both Fitbit and Strava in your application settings and pairing again?  

Note that Strava will only sync GPS related activities. For more information, check out this article. 

Hope this helps, I'll be around if you need further assistance! 

[DaDuck]

I noticed that Fitbit has disavowed any responsibility for third party apps. The only problem with that approach is that Fitbit still gets the credit for the poor performance of unregulated apps that it allows on its watches.
The unknown developer may be the problem, but its the Fitbit company that suffers the negative image. If what I read about the company on Wall Street is true, Fitbit cannot continue for too long ignoring the quality of its product,
including ignoring the poor quality of third party developers.

Hope you improve your management of quality control. I will periodically check some apps that have previously failed to see if there has been any improvement.


Don Stachula,
A loyal customer, for the time being!

[mtstaffa]

Hi @DaDuck

I work with Asken Diet (www.askendiet.com/get) that is one of the 3rd party developers. It's a diet advice and calorie counting app.  Let me know if you have any issues with it but it should be pretty straightforward. If you use the US/Canada iTunes/Google app stores, get our mobile app there (free) and then connect your mobile profile with the Ionic/Versa app we just built.  For now, the Ionic/Versa app is a mirror of the mobile app, but we do have plans to add even more functionality and some exclusive functions to the smartwatch app version.  If you need any help email us at support@askendiet.com

I agree that the app store experience can be better for users (as I am also a users) so I just wanted to post here to show that we (and I hope other developers) are out there and available to hear feedback. Thanks!

[Larryi]

I also haven’t gotten a satisfactory answer concerning the 12 hour format on yweather clock face. The developer is David Rodriguez Rincom. There is NO link to his webpage under his name when you enter the app. Try it yourself. If you find it, pass it on to me. Better yet tell him the problem yourself. According to the notes accompanying the app it should automatically determine my location and change the format. Plug and play in his words. 

[EmTe]

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@DaDuck wrote:
I noticed that Fitbit has disavowed any responsibility for third party apps. The only problem with that approach is that Fitbit still gets the credit for the poor performance of unregulated apps that it allows on its watches.
The unknown developer may be the problem, but its the Fitbit company that suffers the negative image.

---

Sometimes it is neither the developer nor Fitbit, but is the phone's cause. And it's not a bug either, but the way the phone force-quits all apps if the phone doesn't have enough RAM or needs to allocate more RAM to a currently open app like Facebook. Then the phone will force-quit the Fitbit app, and when that app is turned off, then third party watch apps cannot communicate with the Fitbit app and therefore cannot sync or access the Internet.

@Larryi wrote:

I also haven’t gotten a satisfactory answer concerning the 12 hour format on yweather clock face. The developer is David Rodriguez Rincom. There is NO link to his webpage under his name when you enter the app.

 I find it easier to just post questions in these forums. That way the developer can reply in an open manner and all future people can search for the answers too. Beats the developer replying to all customers using the same canned responses which is not efficient.