Fitbit to My Fitness Pal

[LouCapp]

How does one send the exercise data from Versa 2 to My FP. I tracked my bike ride at the gym and thought it would sync to that app. I have the two connected. Thanks

[Dominique]

Not using MFP myself, but according to this post by @AndrewFitbit (admittedly 3.5 years old), only steps and weight data is transferred from Fitbit to MyFitnessPal. I don’t think data from individual activities (e.g. your bike ride) would be transferred.

[LouCapp]

thanks, not even getting the steps at this point. Reconnected the app
just now and still NG

[emili · Accepted solution]

@LouCapp here is the latest info I could find for the issue you are describing.. maybe something here will work.. Link 

[Rich_Laue]

I like @emili'a answer, third party apps are responsible for their connection**. And when their is an issue, it is best to look on the third party sight. 

** the exception is, isn't their always an exception, IFTTT and Strava. 

[RodrigoMFitbit]

Hello @LouCapp, welcome to the forums. I willbe happy to assist you. 

Please note that Fitbit will only transfer the following data to MyFitnessPal:

• Steps
• Calories
• Scale measrements

The rest of data, activities for example, will not be sent to MyFitnessPal. 

@emili, thank you very much for your help!

If you have any other question or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact us.  

[LairdGoolsby]

I have the Versa 2 and have been a long time owner of Fitbit devices and this is the first time I have had an issue synching to MyFitness Pal. I have gone thru the other posts as well and both applications show that my accounts are linked yet nothing syncs. Any other options out there?

[Rich_Laue]

If you have already revoked access to MFP and re-linked, your next step is to contact My Fitness Pal since they are responsible for the connection. 

[pd1w]

So, how do I get my bike ride tracked with my new Fitbit (charge 4) to appear within my fitness pal ?!

this seems crazy! My steps tracked with the Fitbit appear within MFP. Why dont  bike rides!?

The sync  between Garmin and MFP works perfect. I’ve just bought a Fitbit and had assumed that it would work at least as well…. Having bike ride to not show up with an MFP is extremely disappointing!

[Rich_Laue]

@pd1w see this post above for what gets retrieved by MFP. 

[Heybales]

---

@pd1w wrote:

So, how do I get my bike ride tracked with my new Fitbit (charge 4) to appear within my fitness pal ?!

this seems crazy! My steps tracked with the Fitbit appear within MFP. Why dont  bike rides!?

The sync  between Garmin and MFP works perfect. I’ve just bought a Fitbit and had assumed that it would work at least as well…. Having bike ride to not show up with an MFP is extremely disappointing!

---

Why it's disappointing to you may help in giving a suggestion to alleviate the difference - why disappointing?

As prior post mentions - Total Daily calories burned is synced to MFP - therefore your bike ride calories are being accounted for by MFP. Merely not displayed as their own workout.

Fitbit decides what it wants to send.

The Fitbit exercise diary is MUCH more useful than MFP for reviewing past workouts and looking at stats.

Steps is merely a figure, like glasses of water, nothing is done with it but display it, same as you can look at the Fitbit and see steps.

Use Fitbit for activity related goals and logging.

Use MFP for food related goals and logging.

If you want your friends list to see your workouts - just make a wall post of something more interesting than a 1-liner lacking details. Like my weekend ride:

burned 2037 cal doing 175 min bike ride 46 miles in ugh 88 F, 177W normalized. Drank 4.5lbs water and lost 4.2lbs anyway again. Found my energy drink mix and used the wrong amount, 1/3 what it needed to be - felt that after I got outta town well past last place to buy some - way tired and bad cramps. Near the end nice McD manager let me inside and gave me free PowerAid refill - too late to help much. Discovered at end my desired route was not the past one I looked at quickly on Strava, would have been 20 miles more and not enough daylight for that. Poor planning all-around. Should have learned this lesson prior - lack of prep and rushing is recipe for failure. Oh, Garmin said burned 1000 more, ah.

[Rich_Laue]

Mod bike rides do not include many steps. 

MFP will get steps, calories and weight from fitbit. 

So yes you should dr calories. 

[pd1w]

thanks for the response... until your response it wasn't actually clear that the calories represented within MFP represent ALL of the burned calories recorded by FitBit. (i.e. including calories burned on a bike ride...)  the way MFP represents calories burned and recorded by a Garmin device is MUCH MORE CLEAR... MFP basically shows calories from each activity...

As a new FitBit user I am surprised at how little Fitbit seems to sync with other players in the game...  I have an iphone and unfortunately: heart rate, sleep, flights climbed,  Oxygen Saturations, even STEPS are not trnasferred (synced) automatically with Apple Health!  Has anyone figured out how to get this data recorded on a fitbit into Apple Health?  (Again the Garmin interface just happened.)

thanks in advance! 

[Heybales]

With secure accounts the syncing is accomplish by the sender (Fitbit) sending what can be received by the receiver (Apple).

Very insecure if they could reach into an account and grab data - plus that means the receiver is spending their money, and updating coding when the sender site changes.

So while the receiver may have all kinds of data types available to receive - it's up to the sender as to what they can or want to send.

For instance, MFP makes available to request your base daily eating goal to be sent by them. Been awhile, may also include your adjusted eating goal after exercise is logged.

But Fitbit only requests meal total calories.

MFP can accept workouts as you know with Garmin, with a limited range of text descriptions as you may have noticed.

But Fitbit choose not to send those.

So indeed, a feature request on Fitbit is required for them to send possible data to another service that can receive it.

Sadly knowing how Apple operates (my way or the highway) - I wouldn't be surprised if Apple's requirements for what they receive with your referenced stats, have either more data than Fitbit even has logged so they won't receive partial (like is a specific date/time stamp required for %SpO2 and Fitbit doesn't log that in the same format requiring $ to reprogram the system), or Fitbit just doesn't want to share it.

It's too bad they can't just all get along. 😁

[Rich_Laue]

@pd1w the calories also include your BMR, which are the calories your body needs to keep itself alive while resting. 

@Heybales IFTTT and Strava are the only companies that Fitbit handles the sync, by accessing their API's. 

All the other companies handle their own sync with fitbit, which means they access fitbit's api. 

Fitbit does not have to worry about the interface with My Fitness Pal since they handle their sync with fitbit.