How soon will the 3rd party app store launch?

[SunsetRunner]

How soon can we expect the store to be open so we can start playing with apps 3rd party developers made?

[JoeSeaver]

With the huge amount of issues with the Ionic, I would be surprised if anything was available before the new year.  I hope Fitbit proves me wrong, but it seems like so much is wrong with the technology and the ways to communicate with the Ionic that it may be a while.  Hoping that is not the case...

[N8teGee]

Yes this is something I'd also like to know. Hopefully it will be soon. I'm not sure if we are waiting for apps to be submitted or if fitbit hasn't opened the gallery yet. 

[agsurf5]

Based on the twitter for developers, looks like there are a bunch of people having fun, but no app store open to publish. https://twitter.com/FitbitDev

[N8teGee]

In my opinion the SDK should have been released weeks ago. I know they had to wait for developers to get their Ionic's, but the SDK should have had a built in emulator. We might have started to see apps by now then. 

[agsurf5]

Fitibit, do you have any news or ETA fo this?

[SHGrade]

I would give it a few weeks, I was talking to one guy who made giant progress on an app I needed in just one week, but without a clear $ flow, its going to be most people's evening entertainment, not their focus. Still, I would say, I have his app loaded, Studio is COOL.

[WavyDavey]

Remember all the things that have to happen first.

Developers have to code it (and hopefully debug it)

If it's dealing with known 3rd party apps (looking at you Spotify), there's the whole licensing/partnership thing.

Then it has to be reviewed by Fitbit for compliance.

Any of these steps can add days and days.

[FastEddy-]

Hi,

"With the huge amount of issues with the Ionic,....."

I really do not understand. I have the Ionic a few day's now and I have NO problem at all. The only thing I haven't tried is Music..

And yes, I would like to add 3rd party apps to my Ionic very much, if there is an ETA available I'd like to know as well! It's all new though, I give it some time.

Regards,

Edwin.

[John-21]

Reading the developers chat room on discord, they said the current OS 1.1 beta (the one that supports third parties app) should be made available to everyone towards the end of Autumn, therefore I'd expect the app store to open around the same time, but it's just my guess.

[TrekkerRob]

Hey Fitbit,

Care to comment on anything here? Maybe try and dispell some rumors? Not sure if I want to wait for app development to catch up to the hardware issued with my Ionic. I'm thinking about returning it and getting a Garmin. Any sort of eta or plan for expansion in the 3rd party market would aleviate what is starting to become buyer's remorse.

[Venkats]

When the first party is having so many issues, why bother to wait on third party?.....

[bbarrera]

From Fitbit CEO's prepared remarks for Q3 2017 earnings call yesterday

"we expect additional apps to be available for consumers for the holiday selling season."

thats as official as it gets.

And in answer to a question, Fitbit CEO stated:

"Before the holiday selling season, we’re going to have a full-blown launch of the Fitbit app gallery, which is going to be a combination of some new first- and second-party apps with select partners beyond the ones that have already launched, along with opening the floodgates to submissions from third parties."

[oiOLLIEoi]

It's very disappointing that I've had the ionic for months and there are no apps or more clock faces yet. 

The strava app doesn't work. The weather app is in Fahrenheit but I can only change this if I change other units on the watch.

its a not a smart watch right now. It's an upgraded blaze. 

[datalore]

I finished my private app this weekend and it's been submitted. The app store should be available within the next 2 weeks or so, I'm guessing. I'm thinking the Fitbit OS 1.1 will address some of the major issues.

https://dev.fitbit.com/blog/2017-11-17-app-gallery-submit/

[datalore]

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@N8teGee wrote:

In my opinion the SDK should have been released weeks ago. I know they had to wait for developers to get their Ionic's, but the SDK should have had a built in emulator. We might have started to see apps by now then. 

---

 Developers have been begging for an emulator, and fitbit swears one is on the way. I've had to use a friends watch for my app, and with an emulator it would have been finished weeks ago. I guess it doesn't really matter because the app is just for me and some friends, but it was a definite issue for public apps. 

[agsurf5]

@oiOLLIEoi, unless you had some pre-release ionic, you can't use the "s" after month, as it hasn't been more than one yet. Weeks? Just joking. I understand some of the frustration.

I agree that the timing has not been excellent. I feel that we are all beta tester (and some developers). I also don't see how they could built a platform differently nowadays, considering that all the developers' apps would be for free, with neither Fitbit nor the developers getting paid. At least that what it looks like now.

I don't love to work for others for free, honestly. So I am (badly) developing something for myself until it might be monetized. But I have to say that Fitbit is making a great investment in providing free content, and the price to pay is beta testing for a bit, untill all the problems are solved. It is a bet on their side, and a bet on ours.

[SunsetRunner]

Where did you get the idea that anything about the App store will be free? Do you have a reference?

[agsurf5]

@SunsetRunner read few post around in the developer section where it was clear that Fitbit does not have a system in place for developers to be paid.

There might be a third party solution implemented, similar to what happened for peeble, but I am not sure. I was not familiar with that. 

A quick search returned this, but there were similar answers around.

https://community.fitbit.com/t5/SDK-Development/Paid-apps-and-watchfaces/m-p/2247433#M809

[SunsetRunner]

Thanks @agsurf5. Interesting reading.