How to export my data from Fitbit?

[michel777]

Hi, it is possible to download all my collected activity data from fitbit ?

Moderator Edit: Clarified Subject.

[SteveH · Accepted solution]

It is. There's a guide to doing it here: https://help.fitbit.com/articles/en_US/Help_article/1133/

[CharlieHathaway]

What can I do with the data?

Can I get an XLS file like I used to?

[SteveH]

@CharlieHathaway the process for downloading data has changed recently. It used to be a fairly simple process that downloaded data in a format suitable for loading to Excel but now it is much more complicated and not so easy to get into an XLS format. 

A number of people have raised concerns about this change. Fitbit have acknowledged those concerns and are considering what, if anything, to do. So, it's possible that the old way of exporting may come back. Keep an eye on the following thread where they are making updates on the situation:

https://community.fitbit.com/t5/Fitbit-com-Dashboard/Changes-to-Data-Export-tool/td-p/3068710

[CharlieHathaway]

Thank you for your response.

I am aware of the changes they made to the download and I am ok with that. Previously I could download either a CSV file or even better an XLS file which gave me exactly what I needed to save a precise history of my FitBit use that assisted in show my Doctors the info that they were interested in. The new JSON format gives me a bunch of pieces with all the data that I need but not in a format that I could bring to my Doctor to show him anything unless I brought him 400 pages or print out that he would not even look at. There is probably a way to convert these JSON files into something meaningful which is what I am looking for.

[MarcoGFitbit]

Hello @CharlieHathaway, it's great to see you around the Fitbit Community, I hope you're doing well. It's nice to see you too @SteveH, thanks for all your help. 

@CharlieHathaway, I appreciate your participation in the Forums and for sharing your experience with us. Please note that as @SteveH mentioned, our team has recently changed the way the data gets exported from our servers. At this moment, please keep an eye on this thread, that our team will keep updating with new information about this situation. 

Thanks for your patience and understanding, I hope you have a great day. 

[CharlieHathaway]

Great job fixing and improving the Fitbit Download



Thank you,

Charlie

[pjkk]

Thank goodness the .xls download works again ! Now if they could only increase the date range....

[CharlieHathaway]

They did, check it out.

[pjkk]

Far as I can tell, only 30 days....

[CharlieHathaway]

If you go back to the original link you can take 30 days at a time but you
can go back and get 30 day periods from the past. I caught up on 2.5 months
of back data for myself.



Charlie

[pjkk]

Didn't know that! Thanks !

[MarcoGFitbit]

Hello @pjkk, I hope you're doing well, thanks for joining the conversation. It's great to see you too @CharlieHathaway, thanks for taking the time to reply. 

I appreciate you have come back and let me know this issue seems to have been resolved, I'm very glad. In case you have some spare time, I would like to invite you to visit our Discussions board where you will find great tips and encouragement from other members and if there's anything else I can do for you, please keep me posted!

[RichardCW]

That doesn't appear to be a solution for the Charge 2.  I want to have access to my data and export so I can put it on a spreadsheet.  I get the weekly updates so I know the data is available so it should be available for me.

Please provide instructions for downloading my data.

Moderator Edit: Format.

[MarcoGFitbit]

Hello @RichardCW, thanks for joining the conversation, it's great to have you on board the Fitbit Community. 

I appreciate your participation in the Forums and for sharing your question with us. Please note that in order to export your Fitbit account data, first go to your Personal Settings in the online Dashboard. Then, click on Data Export and follow the on-screen instructions.

You will receive an email asking you to confirm your data export request. After you confirm and your export completes, you’ll receive another email with a link to download your Fitbit account data. Download the data to your computer and explore the files. Please take in consideration the following:

• Once you confirm your data export request, it can take some time to compile your data for export. You can check the status of your request in your Data Export account settings.
• If you deleted your Fitbit account, your account data will not be available for export.
• If you received a data export email from us and did not make the request, be sure to change your password.

The following table details the type of Fitbit data you can export, and examples of that data.

Data type	What is it?
Activity	Steps, distance, active minutes, GPS, calories, floors (altitude), heart rate, sedentary time, cardio fitness score, and more
Exercise	Exercise history, exercise logs
Social	Challenges, badges, community feed posts, and comments
Sleep	Time asleep, times awake
Coach	A summary of your Fitbit Coach workouts
Corporate	Wellness program information, including challenges
Logs	Food, water, exercise, weight logs
Profile	Profile picture, child accounts, display name, gender, date of birth, age, height, weight, and other account settings

I hope this can be helpful, give it a try and let us know if there's anything else we can do for you. 

[RichardCW]

I found the process and requested the data.

The problems are, my data must be available to me without having to request it.  My data should also be available in a usable format, CSV is fine for Excel, I don't know what I am supposed to do with JSON files.

I have downloaded one month because that is the limit, why?

You are taking personal data and doing who knows what, making it difficult to for me to get, that is what needs to be addressed.

[Bosco253]

Solved? Hardly. The old data download was far superior, in my opinion. This morning, to my chagrin, I realized that the old method is no longer available. I requested a download, followed the instruction in the email, but nothing would open. When I went to try it again, I recveived a message that I can only request one download in a 24 hour period.

This is a classic case of taking something that was not broken, breaking it, and then screwing it up further. Is it possible to revert back to downloading data the old way, please? That worked.

[Bosco253]

 Nope - NOT an accepted solution. I can't get it to work.

[RichardCW]

None of the available solutions are acceptable.

This is our personal data and should be readily available without jumping through hoops.  I think it fair to ask for a different solution in the next 30 days or I will have to look at another option to get access to my data.  I have made the request before, and there is no email available, this narrows my options but doesn't close the book.

Please provide an email address or a street address so that I can pursue a more aggressive approach.  Remember, we purchase these devices at a high price, it monitors our bodies so we are entitled to that information.

Today is March 20, 2019.

[SteveH]

There appears to be an ongoing bug with the export function at the moment. Keep an eye on the following thread where fitbit are making updates on progress:

https://community.fitbit.com/t5/Fitbit-com-Dashboard/Updates-to-Fitbit-Data-Export/td-p/3322855