SPO2 sensor on Ionic

[JAH67]

Part of the sales pitch for the Ionic watch was that it has multiple additional features that would come online after launch, including the ability to check blood oxygen levels. I've yet to find anything to do with it anywhere. Has anyone got any information when this stuff is going live or was it just marketing? 

Moderator edit: updated subject for clarity and word choice.

[WavyDavey]

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@JAH67 wrote:

Part of the sales pitch for the Ionic watch was that it has multiple additional features that would come online after launch, including the ability to check blood oxygen levels. I've yet to find anything to do with it anywhere. Has anyone got any information when this stuff is going live or was it just marketing BS? 

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Hi @JAH67,

Yes, the Ionic is advertised as having an spO2 sensor, with the idea that the apps to read it will come later. At this point, later still means later.  As community members, we aren't privy to information as to the when of it.

One of the best places to get information about the oxygen sensor is to monitor the SDK board, where developers are already drooling over the read/wrist possibilities with the sensors.  Maybe someone is working on the app as we speak...?

[SunsetRunner]

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@JAH67 wrote:

Part of the sales pitch for the Ionic watch was that it has multiple additional features that would come online after launch, including the ability to check blood oxygen levels. I've yet to find anything to do with it anywhere. Has anyone got any information when this stuff is going live or was it just marketing BS? 

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I think it will never happen. 

[bbarrera]

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@WavyDavey wrote:

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One of the best places to get information about the oxygen sensor is to monitor the SDK board

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Not sure about that, these are the only sensors in the current SDK:

- accelerometer

- barometer

- gyroscope

- heart rate

- orientation

At this time no SPO2 sensor, no WiFi, no Bluetooth, and no NFC.

My guess is that Fitbit will introduce its own SPO2 app before its available to SDK developers.

[kiteblaster]

I just got my Ionic after a 2 month wait.  I am a bit upset that it appears that the Sp02 sensor was just marketing hype.  I never got a disclaimer that this sensor was not working.  I had a long chat with a marketing rep - but they couldn't even give me a time frame as to when it would be operable.  I explained that the elements of Intentional Fraud was the misrepresentation of a material fact (that the Sp02 sensor would work) upon which another justifiable relies (as when I paid my $300+).  The only thing I was able to find out was that I have 45 days in which to return the device.  I guess I will just have to wait to see if they fulfill their promise - since I still have my waterproof Alta HR, which currently has the same capability as regards its sleep tracking function.  I'm still a bit frustrated by this shoddy business practice.  If anyone has any additional information I would appreciate it.  TIA.

[SunsetRunner]

Enlighten us. Where did you ever see Fitbit advertising that the Ionic has an SpO2 sensor?

[WavyDavey]

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@SunsetRunner wrote:

Enlighten us. Where did you ever see Fitbit advertising that the Ionic has an SpO2 sensor?

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From the most official source available:

" Ionic builds on Fitbit’s health and fitness expertise with a new relative SpO2 sensor, making it possible to track deeper health insights like sleep apnea in the future"

[bbarrera]

Fitbit hiding behind a hidden safe harbor statement at bottom of press release, with no * or footnote to alert you that it’s a future feature without a timeline. For me it went past the ethics borderline, your own opinion may depend on if you own stock or not (and price paid). 

[Venkats]

I am not certain that SpO2 sensor will ever be used in the near future. The marketing materials position this against Sleep Apnea. To me if Fitbit were to make such a claim then the device can become "clinical" in nature and there are regulations in that space. If anyone is buying ionic based on SpO2 then they probably are too gullible for lack of a better term.

[SunsetRunner]

* * * in the future * * * You can't buy the watch now and whine that it is not operational now nor claim that Fitbit said it was operational.

[bbarrera]

@Venkats I’m guessing that Fitbit is going for pre-cert under FDA’s new pilot program. 

[Jeff2017]

I do find it kind of strange, but I am guessing it is just that all these smart watch companies have to get FDA approval to be able to use the feature. I can buy a small finger SPO2 monitor without any kind of special license to operate it. So why the difficulty in getting approval is simply you have to pay the government to tell you that it is safe to go ahead. Over regulated for something that has been around. However, you know all these companies when they get the chance to turn on the SPO2 monitoring will throw plenty of claims that THEY can do something better then the competition.

[Venkats]

The difference is that the small SpO2 finger sensor is just that. It tells our O2 saturation and it does not attempt to predict whether or not the person has / will have Sleep Apnea or some sort of a clinically sensitive disorder. For that matter it is not very hard for the HRM watches to detect certain cardiac abnormalities but they refrain from doing so deliberately.

[MariamV]

Hi everyone! 

This feature is not currently available. In the future, this sensor could give consumers the opportunity to identify potential health issues like sleep apnea. Fitbit is still exploring how this could manifest in the consumer experience and, such technology would use this sensor. 

Thanks for your understanding.

[kiteblaster]

This sentence does not make sense grammatically, could you please explain its meaning? "Fitbit is still exploring how this could manifest in the consumer experience, but such technology would use this sensor."   Also, when do you expect the Sp02 sensor to be functional?  Within weeks, months, or years?  Thanks.

[SunsetRunner]

Hi everyone! 

I'm writing a Fitbit application. The application is not currently available. In the future it could give consumers immortality, we are exploring how it could manifest using this sensor. What sensor? You may ask.. Exactly.. we say.

[WavyDavey]

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@kiteblaster wrote:

This sentence does not make sense grammatically, could you please explain its meaning? "Fitbit is still exploring how this could manifest in the consumer experience, but such technology would use this sensor."   Also, when do you expect the Sp02 sensor to be functional?  Within weeks, months, or years?  Thanks.

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Hi @kiteblaster,

I think @MariamV is confirming that the hardware sensor for O2 is present on the Ionic. The software that will work with it, is not yet available.

@SunsetRunner:

[Kight]

Thats using Dilbert logic, charge your customers for hardware that is not implemented into the current usable build, and may never be.

[WavyDavey]

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@Kight wrote:

Thats using Dilbert logic, charge your customers for hardware that is not implemented into the current usable build, and may never be.

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It seems logical to me. Manufacturers release phones all the time that have hardware minus the software needed to drive it. But since Fitbit took the effort to announce the O2 sensor in the Ionic, it seems reasonable to say they intend to implement it.

There's so much interest in the possibility of using this to identify sleep apnea, that I can't imagine it being abandoned. More likely, there's lots of hoops that Fitbit has to jump through that we know nothing about.

[shipo]

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@WavyDavey wrote:

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@Kight wrote:

Thats using Dilbert logic, charge your customers for hardware that is not implemented into the current usable build, and may never be.

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It seems logical to me. Manufacturers release phones all the time that have hardware minus the software needed to drive it. But since Fitbit took the effort to announce the O2 sensor in the Ionic, it seems reasonable to say they intend to implement it.

There's so much interest in the possibility of using this to identify sleep apnea, that I can't imagine it being abandoned. More likely, there's lots of hoops that Fitbit has to jump through that we know nothing about.

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Asking Sherman to set the Way-Back Machine to 1996; many (or if my memory is correct, virtually all) new PCs came with these funny looking rectangular ports on the back called USB ports.  I don't think I even saw my first actual USB device until 1998, but by then the vast majority of front line business computers had them available.  🙂