How to delete data from Charge 2

[JanneZack]

I am returning this to the store. I tried it for 4 days and it is very inaccurate. I need to delete the 4 days worth of info. How do I do this. (This is NOT user friendly!)

[WendyB]

Delete what data?

If it is calories burned nothing is wrong

The calories burned are BMR calories. Your fitbit also calculates calories burned for your BMR. You burn calories just by being alive! Even Sleeping. Fitbit includes these burned calories in it's calorie calculations, so even if you did not wear the fitbit, you'll still burn these calories.

Read this

http://help.fitbit.com/articles/en_US/Help_article/How-does-Fitbit-know-how-many-calories-I-ve-burne...

[WendyB]

You also might want to read the manual as it is very user friendly

https://staticcs.fitbit.com/content/assets/help/manuals/manual_charge_2_en_US.pdf

[JanneZack]

Hi WendyB,

1. The manual, lovely as it is, and "user friendly" as it is, it does not tell you how to DELETE all info on a FITBIT that you'd like to return to the store. I looked on every page. I learned a lot of new things about it, but it still is not the product for me.
2. The Caloires Burned is also not the nature of my question either. I could care less how many calories it thinks I burned (whether wearing it or not). I had it in my purse from 2pm - 9 pm yesterday and my purse sat on the floor of my office for about 5 of those hours, then it went with me to my car and into my house. I didn't walk more than about 50 steps with my purse in tow. BUT, my steps went from about 1000 that I had personally taken in the morning to over 5100 by 9 at night. It wasn't even on my wrist and it thinks I walked that far!? ! ALSO, I climbed a set of stairs with it ON, but it didn't register it.

My biggest problem is, it's not water-proof so I can't wear it to swim, therefore I want to return it and get something else that is water-proof. THUS, I would like to ERASE all my personal stuff from the fitbit so that the information stored there (my name, height weight, etc.) is gone.

Anyone else have an idea how to get rid of this information? I tried deleting the app from my phone, thinking that if the fitbit didn't have anyone to talk to, it would get confused and forget. No luck there. I've also thought about letting the battery run down. But I'm sure that won't do the trick either. I've tried to delete the data off my phone app for the fitbit, but that is impossible. Wow, the app is NOT user friendly!

Help?

Moderator edit: personal info removed

[Kmransom123]

@JanneZack  There is not a way to "delete" the stats that currently show on the tracker.  No data is kept on the device as it is actually stored on the Fitbit servers.  (And if someone were to get your tracker, as soon as it is setup, it then starts over with the new users information.)

[Rahere]

Which is illegal in the UK: you have not registered with the authorities to keep this personal data as required by Law. You know this is required because you have registered the data you keep on your staff, and in particular on their health records, showing you are aware of this. You then sell this data for scientific research, which is also illegal, see https://www.fitabase.com/research-library/

It's fairly obvious why you're impeding the destruction of personal records, therefore. As a more positive step, I see no reason why customers should not register under an alias, anonymising their data. The Medical uses cited appear to reaspect ethical norms. A far more ethical approach would store the data locally.

[Kmransom123]

@Rahere  I would contact Fitbit in regards to this so you can discuss it further.  I do not work for Fitbit, so do not have all the information on you request.  (Or perhaps a moderator can help with this in more detail)

[Rahere]

@Kmransom123

i tried both, no reply from either. The cause isn't a bad one, they've just gone about it the wrong way, presuming consent when the Law says the opposite. It's fairly common across Europe, too, one of the fundamental rights which have constitutional status, so cannot be assigned. Their system's set up to do it, though, which means premeditation.

The leak of such data on UK athletes during the Olympics caused one heck of a rumpus, and I can well imagine this would dissuade top sportspeople from using this system, sadly. I'm not one, but I am also security-sensitive for other more serious reasons - I'm mulling over whether anonymising my data is sufficient and am fast coming to the conclusion it is not, as other corroborative data is also available.

Given others come to the same conclusion, I'm afraid this one's going back. Pity, other aspects of the open API were attractive: just they don't store my data where I control it, and that's a fundamental no-no.

[Rich_Laue]

Please read the privacy stayement, link is also below @Rahere

What info I about you do you think I'd stored on the tracker! 

Nothing more than a few settings. Also Fitbit does not know your real name or location. 

Once the data is transmitted it has been removed from the tracker  

Anybody that looks at the tracker would only see that days data, which would not even be about you. 

If you want your fitbit account ed, just ask fitbit to delete it. 

[Rahere]

Stop screaming at me, Rich. State Security for several Nations has watched me since my childhood, and for good reason - I proved very trustworthy, and held great responsibilities for everyones security. I'm trusted not to put my feet in it, and this, I'm sad to say, looks like it does.

I gained the rank of Systems Manager 35 years ago, and, trying to learn how to get your product working, used my advanced analytic skills to solve the several problems. I came to certain conclusions on how the system is designed, which was seriously frustrating - have you never heard of testing? I did not reverse engineer the system, simply looked at the way the data had to flow so I could structure a kludge, which raised a number of flags on it's design. That then led me to check to see if it respected the Law - it did not. There are two degrees of disrespect, disrespect out of ignorance and disrespect out of contempt: Fitbit's registration showed the former was untenable, you actually stated the principle which should apply to your customers in your registration for your staff.

Your attempt to gag me with a privacy agreement while stealing my rights demonstrates why I should blow this whistle, I'm a Loughorough graduate and should support my peers. Fitbit holds detailed individual performance records on their servers, and your reply shows why we should not trust you. It's not what's on the tracker which is at question, it's what's on your servers, why it's there and what you do with it that matters. Why isn't it on my PC? So I can examine it across a range of platforms, perhaps? It still doesn't explain that list of customers I found. After the passive aggression of your reply, I can categorically state I don't trust this operation one little bit now.

[Rahere]

In passing, wasn't your last comment exactly what the OP asked for, to have his data deleted, and was refused? Various court cases concerning other social media have established that customers have that right. You've even put the API accessing your customers' data in the public domain, which is about as egregious an abuse of their privacy as I can think of. I haven't gone through it in detail to examine what is and is not visible, true, as my primary objective was to get my tracker working, and only when I made certain observations did I start to question whether it was wise to use it at all.

I first came to the conclusion that it wasn't fit for purpose on Christmas Day, but bided my time as the problems could be resolved. Indeed, they were, after a fashion, I could at least use it partly. However, I then was faced with the system trying to micromanage me, which was going to take more time than I was prepared to put into it. I cook a lot, so how can I tell what the calory content of what I'm eating is, short of burning my food to a crisp? Easy answer there, zero, as I'll starve to death. So the calory tracking was a non-starter. And even if I did, it was going to take up the time I use to exercise. So zero on that too. In any case, I've covered 80% of the distance needed to reach my target without a tracker, so it's fairly pointless. I'm more concerned about apnoeia and the stress I put my heart under the last time I tried to lose weight - it;s 0430 and I've not had a wink so far. Precious little for those up front. Plus the likelihood of GIGO.

[Gill146]

I'm in the same position as you. Did you find a solution?

[Downpour04]

https://help.fitbit.com/articles/en_US/Help_article/1306/#personal

[DougalJ]

This does look like the only way to do it and ensure it is clean.  (But it will not reset it to look like a 'new' device).

Create a new fitbit account with fake name etc, log on to the device which will reset all data to 0 and then instantly disconnect.  Bit of a faff compared to a 'clear all data from my fitbit' button but it would work.

[SteveS65]

Interestingly this is not completely accurate. My wife bought a different model and gave me her Fitbit Charge 2. I downloaded the app for Mac, created a new account, and reviewed my profile. Seems I already have a half-dozen badges and a couple million steps. So, it seems that the data the device captures remains with that device's history even after transferring to a new user.