Is there a way to sync steps from a Samsung Gear Watch to the Fitbit app?

[gpsoph]

My dad has a Samsung Gear Watch that syncs with the S Health app. I was wondering if there's any way for him to sync his steps to the Fitbit app so he can compete with friends and family. I know he can buy a fitbit and it will work, but is there any other way to sync his steps from his Samsung Gear Watch to the fitbit app without getting a fitbit? He didn't get a fitbit because it didn't have all of the features his Samsung Gear Watch has just in case you're wondering. Please let me know if there is anyway this can happen.

[MakMak]

Hi, @gpsoph, at this point, S Health is not compatible with Fitbit.

[jenaviles88]

Hi MakMak, your response doesn't really address the issue well.

Can something be developed to make it compatible??  Smart watches are the wave of the future.  I just got a Gear 2.  I love it.  But I also love Fitbit.  It would be perfect if SHealth could sync with Fitbit so I only have to wear 1 device.  Can anything be done??

Thanks.

[MakMak]

@jenaviles88, Fitbit does not make their software compatible with other people's software. They leave it up to the other software to do it. For the software Fitbit is compatible with, I believe it will sync up to 1 month of historical data in. At this point, Fitbit isn't compatible with any of their hardware fitness tracker competitors, they will only sync with software/phone based ones like mapmyrun, etc. To be perfectly honest, I don't see any incentive for any of the companies to work on this compatibility, since it could provide incentive for people to jump ship to another company's hardware.

[QuickNick]

IMO the incentive for the Fitbit app to work on compatibility with other hardware makers is that it will keep the people already deciding to leave the Fitbit ecosystem inside of it.  And as another post offered as a suggestion, make it a premium only feature.  This would be align the company more with the business model that Spotify uses (who is also highly successful).

I see the issue for Fitbit moving forward is if they want to lock their app only to their hardware, then they need to be good on both ends.  However, while there hardware used (and probably still is) the best among fitness trackers, they are severely falling behind on the smartwatch end.  I see more users moving to smartwatches and deciding to leave Fitbit completely if they continue to restrict compatibility. Plus there are few people who would wear a smartwatch and a fitness tracker just to use Fitbit's app. 

If Fitbit could actually compete with the hardware manufacturers, then they would have no reason to open up their software.  As it stands currently they are quickly falling behind and if they continue to fall behind on the hardware side or open up the software side, they will follow the footsteps of Kodak, Blockbuster, and Blackberry.

[Nerinern]

It'seems unfortunate that fitbit does not make itself more apart of the fitness community by being more inclusive of others. My friends and I are competitive and enjoy working out together but we don't all have fitbit. It would be fantastic if your company could make this happen. If other devices offer this connectivity, my thought might be: "fitbit is great but if I had brand x, I could link up with friends regardless of what device they use."

[Montypaks]

I agree! 

I love the fitbit app! I've been using the surge for a few yeaars now but I'll love to move to a smart watch now... In particular, the Samsung Gear S3. 

I may be forced to just abandon the fitbit ecosystem all together if I can't find a way to sync. I really don't want to be wearing two devices simply because of an app.

The suggestion of allowing the syncing with third party hardware as a paid service is a great one! At the moment, aside from the price of the watch, I haven't paid into the ecosystem at all... but I'll be happy to go on a paid subscription to allow me to use a non fitbit watch with the fitbit app

[mawmaw4]

I agree completely.  I did wear both my HR and my SGear for awhile but what a pain!  I just found an app that will sync some info between the two apps though - yeah!!  It's called Fit and Healthy.  Here's a link to the forum that has some instructions and other details about the app.  

https://community.fitbit.com/t5/Third-Party-Integrations/App-that-syncs-Fitbit-and-Samsung-S-Health/...

I've only just found it and have tried it today but so far so good!  My info synced between the two successfully.  Give it a try!

[cmick90]

Your dad could always try a "cascade sync". 

Sync S Health with, for example, one of the Map My Fitness apps. Then sync that with Fitbit. 

Not sure if it would work. But probably worth a shot.

[JayBeeCA]

I agree completely. I am about to go and buy the Gear S3 today. I would easily pay for the ability to sync with the Fitbit EcoSys and so would all my friends who use different devices. Then we would all be able to  compete regardless of our platform. This annual fee would be a steady income stream and they could give up the hardware side where they have lost ground and focus on what they go best.  I think I may try carrying my One around, sell my Blaze... and see how that works. I might also just chose to simplify.  Its unfortunate, because I love fitbit app and webspace.

[Fitswich7]

I am going to buy the Samsung  gear watch too,because of additional features.  I love my fitbit surge and one, but they are lacking the fancy technology available  from Samsung.  

I was waiting for fitbit to come out with a new watch, but the Ionic still lacks features. 

It's time to make the switch.

How is your new device working? 

[Tman313]

The new ionic is the same price as the S3 and it only does half as much. I'm sad to leave Fitbit but it's just time to make the switch.

[stormense]

I bought the Samsung Gear S3. Change to Gear S3 from Blaze instead of Iconic because the Spotify app. No Spotify on Iconic. 

But Gear S3 is worse at counting steps and taking heart rate. 101% on Fitbit Blaze against 93% on Samsung Gear S3 when I measured 16,000 steps. Gear S3 showed 1000 steps less!

Manually measured 1000 steps and Fitbit Blaze counted 1001 steps and only 930 steps was counted by Samsung Gear S3.

[stormense]

More Samsung Gear S3 VS Iconic/Blaze. 

If you don't have a Samsung phone don't purchase Samsung Gear S3. You make a half day and 8000 steps. The watch forever lost connection with your phone an you must reinstall the watch and begun from the beginning. The reinstalled watch sync with your Samsung health app and you back at 0 step.

[Fitswich7]

I already purchases the GearS3 and I do have a Samsung phone, so far I have
not had any issues. I enjoy the additional features that the Surge did not
provide such as integrated phone, send text messages, weather, and many
other features. I believe in Fitbit and will always speak highly of their
products and customer service. Just wish they could have incorporated
smarter technology in their new watch and I would not have switched to a
Samsung watch.

[SunsetRunner]

I made the switch at weekend to gear 3 and returned my ionic because of problems syncing/freezing and lack of apps! Sad to leave fitbit as really enjoy the challenges and doesn't appear to be an app where people can come together and compete whatever tracker they have which does surprise me. Gear 3 is great though. 

[Montypaks]

I wonder how long before fitbit realise they will keep loosing users until they get off their backsides and start doing something about it. 

Again, their ecosystem is fantastic! Why not allow certain "chosen" trackers access this ecosystem for an annual fee? 

Oh well.... 

[mutantspicy]

That not necessarily true.  I have a Blaze, but went to Gear S3 because of the smart watch features.  Unfornately the Blaze is the superior fitness product, but simply doesn't have the features of the S3.  So I have been struggling with S health as do many.  I simply don't like it.  The altenative that I found is endomondo.  Endomondo syncs with Fitbit, and the calorie count is very close to the blaze.  I wear both at the sametime. For a 45 min total weight session Fit bit gave me 572cals and endo gave me 576 cals, In the fit bit app both workouts showed up, so I had to delete one.  However, the syncing from endo was seamless using the S3.  The main problem which gets back to the OP is that you cannot turn off the step counter in S Health.  So I am unable to use endo as a step counter, and thus sync steps to the fitbit. So I think UA could come up with a step counter that can pull the S health data or supercede it that would be the way forward.  Overall I disagree with the premise that Fitbit is the one holding us up.  S Health simply doesn't play well with others.  It has sync issues with MyFitnessPal, UArecord, Endo works but takes like 2 to 3 hours to sync.  Its pretty ridiculous.  The S3 is a fantastic piece of equipment but the S Health software is garbage.

[Teneray]

I've tried the 'cascade sync', but although there is a specific option to allow Samsung Health to read info from my fitness pal (rather than writing to my fitness pal, with info such as steps), I found that it doesn't work - even tried re-installing Samsung Health updates which just deleted all my history and achievements!

[Jackmouve]

I (and maybe some of you) have been looking for a way to sync my Samsung Gear watch data to my Fitbit account and I have finally found it, it’s the Fit and Healthy app!

So now the data collected by my Samsung Watch (or any device connected to your S Health account, including your phone) is sync’d to my Fitbit account (you can set it to sync manually or automatically).

This is not another activity tracker app, it’s just for syncing the data.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.jsonlo.fitandhealthy&hl=en