Able to select which data to export and date range after Google migration

[NitLionPSU]

I recently migrated to the google app which has superseded my fitbit app. It appears that the google app does not provide the same options to export the data from the fitbit device that the fitbit app allowed. The original fitbit app allowed me to output a spreadsheet that was a daily summary of the body, activities and sleep information.

Moderator Edit: Clarified subject

[alexdau]

They need to fit this- this is horrible. How do I revert back to normal fitbit and unlink my account if they don't?

[jabarb]

Hi Alexdau,  I had the same query about reverting back to the nobn-Google version and was told that Sorry, you can't!

But there doesn't seem to be any movement in fixing the problem !!!

[rockman112]

Learned it _is_ possible to recover aggregated sleep metrics via /Global Export Data/ sleep.json files. I did this by loading the Takeout data (sleep.json files) into a Jupyter Notebook and edited from there. I was able to rebuild the aggregated format from the original Fitbit export for my sleep data.

[kevinmcc59]

I agree 100% with all these comments. I am devastated by the lack of ability to download what I want, when I want. I used to do this weekly and have all my records since 2019. Now I totally regret making the switch to the Google account. This is it for me. When this Versa dies, that will be the end of the Fitbits for me. IF (a big if I know) this gets fixed then I may reconsider.

[steve111]

I totally agree. I used to be able to select which data to export and it
would be in a file format that actually easy to load into Excel. Now -
it is like 2 GB of useless .json files. I really doubt that Google will
go back to the old way of allowing users to export their data. When my
FitBit dies I will get a different brand.

[GregToronto]

I took it as a given that Fitbit would provide a way to export data in a standard csv format - pretty shocked that it does not ..... please make this functionality available as soon as possible.  Fitness trackers should allow you to properly track your fitness data 🙄

[Gillogue]

On the Fitbit app and website, we still record our steps, food eaten, calories, sleep etc. where is this data in Google Take Out? It’s not there. I can see this data historically on the app and website so Google must produce this data export in the same format as before. There are many Fitbit users who are asking for the same thing. If Google doesn’t listen, they’re going to lose a lot of subscribers,

[drewcook3]

Has anyone been able to find a work-around here? I've been tracking my data for quite some time. I use it to visualize my progress, and make changes. However, the data in Google Takeout is just not what is needed. The data must be with Fitbit somewhere.

[ShalFit]

After switching to Google account on the updated Fitbit app (a problem in itself), the data export now goes to Google Takeout and I can only do a full export of all my data. Bring back the feature to export data that used to exist before the Google takeover of fitbit. I am regretting that I moved my Fitbit account to Google.

[Scott337]

What specific report are you looking for? The Wellness Report? That is still available in the Fitibit app v3 even after switching to a Google account.

[Gillogue]

Hi

I'm looking for the old Data.CSV file which included data on steps, sleep, food eaten etc.for each day. I used to download this each month and import it into an Access database I'd developed.

[Gillogue]

I agree, I wish I hadn't moved my Fitbit account to Google.

[GSharpeUK]

I used to be able to export my Fitbit data for a specified date range in CSV format for analysis in a spreadsheet which I have been maintaining for some time.  Since switching to Google this functionality has disappeared and I can now only export ALL my data using Google Takeout into some format I cannot understand.  If anyone at Google is listening PLEASE restore the Fitbit legacy data export to CSV file functionality which used to be available on link …

https://www.fitbit.com/settings/data/legacy-export

Moderator Edit: Formatting

[steve111]

I agree with GSharpeUK.

Before Google bought Fitbit, I used to be able to download the data as a CSV file that I would load into Excel. Now it is about 2 Gigs worth of data in a JSON file that is IMPOSSIBLE for me to do anything with (although one person in this thread - rockman112 - said he was able to use a software called "Jupyter Notebook" to open the files). The way I see it however is that users should not have to a third-party software to get their data into a useful format. I seriously doubt anyone at Google cares about this loss of functionality. They are slowly going to kill Fitbit. When my Versa 3 kicks the dust I will definitely go with a different brand.

[AP85]

It would be great to be able to export my food log so my trainer can see it. Currently, the only option is to export all data, which doesn't include food and it takes several hours. The current exporting method does not meet usability standards for UX/UI best practices.

[Lomonde]

In total agreement with negative comments. When I used the 'Fitbit' Export it extracted to .csv and was possible to use. Since Google have taken it the extraction, when it executes, has unusable data, doesn't seem to correlate to anything I have seen before. A move to provide an export option with selection criteria, dates etc. would be a step in the right direction. What ever changes have been made to degrade the original export have had a very negative impact on fitbit. They may not have been perfect but they are regressing - not good.

[rockman112]

@Lomonde, @steve111, @GSharpeUK I wanted to share I made my Jupyter Notebook accessible at https://github.com/raymond-edgerly/fitbit_export/blob/main/fitbit_takeout_to_old_fitbit_export.ipynb

I'm working on writing a Jupyter Notebook that allows a user to run his or her takeout.google.com Fitbit data through it and convert it to the old export format. This notebook only has sleep so far, do-able for a single month, but I'm thinking of ways to make this more automatic.

To run, it requires an install of Jupyter (free) via installing Anaconda (https://www.anaconda.com/download/).

To output a specific month's sleep data in old format, you need to provide your filepath where you downloaded the Takeout data and the specific sleep .json file (e.g. 'sleep-{your_json_month}.json') in Cell 2 of the notebook.

Suppose this isn't an excuse for absent functionality on Google's behalf, but the beauty is that all the data can be manipulated as much as you'd like. Can do extra aggregations, transformations, and make your own custom output (I remember someone was tracking steps earlier for insurance reasons? You could probably make that output with some extra code).

[rockman112]

Let me know what your thoughts are. I'm happy to try to take this further and restore the old export's functionality on the user side + maybe add some extras. Also, if you like that, something neat is that you can do additional/extra metrics and dashboarding beyond what Fitbit offers: https://github.com/raymond-edgerly/531_lift_analysis/blob/main/531_body_metrics.ipynb

Some output may not be initially visible in the GitHub link, but all of the Body and Sleep data in that notebook come from the old-format Fitbit exports. You can even do things like visualize your sleep over *years* instead of "past n days". The screenshot below is roughly 3 years of sleep data (it's gotten more unstable over the past few months):

 

 

 

[steve111]

Hello rockman112.

I think what you are doing is FANTASTIC!

I used to be able to download sleep, body, and activities (steps,
distance, floors, the four activities, and average calories) as CSV
files that I would load in Excel before Google bought FitBit.

I would LOVE to be able to do this again! 🙂

Steve

[GSharpeUK]

Hi Rockman112 (Jogger),

Many thanks for your help on this - instead of the weekly CSV export I now just enter the few details which I want to track manually each day into my spreadsheet.

Best wishes,

GSharpeUK

[LizzyFitbit]

Hi @AP85, thanks for taking the time to share this product feedback about having the option to export one type of data at a time after migrating to Google with us. I noticed a similar product feedback already requested on this board, so I’ve moved your post here. Please support this product feedback by adding your vote, this helps our developers to keep tracking its popularity and demand over time.

[rockman112]

Thanks @steve111, @GSharpeUK. I'll see if I can keep going with and find ways to update + improve!

[Rajotter]

Hi Rockman112

I've downloaded Anaconda and launched Jupyter Notebook and gone to the following link:

 https://github.com/raymond-edgerly/fitbit_export/blob/main/fitbit_takeout_to_old_fitbit_export.ipynb

So, do I insert my filepath on the 3rd line where it says filepath

Thanks for doing this by the way.  

One other thing, my downloaded data from Google Takeout doesn't seem to have a .json file. Do you use the .csv file instead?

Cheers

Rachel

[rockman112]

Hi @Rajotter, you'd want to download that .ipynb file (Jupyter Notebook file) locally to your machine first.

There is a button whose tooltip shows "Download raw file" - click that, and it should download the .ipynb for you. That's the file you'd want to open in
Jupyter Notebook on your machine. It sounds like you have Jupyter Notebook running locally on your machine via Anaconda but if you (or anyone else) need help getting that going, happy to help 🙂.

 

Yes! On the third line that begins with `filepath = `, this is where you want to tell the notebook where your Google Takeout data is saved.

I'm on Linux, so my path looks something like '~/{path_to_fitbit_takeout_data}'. The '~' is a Linux shorthand for '/home/{user}/'
If you are on Windows, it may look something like 'C:/{user}/{path_to_fitbit_takeout_data}'.

Once the notebook knows where your Fitbit Takeout data exists, it can navigate through the structure to find the `'sleep-{yyyy-mm-dd}.json'` file, but the one other thing is you have to provide it the name of that (the .json filename for that month's data) as well. It would be the value for `sleep_json = ` on the fourth line. In the future, I hope to eliminate this step, so the user doesn't have to do it at all.

To do this, you'd need to browse down through the Takeout data's directories (specifically `Global Export Data` - this is where everything is saved) and find the .json filename for sleep data. It's a little annoying, but doesn't take long once you know how to find it (it is in Global Export Data directory - not Sleep directory like you'd think it would be).

The one I used for November 2023 was 'sleep-{hypenated_date}.json'. I can't copy the exact string here since it looks like Fitbit forums prohibit any hyphenated date format in any post's text ☹️, but I have others in the same style for October, September, and so on...

My plan is to write some sort of loop + RegEx to parse the filestructure and automatically grab all the sleep-{hyphenated_date}.json files and load them all into one DataFrame, so the user doesn't have to do this, but you should only need those two things to get it running and convert 1 month's sleep data back to the old export format:

• The location of the Takeout data and
• the sleep-{hyphenated_date}.json filename containing 1 month's sleep data.

[rockman112]

@Rajotter and yes! The .csv and filestructure was initially deceptive/unclear to me! 🙂 Originally I was like "Why isn't the data in `Takeout/Fitbit/Sleep/Sleep Profile.csv`?" but it is actually in `Takeout/Fitbit/Global Export Data/Sleep-{hyphenated_date}.json`, with each .json representing 1 month's data. Try checking that and see if you can find the data there 👍