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I am a third-party developer for Fitbit, and I could create an app for you that would track hoola hooping. I am currently working on an app that I should be finished within about 2 weeks. I will get back to you if I start working on this.
Hi @musbus, thanks for explaining why you would like to have the option to add Hula Hooping as an activity. Thanks for sharing your feedback. I've moved it into a similar request. A lot of users are asking for this option, I hope we receive updates soon.
Hello. I am going to be starting my work on making this into an exercise soon. I will post updates here. (It will be via an app that you install onto your watch. The exercises will count in the exercise section of the Fitbit mobile app.)
PS. I put a lot of work into my apps, so if you would be willing to pay about $2 for my app, would you reply yes to this? If not then I could make it free.
I began working on the hoola hooping app, but then it was somewhat more complicated than I thought. I will begin my work from scratch starting today, because I forgot about it. I will email you about updates to the app, and post it in the discussion.
I have the home screen and during exercise screen built at this point. I will have to add the end screen, and test that my app works before giving a link. I am also going to add weighted hula hooping as an option after the initial release. Probably about a week after. I will make it a paid app if you want to support my work, but I will provide a discount code if you would rather not. (I have put about 2 hours into the development so far, and I can expect another 4-5 to complete it)
Depending on the cost, I'm happy to pay towards your time, but will probably wait for the weighted hula hooping option, as that's what I use 🙂 Hope all goes well with development.
I have finished my app. I will not be posting it yet, because I want to ask if there are any features that I am not including that anyone wants to be included.
Here is what I have so far:
Choose between hula hooping and weighted hula hooping,
Track calories during the workout, and duration
Once the workout ends, it shows you your calories and duration, and it will log the exercise in the Fitbit app.
I am planning on adding heart rate also before release.
One issue I am having is that when the exercise is logged, it logs it as "Aerobic workout." This is an issue on Fitbit's end. They do not allow developers to log custom exercises.
If anyone has a feature request, please let me know so that I can make the app better before release.
I'm not sure there's anything we can do about the 'Aerobic workout' classification, unless there was a way to manually edit this in someway via the Fitbit app or dashboard so people know when they see it it's hula hooping rather than a workout, but at least it will show the correct calories and not lots of steps as it does at the moment.
I'm sure other people may have other ideas for this app, but as it's the bottom of page three on 6 years of comments, won't see your email to be able to comment. Is there anything you can do to start a new post somehow within the Fitbit Community that everyone will see and therefore have the opportunity to give their views too?
I think if I start another post, they will move it right back to here to avoid duplicate posts. I know that when someone posts something here, I get an email because I have commented on it. I will work on some final design changes and testing before releasing this, but the app is mostly completed and working well. I am going to put some screenshots of the design, so you can better understand my app's functionality.
Hey everyone! My hula hooping app is completed. I am not a hooper, so I do not know what everyone needs out of this app, but I have done my best with it. Right now this is just a private link to it, and it isn't publicly available. I will be getting it public in the next week or two, but for now, it will be only available to people that follow this forum. I am always looking for suggestions so if anyone has one, please post it here or email me. Since this is the first release, there may be a few bugs, if you find one, please just tell me and I will get it worked out as fast as I can.
This app costs $2.50. I think this is a pretty fair price, and it is relatively cheap. I am making it paid because of all the time I put into it.
But, if you do not want to pay, you can use the discount code: FreeHooping
Anyway, here is the private link to the app. Enjoy it and make sure to contact me with questions, comments, or suggestions.
I've downloaded it, happy to pay, but it didnt give me the option.
It now shows as an app within Fitbit, but there's a lock symbol next to it & I've no idea how to use it. Does it somehow need to be unlocked before I can do so?
You mentioned it will get hidden under 'Aerobic workout' when logged, however there isn't an 'aerobic workout' on the list of exercises on my Versa 3, just Workout, so is that where it will show?
Ignore my previous comment - realised the app appeared on my versa, so I just had to tap on it to make the payment and activate the app, which I have just done.
I will try it out tomorrow morning as too late/dark to go outside now!
Really looking forward to testing it. Will let you know how I get on 😀
Ok, it worked! My hooping showed as an 'aerobic workout' as you said, which is good for me, as I record a lot of other activity as a 'workout' , meaning I can now tell the difference.
If you are looking for ways to make it better, there are two:
As soon as you select either 'hooping' or 'weighted hooping' the timer starts, which takes you by surprise as with other apps there's a button to 'start' an activity. This isn't a big issue though because once you know this, you can make your selection just before you start your hooping.
The second is a bit more annoying. I really struggled to 'end' the activity. Normally I double-tap on an exercise and it gives me the option to either 'pause' or end. This didn't happen. Instead I had to switch the screen off, which seemed to work.
Could the 'pause' or 'end' options be added though, so it's in line with the other Fitbit apps?
For your first suggestion - Maybe I will work on a screen that lets you start the exercise after choosing the type. Or I could also make a short countdown timer before the exercise actually starts.
There is a pretty obvious end button. It looks like a flag. During an exercise, just press the flag icon to end the exercise.
Feel daft now, didn't realise the flag was a finish button! I tested it out this morning and works perfectly, thank you 🙂
Either option for starting the app running would be absolutely fine .. but as I said, once you select which type of hula hooping you want to do between weighted and non-waiting and it starts straight away, you know then to not select it until you are ready to go, so no biggy!
It took me ages to find this thread to reply to you today - when you search on hula hooping on the community page, there are lots of different discussion threads about it, not just this one and it's a shame they don't show with the most recent posts first, you have to scroll through 3 pages to find this.
It's a shame because there will be lots of people who won't know you've solved this issue who would love to download your app.
Once I make it a public app on the Fitbit app store, more people will have the opportunity to download it. I am sending it in for review now, so it could be about a week before it gets approved to go public.
Also, I am working on a redesign of my website, so hopefully, I can advertise the app on there and get more publicity for it.
How many vote do you need before adding hula hooping to you list, very frustrating as people have been asking for this for 5 yrs now. I’ve only just come upon the chat, how many people don’t know you’ve been asked so many times to add it. Very poor customer service by Fitbit
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