Integrate with iOS Health

[so-rich]

Hi there,

I'm really excited about Apple's announcement of the Health App in iOS 8 to be release this fall.  I'm looking forward to seeing a product announcement by Fitbit for a successor to the recalled Fitbit Force, and I'm really hoping to hear some exciting news about Fitbits intigration with Apple's new Health App to be released alongside iOS 8 this fall.  

This is a huge oportunity to make your devices even smarter and more integrated - Please support these APIs!  Thanks!

Moderator edit: updated subject for clarity and labels.

[JFCostta]

Yes, the main reason to ask for this function is to consolidate all our health data from different devices in on single place. Please implement integration with Health API.

[HopefulRunner]

@dtherio I have had reliable results from my Verio and OneTouch is the only brand covered by my insurance. I do check it against the lab every time I get blood work.

[Eblackwood]

Come on Fitbit! Geez....

[westofeight]

Thanks to Fitbit for your refusal to support HealthKit (even though you do support microsofts healthvault), because of this I sold my fitbit and now enjoy an Apple Watch (so much better than any fitbit I ever owned, and I owned many over the years), My aria is no sold so I now enjoy a better scale after buying the Withings WS-50 yesterday (better scale, better app!). Now all the worry over you coming on board with HealthKit is over. Just put in my email request for fitbit to delete my data and my account. Still amazes me how a company started out with what seemed to be a great outlook for its customers that bought their products and turns into what it is today. Oh well, I say thanks because I now own better products! 

To the other users, face it, they aren't going to support Apple HealthKit. There are much better products out there!

Cheers!

[Dawizard]

Please add the support as many have requested. It is a feature i would like to use

[JFCostta]

Yes, I'll return it to Best Buy for two reasons: not waterproof (already knew that and wasn't the crucial factor for choosing FitBit) and because they still refuse to support Apple Health Kit, for no excusable reason. Hey, you may have our data and still let us store it in our phones as well. After all, it's MY data!

[SunsetRunner]

I think this is something that Fitbit needs to go back and revisit. Other competitors have integrated with Apple's HealthKit, why not Fitbit?

[pdxrlk]

Obviously this is a business decision in the perceived interest of Fitbit itself, not a decision made in the best interests of your customers. Not wise to ignore the latter - customers get will  vote with their feet, particularly in a category where so many new choices appear almost every day.

[gigid]

May as well ditch Fitbit. Better, more progressive competitors out there it seems. Disappointing.

[frazzydee]

Very disappointing.

I think it is obvious what users imagine integration to entail: We want the fitbit app to remain the same, but we want it to be usable as a HealthKit source, so data gathered by fitbit can be seen in the Health app, and HealthKit apps should also be able to access the data.

My question for the community: What is the next best fitness tracker out there, comparable to the Charge HR? I have around 40 more days to request an RMA. If there is a decent HealthKit-compatible alternative exists, I will somewhat reluctantly return my FitBit Charge HR. Reluctantly, of course, because the Charge HR is great in every other way, but this is a dealbreaker.

[gutsma]

@frazzydee - I transitioned to apple watch and am very pleased with it.  It's more expensive, but also provides more so it was a trade I willingly made.  Needless to say it seamlessly syncs to HealthKit.  It doesn't monitor sleep, but I'm not convinced FitBit's products provide much useful sleep information. 

My spouse and I both have one and are very satisfied.  Our kids also use apple watches and are also pleased.  Once we adjusted to it we couldn't imagine not having one.  It's that good.

I never would have thought to purchase an apple watch had it not been for fitbit's behavior.  For that I thank them.  I'm now sold on a product that does what theres do - only better.  

[humanista]

@frazzydee I also switched to an Apple Watch. I love it and use it way more than I thought I would. I stopped wearing a regular watch probably about 5 years ago and often used my Fitbit to tell time. It is nice having a watch again although I probably use it more for notifications, working out, and to check my stocks than to tell time.

I got a $30 Jawbone Move at Costco for sleep tracking. The Jawbone app is excellent and integrates with Apple Health pretty well. I recently bought an Oura Ring which I will use for sleep tracking once I get it.

The Jawbone app is great. The Withings ecosystem also integrates well with Apple Health. I use the Withings app with my scale.

[JFCostta]

Already returned my FitBit for a Garmin VivoFit HR. Too sad they don't listen to their customers...

[Sherri0]

Interesting info about the Oura ring.  I hadn't known of it before.  Since I don't want to wear a band or a watch, I'm going to look into replacing my Fitbit One with the Oura ring.  I have very much enjoyed the One, but this incalcitrance to integrating with Healthkit, after all this time, and ignoring their existing customer base by not giving an answer is over the top for me.  Totally ridiculous.  This is not a stand-up company.

[Davemurphy007]

A quick read through the forums indicates this has been desired by Fitbit users from before iOS 8 was released, yet there were no plans (initially) to integrate Fitbit products with the iOS health apps - this is a mistake, PLEASE make this happen.

iOS/Apple is arguably THE biggest company in the world and Fitbit wants to be a leader of the fitness-based smartwatch/wearable tech market. Integrating your products with one of the most widely used phone OS systems has to be a total no-brainer - especially when you do integrate with dozens of apps from small developers nobody's ever heard of.

[aeberbach]

I'm done with Fitbit - I was trying it out because of a corporate fitness program and I'm happy to be able to go back to Apple watch. But if I didn't have an Apple watch it would be any tracker but Fitbit - I have other data sources already communicating with the Health app, that's where any fitness tracker has to communicate.

Fitbit blew it. Customers last is not a great strategy. Now throwing the Flex in a drawer with the other outdated gadgets.

[GSinadinos]

PLEASE sync with Apple HealthKit.  Huge inconvenience for your customers to make us use a 3rd party sync app just to have our FitBit sync with our iPhones.  Lack of customer care and service to not offer this functionality.  😞

[SunsetRunner]

+1 to this feature request.

[Pulideda]

I can't believe that the makers of my Fitbit still haven't made the decision to link with Apples Health App! Maybe they just don't like how often Apple update their products (already seen an iPhone 7 advert!) & how much they charge their customers. Apple showed a Fitbit when they announced the Health app so you'd think Fitbit had already signed up to sync our info. So it's about time it's linked, don't you think? Please listen to your customers

[dnic]

Received my fitbit charge HR on the 5th Dec 2015. Its all boxed up and going back to the retailer for a refund. 

I will be looking for another product, that will work with Apple health apps. 

Goodbye

fitbit

unhappy former customer

[sam33r]

Would be great to have this. Apple Health is getting used by physicians nowadays and fitbit data could be super helpful. Would really appreciate it if you guys can prioritize this task in your sprints.

Thanks,

Sameer

[gdey]

I have a few apps I use on my phone that track my health information and having them all in push to the health app is vital. Can not believe I have to rely on an 3rd party app to get functionally that I consider to be basic for all health based apps on ios.

[Abitunhappycust]

I own other chest strap hr monitors that integrate with Apple health app through their apps, and I love them, but I just bought a fitbit charge because I saw it at Costco, and I like the idea of having an hr monitor in my wrist (though there are already other good brands wrist based hr monitor that integrate with the apple health app), but I love more the concept of having all the information from all my activity sensors sources integrated in the apple health app dashboard. Not having this integration as an option is a big minus for fitbit, and it will cost them many sales, and a lot of returned products; because if I paid for an iPhone or iPod touch I want to be able to use as much as I can of its potential. And if others apps and brands already have this option, this means that Fitbit is already too comfortable as they are to compete. For me that is some arrogance against their customers.

[markds75]

I think it would actually be important for FitBit to integrate with HealthKit, but not for the convienience most users might be requesting it for. While that's important, and obviously nice to have, there are 3rd party options that bridge the gap (at least for now).

One of the most interesting things that Apple announced with HealthKit is ResearchKit, which feeds off data from the Health app. Fitbits are inexepnsive enough that one could imagine participants in a ResearchKit project being asked to get one (or given one, as part of their participation in the study) ... the Apple Watch is far too expensive for that, as are the Android based watches I've seen on the market today. Fitbit is in the best position to ensure that the data sent to HealthKit and ResearchKit is accurate and that the APIs are used correctly. Even primary care physicians might prescribe (and loan) Fitbits to their patients to collect that data over the course of a few weeks, and more than likely the software they'll have will be based on ResearchKit, since its an open source project.

Additionally, some data that we have to manually enter on the FitBit site (weight, body composition, etc) could be read through the HealthKit data when the user has a scale that provides it.

I understand that FitBit wants to be the go-to platform for people who care about this kind of health data. And from what I've seen so far (like in the hour since I got my FitBit), the tools provided are far more expansive than those offered by HealthKit. But I think you should also play nice (aka integrate) with the iOS and Android health data collection. I also think it would be completely reasonable to make it a paid integration point (maybe $5) ... if for no other reason, because someone else is already offering that and most people would probably rather pay you an extra buck or two than some external developer they've never heard of before who may or may not be around next year.

[JFCostta]

Excellent point, @markds75. Too sad they didn't realize yet the full potential in Research Kit.