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.

[HopefulRunner]

Bill,

I love my iHealth Core scale.

Weight, body fat, lean mass, water, bone mass, muscle mass, visceral fat

All with HealthKit.

I'm thinking about getting their Wave activity and swim tracker when it comes out.

[SunsetRunner]

Seeing that HealthKit integration with Fitbit is most like not going to happen, does anyone here know of a good fitness tracker/heart rate monitor (like the charge hr) that integrates intraday results into HealthKit?

I know of only one device that does this: the Appke Watch. That's too expensive and overkill for what I'm looking for.

Any ideas? Basically, I'm looking for a competitor's charge hr-type device with real HealthKit integration.

[Bill93]

You could look at Garmin. I know they have a tracker watch that has an iOS app. Idk if it syncs with HealthKit though.

[HopefulRunner]

This what Garmin sends to HealthKit. 

[HopefulRunner]

This is HealthKit compatible Heart Rate monitor I use. It is also water proof. http://www.scosche.com/rhythm+

[Norm62]

I too wish for Heathkit integration. Before I bought the Fitbit Blaze, I was using a Polar A300. Polar has no problem syncing with Healthkit. I hear Garmin also has no problem. iOS is at 9.3 now. It's been a while now. I love my Blaze but I don't like my Health app not showing my heartrate and other stuff.

---

[megboh]

It would be awsome if fitbit could talk to my Healthkit app. I'm not sure if I would have bought this if I had known the apps didn't link. It would just make life so much easier. I bought the fitbit because I don't always have the phone in my pocket. But I know the phone can keep some steps the wrist band might not pick up. If you guys could work out a deal, that'd be cool.

[Kismet007]

133 posts, 2 years and counting. Really Fitbit? This is ridiculous ... Integrate already!!! Resistance is futile. You will be assimilated!!!

[simmerd]

Looking forward to good news on this front!

I doubt anyone is ditching their Apple Watch. But I am sure you could get some buyers of your service.

[grantybe]

Another quick plea to all those posting to ensure they vote on this page too. Since my first post in this thread I've seen hundreds more come through but nowhere near as many votes added to the count. Dropping a comment here isn't the same as voting!

[Nuccio]

Please take a breath and do it!

[Stilas]

Per Grantybe's post, I didn't realize there was a voting mechanism as I'm viewing the page on a mobile device.

If your struggling to work out how to vote on your mobile device:

• scroll to the bottom of the page
• select 'full'
• locate the vote image (top left hand corner of page)
• select the vote image and you'll have voted

[tdevlin]

Its a Joke !!! Fitbit is not going to integrate with Apple health.

This Suggestion has already had more comments and votes than other requests completed and in development.  What more is needed ??? 

A protest ??? Everyone stop using fitbit for a week? get national attention? #SkipFitBitWeek

[Monkey121]

Any word from Fitbit on this?
I see this thread now has 132 page and no update from Fitbit....

[steffieagle]

You will all be out of your “misery” by downloading Sync Solver or Power Sync. Works great with Apple Health. Fitbit is a great innovative company that was six years ahead of the pack with their innovative product. Stop griping and enjoy the ride.

[HopefulRunner]

&steffieagle,

Guess what, I tried them, they were not good enough for my needs. Fitbit will not grant those apps access to the partner API, and thus those apps do not have intraday data.

You have the right to your opinion. So do we.

Stop telling other users what to do.

Steps is a small part of my health data, and all the rest works with HealthKit.

[SunsetRunner]

Sync solver does not do intra day data (I.e., all synced data shows up as midnight in HealthKit). It also only syncs a single data point for heart rate.

All in all, it's a bandaid solution at best.

----
Marc R. Hoffman

Sent from my iPhone

[HopefulRunner]

@steffieagle

Sure Fitbit was ahead of everyone on fitness tracking. Know who else was a head of things, Blackberry. They saw a world were folk had flip phone and/or pager, maybe PDA. They went from a pager company to smartphone company. Fitbit is the Blackberry of fitness trackers. 

[steffieagle]

Once a day sync with Sync Solver. Takes seconds. All the data from Fitbit or any connected app goes to Apple Health. No Problem. Try it. All good.

[SunsetRunner]

As stated in other posts, there is no intra day syncing, and heart rate data is limited to one pout per 24 hour period.

We are looking for true integration.

----
Marc R. Hoffman

Sent from my iPhone

[HopefulRunner]

@steffieagle

Please try to understand. Some people need intra day data. Seeing how active I was day to day in fine, but I need to see if lots of activity in the morning affects my blood sugar. 

This picture shows I few health data points. Blue dots are diabetes medication. Green is for carbs. Pink is blood glucose. Orange is actively. The bigger the dot the higher the number (dosage, carbs, BG, activity). 

Using sync solver would leave me with useless data, because it would all be at midnight, not at the time it happened. 

[PKDaba]

@steffieagle wrote, “… ALL the data from Fitbit or any connected app goes to Apple Health”. This is just NOT TRUE. 

Please stay informed and do your research. There are many minuses for Sync Solver and other third party apps, if you’re considering using one:

• Who wants to consciously and manually sync incomplete data on a daily basis? We have better things to do with our time. Complete Data integration should be seamless. 
• You’re paying extra for a less than half baked feature that Fitbit could and should have implemented in the first place. Fitbit selectively and deceptively chose to ignore iOS clients. Android and Microsoft users do enjoy native updates of Fitbit data to their devices. Why not iOS devices?
• Your data is at the mercy of Sync Solver’s servers in China which have been known to be hacked in the past resulting in days of service disruption and a concern for control of your private data.
• Sync Solver and other third party apps are at the mercy of Fitbit’s control of its API. This means that Fitbit could potentially stop the data flow by changing its API. This has happened in the past.

Yes, there’s too much griping, pleading, and begging going on here for the last 2 years that have lead nowhere for iOS users. But, who’s to blame for this? Fitbit created this thread providing false hope to new users. Fitbit continues to ignore iOS users. Fitbit does not officially announce its de-facto policy that HealthKit integration will never happen. So, be prepared to see more griping, pleading, and begging until Fitbit decides to: a) Implement HealthKit integration, b) Kill this thread (and hopefully their support line will be flooded with begging, griping, and pleading, or c) Go out of business along with all your valuable fitness data.

[SunsetRunner]

@steffieagle Here's the relevant information from the FitBit API documentation:

Access to the Intraday Time Series for personal use (accessing your own data) is available through the "Personal" App Type.

Access to the Intraday Time Series for all other uses is currently granted on a case-by-case basis. Applications must demonstrate necessity to create a great user experience. Fitbit is very supportive of non-profit research and personal projects. Commercial applications require thorough review and are subject to additional requirements. Only select applications are granted access and Fitbit reserves the right to limit this access. To request access, email api@fitbit.com.

— https://dev.fitbit.com/docs/heart-rate/

Simply put, Sync Solver, and all other apps do not get full access to the data on FitBit's servers. HealthKit gets a daily summary of steps, heart rate, and other details. I shouldn't have to remember to run a third party app, to sync daily summaries of my data.

When I have time I'm going to dig into the API docs more to see if there's a way I can use the Personal App API to sync the data with HealthKit. I know all the other apps have already done as much as they can based on how much FitBit will let them. It'll solve my issues (maybe), but I wouldn't be able to share whatever workarounds I might come up with.

The point is, I reall shouldn't have to screw around with all this, just so I can access my own data. I seriously loved my FitBit for the first two days, before realising it didn't support iOS. I would have been recommending it to everyone, but now I'm warning people against FitBit.

"Fitbit is the Blackberry of fitness trackers." — @HopefulRunner

That is great comparison!

[SunsetRunner]

Has anyone considered just bombarding their support team with iOS questions?

http://help.fitbit.com/?cu=1

This forum thread is ignored, but if we're all sending daily support requests asking how to use HealthKit, we at least we force their staff to acknowledge us.

I only suggest sending daily requests, because we currently get daily HealthKit information.

[King_B]

I was forced to find a 3rd party alternative and luckily came upon Power Sync which is free and it seems to sync all the fitbit app data to iOS Health app fine but shouldn't be necessary.

I do appreciate that I can sync fitbit with PACT as well as the DICK'S app but would appreciate more intigration at least with the apple health app which is used as a hub for many app reports regarding health, fitness, nutrition and so on.