Make Heart Rate Data export in Excel/CSV format

[Gypsylou]

Please add the heart rate data to the reports that can be downloaded/exported.  The ones for the activity and sleep are perfect but since I have a pacemaker I really need to have one to print out for my cardiologist showing how often I rise above the set pace.

Thank you

Mod edit: Title

[pbarcena]

I would also like fitbit to enable the download function for HR.  HR is the reason I purchased to fitbit.  It is

amazing to me that the fitbit community has requested this product improvement for several years. 

[joelvonnahme]

I can't add anything to this thread that hasn't already been stated. All I can do is vote once, and comment repeatedly. Give us our data, please.

[gabiru]

I echo the previous comments: it is incredible to see something being asked for so long, with so many votes, and still not even a promise. I added my vote but it does not seem (given the history) like anything will change, though.

My entire fault, I purchased the new Alta HR to work on a personal project that involves mapping my complete heart rate data (including while asleep) with many other personal measurements per day to see other correlations and find insights. Should have read the small lines instead of believing the the "data is yours" BS.

[Gondwana]

This might do it for you. It might still have some rough edges, so feedback would be appreciated!

[Gondwana]

This might do it for you. It might still have some rough edges, so feedback would be appreciated!

[Edbett]

Works as noted.  Took data into Excel and was surprised at how little doing a moving average over 5 or 10 readings does little to minimize the variability.  At about a 20 reading moving average, starts to look more reasonable, but still more variable than I suspect is actual.  Thanks for the work, very helpful..   I just downloaded today's data, but without doing more it's not clear if history is available, and if so for what time range, or just a day at a time??

[Gondwana]

Thanks heaps, Edbett. You're the first one to verify that I actually got the authorisation right for accessing others' data.

Superimposing a running average has been on my to-do list from day one, so your findings are useful. I was thinking of making the averaging window a user-selectable quantity.

On a similar note, I also find that I get strange 'drop-outs' during exercise, during which my heart-rate supposedly plummets for a minute or so, and then rockets back up. I'm tempted to try to detect and gloss over such anomialies too.

The Fitbit API only allows intra-day data to be downloaded up to one day at a time. Obviously longer periods could be downloaded by using multiple API calls, but (1) I was lazy, and (2) this approach should reduce the load on my server.

[Edbett]

Part of the variability could be caused by the way the Fitbit is
sampling data. It looks from the data that it samples variously at 5,
10 or 15 seconds, occasionally missing a minute or more. What we don't
know is how the signals from the device are converted into a pulse rate,
as that could vary greatly depending upon the sampling frequency with
smaller intervals giving less accurate data. So, after seeing the data,
I'm not sure that it contributes to my understanding of what is actually
happening versus observing fluctuations caused by the conversion from
sample to pulse rate. What do you think??

Ed

[Gondwana]

I think the algorithm is pretty sophisticated.

As you've observed, most heart-rate reporting intervals seem to be 5 sec or multiples thereof. However, I also get quite a few intervals of other durations, down to 1 sec.

Even if we just considered 5-sec intervals, the reported value can't be as simple as the bpm measured during that period alone. Assume I was doing a fairly constant 60 bpm. In a 5-sec period, there should typically be 5 beats, although occasionally 4 or 6. Those values are equivalent to 60, 48 and 72 bpm. However, the reported values have much finer granularity than that. This leads me to think that the reported values are somewhat based on previous data, perhaps like a running average but perhaps weighted towards the most recent few seconds.

This hypothesis is vaguely supported by another observation: during an exercise session, my reported heart-rate can plummet for a minute or so, and then rocket back up. Successive readings vary by around 3 bpm. See pic:

 My hypothesis is that the fitbit loses the heart-rate signal but, rather than reporting nothing, it guesses by extrapolating from previous data. This is a bit unfortunate because the dropping heart-rate reading suggests that I should put more effort in whereas, in reality, I'm probably still near my peak zone (yes, I'm old).

Perhaps the device only does this during activity sessions; during other periods, it may simply not record heart-rate values. You mentioned such periods of 1 minute or more; I get those too. (Nothing personal, but I'm glad I'm not the only one who gets those!)

[Gondwana]

Ed, I gather you posted a reply and then deleted it before I got around to replying. I agree with what you said. Our interests are probably different: I don't seek beat-by-beat precision (which, as you say, is probably unattainable); rather, I'm after a smoothed view that corrects for drop-outs and damps out transient noise. For the latter, a per-minute running average would probably do me fine.

[Edbett]

No, I didn't delete my post, the moderator did because I raised a forbidden subject.  Send me your direct email and I can let you know what that is all about.  (That is, if the moderator allows this post..)

[JPS_66]

Hey Fitbit,

Any progress on this?

I find it very strange that most (all?) of the other trends are available over longer period including all but resting heart rate is not.

Why?

Anyone that has manages to find a workaround? Manually moving the data to excel is not so appealing...

[Bluebell84]

This feature would be incredibly helpful when trying to have an informed conversation with a doctor, instead of just showing them tiny graphs on my phone.

[fishovo]

Come on!

[OakTree]

I've just downloaded my data and can't see how to download resting heart beat data.  It comes up every day on the iPad but I can't see where it is on the download choices screen.

[Gondwana]

Another way to get your heartrate data is to use the ExerByte web site.

[Gondwana]

The ExerByte web site lets you zoom in on your heartrate (and other) details.It's a bit crude; if you want more control, download the raw data into a spreadsheet.

There's at least one other web site that allows this too.

[Jensett]

Yes but @Gondwana it seems to just be one day at a time. Needs to be available for whatever timespan the user wishes to see.

[Gondwana]

You're right, @Jensett. There were multiple reasons why I did it that way:

• laziness (the API only allows one day at a time)
• reduced load on fitbit's servers (which seemed to be a concern when I applied for permission to do this)
• reduced financial cost to me!

You can manually get multiple days' data and append them in a spreadsheet.

[Redwing59]

@OakTree,

The resting heart rate data is not provided when data is downloaded to a spreadsheet. Seems that Fitbit feels that customers that purchased the more expensive HR trackers must not need or want the data, otherwise if Fitbit was a leader, it would provide the data.

This thread is over two years old, so maybe Fitbit cannot figure out how to write the program for the data to download. 🙂 

[BryBub]

Hello... noticed it's been two years since stated that this would be passed on to whoever makes these decisions for us all... are there any plans to implement this? Or has it been shelved? Thanks 🙂 

[especo]

Totally disappointed. I need HR data in (at least) 5 mins interval to correlate it to other quantities like number of steps or distance. If i can see it on the dashboard, why can't I export it to whatever other format I want? "Your data belongs to you!"... really ?

[Kingbrown1000]

Waiting for fitbit to attend to the requests of their customers like..

[Reporter]

Need HR data synced to Runtastic! 

[Dickf]

Everything I want has already been said, but apparently nothing's been done. This doesn't leave me very motivated, but here goes.  Graphic access to more detailed HR data, and the ability to relate to other relevant events, like location, elevation (for biking) and activity type.  Why is fitbit so dumb about biking?  Moves know when I'm biking.  

I'm not just a casual collector or HR data for the sake of it.  I have a heart pacemaker and I'm trying to figure out what the pacemaker is doing and how I can affect its action.  Write me at dick.feldman@gmail.com if you'd like more detail about this. 

And why is the screen so hard to read - not bright enough and on for such a short time?

Thanks,

Dick Feldman