Fitbit OS SDK 4.2 has been released!

[JonFitbit]

It's time to start including Active Zone Minutes in your clocks and apps!

https://dev.fitbit.com/blog/2020-09-10-announcing-fitbit-os-sdk-4.2/

[AjaySingh]

I dont see 4.2 in Studio. what am I missing.

[Gondwana]

Your instance could be cached by your browser. Try (hard) refreshing.

[AjaySingh]

Yes, after refreshing the browser was able to see SDK Version 4.2, but still not able to see Versa3 and sense under Build Targets

[JonFitbit]

Versa 3 and Sense will require the SDK 5.0 release which is coming soon!

[TigerPointe]

How do you get the latest API version?

I was trying to test some of my projects for the new API.  I can deploy them successfully to the updated device simulator, but get the following error when I deploy to an actual tracker device.

Sideload of app failed. Connected device does not support API version requested by app.

Tech support said that the API will download to my Versa 2 in the background, a little bit each time that it syncs.  I updated the Fitbit mobile app, and syncing in the background is enabled.  How can I tell whether it's downloading or not?  Is there a way to force the download of the API?  How many syncs will it take to download?

Plus, I've noticed that since 4.2, the style documentation no longer includes fonts like Colfax, Tungsten and Fabrikat.  Although the 4.2 announcement includes new features, there doesn't seem to be any documentation on deprecated features.  How do you tell which features are no longer supported?

[TigerPointe]

Here's what I found using my Windows 10 Surface for app development, a new iPhone 11 that is my primary phone, and an older Android that I use for testing (it has no active phone carrier, just WiFi and Bluetooth enabled). Hopefully, this information helps someone else.

The Fitbit firmware on my tracker device was 68.9.15, which maps to API 4.0. I received the tracker in July 2020 and by mid-September no firmware updates were pushed. At some point, the 70.7.14 update for API 4.1 should have trickled in during the many sync processes, but it never did. Based on reading the community posts, this seems to be a common issue.

Firmware 71.6.19 maps to API 4.2, which is needed for Fitbit Studio projects. Fitbit Studio no longer supports version 4.0 of the API. Depending on whether it's the tracker, Windows Surface, iPhone or Android, I sometimes noticed leading digits of "35" in the version number. So, the original firmware version sometimes showed as 35.68.9.15 on some devices, but 68.9.15 on others -- I assume that the "35" identifies the tracker device type and the latter 3 segments identify the firmware version major, minor and build numbers.

To force the update, I performed a factory reset. This was a difficult experience and I don't see how non-technical users would be able to perform one successfully. Many times, I thought that I had "bricked" my tracker.

I removed the Versa 2 profile from the mobile apps, and selected the factory reset on my tracker. When it restarted, I got the "Red X of Death" that said that the reset failed, not all of the data was deleted, and that I needed to resync. Unfortunately, the profiles in the mobile app were gone. Resync with what?!?

I rebooted my Windows 10 Surface and the Fitbit tracker several times. I had to press and hold the large button on the Fitbit tracker at least 20 seconds to restart it. The iPhone and Android devices were already powered off to prevent pairing. Eventually, the tracker displayed the 4-digit setup code. Next, I kept getting Bluetooth errors from the mobile app that told me to try resetting the Bluetooth pairing.

I rebooted several more times, and eventually the 4-digit code was accepted and the Bluetooth pairing worked. Then, after I entered my network information, but the mobile app reported that it could not find the WiFi network after it had just connected to it.

Several more reboots of both the Windows 10 Surface and the tracker, and eventually the setup completed, I got the "Green Check" on the tracker and the mobile app began to sync successfully. Unfortunately, only a gray Fitbit logo appeared on the tracker -- no clock face. No matter how many times I rebooted, nothing showed.

I decided to try it on the iPhone, powered it up, and immediately got a prompt saying that I needed to apply a firmware update before I could use the tracker device. I clicked on the update, and less than 10 minutes later everything worked.

There are clearly differences in the mobile app implementations. Only the Windows 10 Surface displayed the "All-Day Sync" option that controls the "trickle down" updates. The iPhone didn't display that option, and the Android had something called the "Keep Alive" widget.

It would have been easier if the mobile app "Help / Check for Updates" feature included the firmware. The firmware update was so fast, that months of "trickle down" doesn't seem to be a good trade-off, other than to maybe reduce the load on the Fitbit servers whenever a new update is released. Once the update was successfully applied, the new changes are very cool!

[Gondwana]

The firmware version you get depends on the version of the Fitbit app you're running on the companion device, and older companion devices may not be able to run the current version of the Fitbit app.

[TigerPointe]

Thanks, that's really good information to know, but I don't think that was the case here.  Before attempting to update the firmware, I updated all of the mobile apps from their respective app stores.  I also selected the "Check for Versa 2 Updates" and it said that my Versa 2 was up to date.  From a user perspective, I had no visible indication that anything was missing or required.

After forcing the firmware update from 4.0 to 4.2 on the tracker device with a factory reset, I am now seeing the ability to store 5 different watch faces across all of the mobile device apps.  This feature wasn't available in 4.0 -- so then, each mobile device was capable of supporting API 4.2 on the tracker, but the firmware simply wasn't "trickling down" to the tracker during the sync process for some reason, and I had no visible indicator to show that it was slow or failing.

It would have been extremely useful if the "Check for Versa 2 Updates" included the firmware version, and displayed a status message saying that "Firmware background update is currently n% downloaded" on that same help page.  An "Update Firmware Now" button to bypass the "trickle down" would have been even better!  😉

[gaperton]

@JonFitbitMaybe we shall put an accent on the most important feature of this SDK.

> Developers often joke about downloading more RAM, but by downloading and installing Fitbit OS 4.2 on Versa 2 that's effectively what you've done! We've doubled the allocation from 64K to a whopping 128K!

128K, whopping or not, is a huge deal. Shall be written with bold.

Great job overall, by the way. Fitbit SDK has a minimal level of entrance among all wearables SDKs, and you should be proud of that. Any person who knows how to do HTML with CSS plus rudimentary JS skills can be productive in a matter of hours or days. This is amazing, and that's the thing that differentiates you.

[Adam-Ali]

Hi Jon,

I finally reached you!

I'm wondering about supporting Arabic language in your new versa 3. Actually, it has been years since Arabic users asked and voted for supporting Arabic in your devices, but no one has listened to us. There are thousands of Arabic Fitbit users hoping the support for their own language because they really love fitbit, but the problem is that not supporting their mother-tongue. In fact, I was disappointed that fitbit recently added new 6 languages in their new updates but it ignored Arabic again although many have been voting for this addition. Please do it for us with the new fitbit versa3 or sense. 

[adriec]

I am glad I started coding this month after a website template on WordPress. 

I have a huge intuitive idea people will love to be prompted on their wrist once a day, I think now the limit has increased this may now be possible.