Fitbit SDK and APIs despredly needs to talk to phone apps on Android and iOS

[PetrNalevka]

All major smartwatch platforms which support apps on the watch also support communications between the watch app and the 3rd party companion apps on the phones. This includes Android Wear, Galaxy Gear, Garmin Vivosmart, Pebble...

We desperately need a way how to talk to phone apps. At the moment the only very cumbersome workaround is to create a HTTP server with a local URL on the device and use the fetch() API.. but two way communication is only possible through polling and in all cases this will negatively affect battery life of the phone..

I think this limitation is a great burden to very interesting use-case which are simply not possible with FitBit. For example we would really like to introduce the Ionic to several million of our Sleep as Android users. 

Even without any API changes there is a super simple ways how to allows 3rd party integrations from within the FitBit app. For example on Android if a companion messages would also broadcast an intent with the parameters (target appId, name, payload..) like intent extras we are all done, this would open this platform to all the amazing on phone use-cases. Implementation time of that in the FitBit app is 1 man hour and there is no need to change the APIs!

[RebootsRambling]

I absolutely second this! I need this. Everybody needs this!

We need something akin to PebbleKit Android and iOS. This would allow us  to create rich app experiences that can communicate with the operating system using native API calls. Cough cough Music Boss.

Did I mention I want to port Music Boss?😀

[PetrNalevka]

Nice to see you again, I guess we met at Pebble Developer Retreat? Good to see the community getting in shape :).. hopefully something will happen here soon..

[RebootsRambling]

Definitely great to see familiar faces in this community. Gives me hope!

[paperinik]

Do you have a sample of how to create a local http server on the device? Would this work even without wifi connectivity (BT LTE)?

Thanks

-e

RANT:

I am thinking that FitBit API is currently way behind competition. I am almost saddened to the point of returning this device. What the heck there is not even an API to get the sleep status (deep, light, awake, etc.) so that I can build a smart alarm app...

[mlindgren]

I think he means running a server on the phone (from an app) and then having the Ionic talk to that.

[jkimrey]

Has anyone from Fitbit responded to this request elsewhere?

Is it even being considered?

[paperinik]

TBH, I am a bit frustrated.

FitBit seems pretty deaf to some types of request like this.
And technically seems not even that difficult to do (all competing platforms do this already).

Makes me wonder to what happens to our feedback.

[JonFitbit]

We carefully listen to feedback from the community and are using that to shape our future roadmap. Cross platform integration with 3rd party mobile applications can be complex, dependent upon the solution implemented.

We're currently still working towards publishing this first version of our SDK, and your feedback and suggestions are very welcome. 

The official suggestions page is here: https://community.fitbit.com/t5/Feature-Suggestions/idb-p/features

Please use the SDK label.

[paperinik]

Thank you Jon, I really appreciate.
I have a tendency to oversimplify, but I feel there's not a lack of simple solutions, things that can be implemented very quickly with minimal effort and be crossplatform.

For this specific problem I would allow the companion app to listen to a port with a method "listen(portNumber, function)". Given that companion apps have the benefit of being able to run in background in iOS for obvious reasons, this would be pretty straightforward (not easy). The listen would be running in its own thread and function could use messaging API to talk with the phone. The opposite would be easy as well, as opening a port in iOS in a foreground APP and having a thread listening to it is trivial.

This would avoid polling with timeouts (can it be even possible with fetch?) that's really hard to get right.

Please, please, please 🙂

[paperinik]

P.S. you have PebbleKit source code available... 

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[paperinik]

P.S. if necessary, I am available to test this privately...

[paperinik]

I've put a possible solution here: https://community.fitbit.com/t5/Feature-Suggestions/add-support-for-listening-to-a-port-in-companion...

Please vote for it.

[KaiUno]

JonFitibit's response sounded very "canned" if you ask me.

I'm deciding on getting an Ionic at the moment, exploring the link between devices such as my Nokia BPM and Scale and the FitBit ecosphere. I got the scale working, but there's timestamp issues, I can live with that. I also use SleepAsAndroid every night. It would be nice to be able to keep using that with the FitBit.

This non-responsiveness does not look good.

[Gondwana]

It seems that someone has worked out how to do it (a bit).

[paperinik]

Nahhh. Quote:

Sometimes the Fitbit crashes during or immediately after the download, just try it again, eventually it will work (Let's hope that Fitbit will fix these Fitbit Ionic Problems soon). 

( source ) 

[JonFitbit]

---

wrote:

JonFitibit's response sounded very "canned" if you ask me.

---

It wasn't canned, shall I take that as a compliment 🙂

[Gondwana]

You can. 😉

[pironic]

The only thing holding me back currently from upgrading from my pebble to a fitbit ionic is the availability of sleep as android on this device. If the Sleep as android developer needs something and fitbit wants my money, there is only one solution i can see 🙂

I've had a fitbit in past and would love to upgrade my watch but the request outlined by Petr is a must. 

Thanks for considering it FitBit. I'll check back every couple of weeks for progress and hopefully purchase a new watch once things progress in our favor 🙂 

EDIT/UPDATE: Not looking for a fitbit ionic anymore... now looking for a fitbit versa... same problem exists though. Still waiting.

Edit2: still waiting. Still checking back. 

[bbbbbbbbb]

I just bought a Charge 2 today. Sleep as Android integration worked great with my Pebble (until it broke). 

I'm gonna do some more internet digging tonight to see if there's a hack out there to get it to work, but if not I'm returning my Fitbit and getting an Android Wear device.

This is seriously dissapointing.