How to use Drivebit?

[kevs007]

I see lot of you are using Drivebit- I just downloaded it- assume I just turn it on and off through the app on my phone and it automatically does the rest? Do I need to do anything concurrently on my HR? I am only on my 2nd day and was dissapointed that my driving distance was skewing my step count.

Moderator edit: updated subject for clarity

[Collin1000 · Accepted solution]

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@kevs007 wrote:

I see lot of you are using Drivebit- I just downloaded it- assume I just turn it on and off through the app on my phone and it automatically does the rest? Do I need to do anything concurrently on my HR? I am only on my 2nd day and was dissapointed that my driving distance was skewing my step count.

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I use Drivebit on my Android phone and it's exactly that easy. When I get in the car, I open the app and press Start. When I finish driving, I press Stop. That's it. Drivebit will automatically create a "driving" activity log and this will tell fitbit to adjust your step count for the time you spent driving. 

[Gibbo52]

If you enter edit before save in the settings you can input driving time from previous hours or days. Just press start then stop and then enter date and times.

[Santhosh]

There is another prblem i am facing with DriveBit. I am unable to connet DriveBit with FitBit. When i try connecting to Fitbit, a message pops up saying time,date  is not correct in your phone but the time is correct. Still unable to connect the same. Please advice

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@Gibbo52 wrote:
If you enter edit before save in the settings you can input driving time from previous hours or days. Just press start then stop and then enter date and times.

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[gdio53]

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@Santhosh wrote:

There is another prblem i am facing with DriveBit. I am unable to connet DriveBit with FitBit. When i try connecting to Fitbit, a message pops up saying time,date  is not correct in your phone but the time is correct. Still unable to connect the same. Please advice

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@Gibbo52 wrote:
If you enter edit before save in the settings you can input driving time from previous hours or days. Just press start then stop and then enter date and times.

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Please see this post.

[Poo]

I used Drivebit daily for years but it won't work now. I read elsewhere that Fitbit had changed their security settings so it no longer has access. It's a pain when doing multiple home visits to have to enter 6-8 drives in a day.

Hope they update the app to regain access, I've tried emailing them but no reply.

[AndrewFitbit]

@Poo iOS version currently works fine, but I'm not sure the Android version of the app is updated.

[Poo]

Ah, thanks for that!

I abandoned my iphone (and sold it) not least because I don't like the new dashboard - I guess I'm being punished for it 

[Wilkovian]

Did you manage to solve this issue? I've just started having this occur on two android devices after running it for 12 months on both with no problem until now 😕

[Wilkovian]

Ah just found all this... at least I'm not the only person who's had this problem! Shame as I'm a huge fan of the Drivebit app it was a lifesaver!

Very surprised the developers haven't updated it or a competitor hasn't appeared yet. The news security settings must be a pain to work with on Android I guess?

[Poo]

Just echoing my reply in the other thread!

Hi, thanks for that info.

I've emailed the developer twice in recent days but heard nothing back.

I've taken to noting my steps when getting in car and if they haven't changed on arrival I don't need to log the drive. The One isn't too bad on short trips especially if you keep it steady by place the seatbelt tightly across it. Not recommended for wrist devices   

Hope they sort it.

[Leanne22]

I assume you drivebit app users haven't resolved this problem? Manually logging onto the dashboard to log driving seems such a faff since this 'exercise ' isn't preset on the app? Any other suggestions?

[Poo]

Hi, I'm afraid not - we're all a bit stuck I think!

[Wilkovian]

It is quite frustrating. I mean I guess this new security thingy is better than the last so Fitbit had to change to it and it's probably (no knowledge of app making myself I fear) quite difficult to just change the app over to the new format so I can't really fault the app makers not having a new version up yet, I just wish they would!

I suppose it's not the end of the world to have to input the times manually, but as you say it's a faff. 

I tend to open the app and start setting up an exercise with the start time for when I'm setting off then put the phone down on my passenger seat and not look at it again until I stop when I then know how long I was in the car and can 'post' the exercise with the right time. Otherwise I sometimes struggle to remember exactly when I got in the car and/or I forget to note when I stopped driving so I'm left guessing a bit. 

[brightspot]

Ok, so I'm not the only one.  Whew!  I'm on an S7 and this issue started last week for me. but I didn't notice it until 2 days ago.  I have a very long commute twice a day, so I'm getting a large amount of steps and flights of stairs I didn't actually do.  How do I use the app on my phone to mark the time, but not acrue false steps?  I don't see anywhere to initiate the travel time.. on the computer Fitbit site, I can add an activity, but cannot edit the steps to zero.

Any advice is greatly appreciated!

[Wilkovian]

Hey,

Yep on the fitbit dashboard, press on the activity section then in the top right hand corner of that menu there's a stopwatch with a plus icon next to it. Hit that and it lets you add an activity and time etc.

I tend to add the activity as 'riding in a car or truck' because I found the 'driving a car' activity gave me too high a predicted calorie rate. Then you just put in the times and post it. Same thing drivebit does essentially just a bit more fiddly!

[Leanne22]

Hey, yeah though it was just on the fitbit dashboard. The quick add of exercise is kits for actual exercise. Thanks all, comments have been very helpful. Looks like I'm going to have to do this the longwinded way....booo 😞

[brightspot]

Thanks for you response, but I have one more question.  When I go into add an activity on my phone, the only options in the "stopwatch" icon are "run," "walk," or "hike."  I don't see where I can add something like "ride in car."  I can add it on the website, after the fact, but it doesn't change the steps/flights earned. 

[AndrewFitbit]

@brightspot You can log a "Driving" activity from either the dashboard or the app that will negate the data. 

[Okiesmokie]

Replacement because DriveBit no longer works: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.okiesmokie.travelbit

OAuth2 is a pretty big pain to work with on non-web-based apps.  I'm assuming that's why the developers of Drivebit have not updated it.  I've been personally working on my own version of Drivebit recently.  I've mainly been doing it because a friend of mine used Drivebit a lot and I wanted to make a replacement for her.  I can release it to the public if it's that much of a demand though.

Current progress:

https://github.com/Okiesmokie/fitbitlog

If you're a Java developer, you're more than welcome to use my Java implementation of the Fitbit API, which can be found here:

https://github.com/Okiesmokie/fitbitlog/tree/master/app/src/main/java/com/okiesmokie/fitbitapi

It is a constant work in progress, but it's functional at the moment.  Not very documented, that will change in the future when I stop being lazy about it.  I just ask that if you use it, you adhere to the license.  And if you have any suggestions about how to improve it, feel free to let me know!