Data from API call is different from Fitbit dashboard

[einsian]

We used python-fitbit by Orcas to obtain intraday step data and what we get is different from Fitbit dashboard. We have cases where we see zero steps for a particular date but the dashboard shows +3K steps. Or, dates where the total number of steps is different from what we see in dashboard.

This code illustrates the main steps of obtaining intra-day data and processing it (e.g. obtaining the counts)

# user_id, client_secret, _access_token_, _refresh_token_, start_date, and end_date are passed in as input

fitbit_auth = Fitbit(
                user_id, 
                client_secret,
                oauth2=True,
                access_token=_access_token_],
                refresh_token=_refresh_token_])

current_date = start_date;
date_increment = datetime.timedelta(days=1)
while(current_date < end_date):

    current_date_str = current_date.strftime("%Y-%m-%d")

    data = fitbit_auth.intraday_time_series(
             'activities/steps',
             base_date = current_date_str,
             detail_level = '1min',
             start_time = '0:00',
             end_time = '23:59')

    daily_steps = 0;
    data = data['activities-steps-intraday']['dataset']
    for item in data:
        daily_steps += item['value’] 
        # other processing …
    
    print(f’{daily_steps} steps on {current_date_str}’)

    current_date += date_increment

I have also tried a more direct call like this to no avail:

# client_id and score are passed 

fitbit = OAuth2Session(client_id, client=client, scope=scope)

# authentication_flow ...

for date in dates:
   data_response = fitbit.get('https://api.fitbit.com/1/user/-/activities/steps/date/{}/1d/1min.json'.format(date))
   data = data_response.json()
   data = data['activities-steps-intraday']['dataset']

   daily_steps = 0;
   for item in data:
       daily_steps += item['value’] 
       # other processing …

The differences between the data we get and Fitbit dashboard do not seem to follow any pattern and appear in between dates where there is a complete match. So, I don’t think there is an issue with our API calls given what we retrieve matches the dashboard some of the time. I am very confused by why there is such a difference. Any thoughts are much appreciated.

[Gordon-C]

Hi @einsian.  Have you tried the Web API Explorer tool to see if you get the data back correctly?  This will help eliminate your python application as the problem.  

[einsian · Accepted solution]

I believe the python application is not the problem as it properly obtains the data for most days. This post explains why intra-day is missing despite dashboard showing data: https://community.fitbit.com/t5/Web-API-Development/Intra-day-data-zeroed-out/td-p/2563684

In fact, when I use the same python API to get time-series data (as opposed to intra-day data) I get the data that exactly matches Fitbit dashboard