Heart Rate, GPS, and OAuth 2.0 Update

[JeremiahFitbit]

We know that many of you are eager to start using the heart rate and location data from the latest Fitbit trackers. These will be released when our OAuth 2.0 beta is available.

Q. What type of heart rate data will be available via the API?
Heart rate data takes several forms:

• resting heart rate (one value per day)
• a daily summary that includes a sum of minutes spent and calories burned in each heart rate zone
• a second-level time series (Partner API feature)

Q. What type of GPS data will be available via the API?
GPS location data is recorded only when a user tracks an outdoor exercise activity. GPS and heart rate data during an exercise activity will be available in the form of a TCX file.

Q. When will these features be released?
These features are still be developed and tested. Beta access will be available on Thursday, May 7, 2015. It's here! See the announcement

We will update this page when we have more information. We know that you’re as excited about these features as we are and we can’t wait to share them with you when they’re ready.

Q. But I want it now! Can you give me another update??? TELL ME!
We will update this post when we have more information to share. If it’s not updated, we don’t have anything to share yet.

Q. Can I get early access?
No, the public beta will be the earliest access available.

However, TCX export is available today on the activity details page. It contains GPS and heart rate data (when available) for the duration of the activity.

[TeamNevermind]

This is fantastic information to know, especially that there is the potential to capture second-level HR data. Thanks for the updates. Looking forward to the release of the latest API.

[afolarin]

@JeremiahFitbit how is it I can currently access intra-day timeseries for e.g HIGHLY_ACTIVE_MINUTES through the web API requests, (I can post some of the data here). This contradicts what you are saying about intra-day data only accessible through the partnership program.

[derekm]

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@afolarin wrote:
@JeremiahFitbit how is it I can currently access intra-day timeseries for e.g HIGHLY_ACTIVE_MINUTES through the web API requests, (I can post some of the data here). This contradicts what you are saying about intra-day data only accessible through the partnership program.

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@afolarin What is the API endpoint / query that you are using?

I don't think that "minutesVeryActive" is a partner API endpoint. https://wiki.fitbit.com/display/API/API-Get-Time-Series

For "intra-day" (minute-level) data it will actually return stats for every minute of the day. https://wiki.fitbit.com/display/API/API-Get-Intraday-Time-Series

[JeremiahFitbit]

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@afolarin wrote:
@JeremiahFitbit how is it I can currently access intra-day timeseries for e.g HIGHLY_ACTIVE_MINUTES through the web API requests, (I can post some of the data here). This contradicts what you are saying about intra-day data only accessible through the partnership program.

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Can you please provide the URL you are requesting? Intraday data means an actual minute-by-minute (or second-by-second, in the case of GPS and heart rate) array of values, not that there are minutes summed.

[marssram]

GPS location data is recorded only when a user tracks an outdoor exercise activity. GPS and heart rate data during an exercise activity will be available in the form of a TCX file.

Is there a way to access the TCX file (or rather its content) through an API endpoint? Thanks Mars

[JeremiahFitbit]

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@marssram wrote:

Is there a way to access the TCX file (or rather its content) through an API endpoint? Thanks Mars

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Yes, this is planned. Please see the first post in this topic.

[AbeCarmeli]

If we csan't get the HR data stream in real-time from the fitbit device, what is the lag time between the live data stream and its upload to the Fitbit User data Cloud where we can get it with the API?

[Michael]

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@AbeCarmeli wrote:

If we csan't get the HR data stream in real-time from the fitbit device, what is the lag time between the live data stream and its upload to the Fitbit User data Cloud where we can get it with the API?

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@AbeCarmeli The lag would be how long between times the user syncs. Which all depends on how they use the product and if they have "all-day" sync turned on on their phone. Normally Fitbit products sync every 15-20 minutes, if they can connect to a Fitbit dongle with Fitbit Connect and Internet, or a phone with Internet and the Fitbit app set to all-day sync. Of course a user can choose to "sync now" either with their PC or phone anytime they want.

[ravimik]

Hi Jeremiah,

What is needed to become a fitbit and gain access to the second-level HR data? 

I have been manually checking in with my ChargeHR throughout the day and reminding myself to breathe, but I'd like to send myself a little reminder during the day if I forget and my HR starts going up, like during stressful meetings. 

Thanks

Ravi

[JeremiahFitbit]

@ravimik: You need partner API access. See https://wiki.fitbit.com/display/API/Fitbit+Partner+API

[JeremiahFitbit]

OAuth 2.0 beta is now open! Please see this post.

[ravimik]

Thanks @JeremiahFitbit. I knew I needed partner level access, glad to know that it may be granted for personal projects too.

[bbarrera]

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@JeremiahFitbit wrote:

The TCX format is a series of GPS trackpoints with other pieces of data attached to each trackpoint. If there are no GPS trackpoints, there is nothing to append the heart rate to. As stated above, there will be other Fitbit API endpoints related to heart rate data beyond TCX and these are not tied to GPS.

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@JeremiahFitbit

That is true for GPX, however TCX is more flexible and GPS data is not required in a <Trackpoint></Trackpoint>

See this for more info:

https://community.fitbit.com/t5/Web-API/TCX-export-without-GPS-data/m-p/786005

Please update TCX export to output non-GPS HR activities.

Thank you.

[blaine]

Fitbit needs to take responsibility for poor design decisions. If Fitbit decided to hang all HR data on GPS data, then clearly the Charge HR product cannot be supported. However, if Fitbit had decided to hang HR and GPS data on time oriented data, Fitbit could export HR data from the Charge HR and GIS+HR data from the Surge. There are dozens, probably more, of products on the market which hang HR data on time oriendted data -- exactly what the Charge HR dashboard does.

What owners of the Charge HR need for export is exactly the data Fitbit dashboard displays.

The fact is that compared to other things Fitbit is doing, the change is fairly minor. Because Fitbit keeps raising the bogus issue of TCX, I can't help but but wonder: Do these guys have a hidden adgenda to keep us from touching/exporting our own data?

I realize this discussion is under the API discussion, but these comments are appropriate precisly because they should not  be here. Basic export of user's HR data should not be part of the API. It should and can be part of the core product. 

[JeremiahFitbit]

Hi @blaine, Fitbit didn't design TCX. Garmin did years ago. Fitbit treats GPS and heart rate as separate data streams. TCX as a format hangs heart rate off of trackpoints. We could create a TCX file without any GPS data in a trackpoint, but we don't have current plans to do this. Second level heart rate is available independently of GPS: https://wiki.fitbit.com/display/API/API-Get-Intraday-Time-Series

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@blaine wrote:

Do these guys have a hidden adgenda to keep us from touching/exporting our own data?

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No, we don't. The Excel/CSV export feature, the thousands of apps that have integrated the Fitbit API, Fitbit's dedicated API team, and the many hours spent by Fitbit employees supporting third-party developers are proof of this. The Excel/CSV export features haven't caught up yet with the new data types. It's a planned feature.

[pieteral]

The tcx file is empty and I understand it only contain data when it is linked to GPS data. I would have expected that independant from GPS data it would have exported the activity data itself:

Date Activity Steps Distance Duration Kilocalories

Under that you can then add more details like HR or GPS data if available but the basic data should be exported, no matter what.

Please consider to have this data in exported XML schema.

[DeliriumDreams]

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@JeremiahFitbit wrote:

The Excel/CSV export features haven't caught up yet with the new data types. It's a planned feature.

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Hi!

Do you have any idea when per-minute or per-second heartrate data will be added to the Excel/CSV export capabilities?  (As someone elsewhere on the forums exquisitely described it, this is a request for an anticipation, not a request for a commitment.)

I have clinically-measured metabolic numbers (HR to kcal/sec), and am interested in comparing a few days worth of high-resolution HR data vs. the summed values provided by fitbit.

Thanks!

[JeremiahFitbit]

@DeliriumDreams: The heart rate data is availabe is available via the API. If you'd like it in the data export tool, please vote in the Feature Request forum.

[jorang]

@JeremiahFitbitWhat is happening on this issue?

Still a "have no plans to support this feature"?

[GoldFinch]

That's funny because with Polar Flow you can export exercices with heart-rate data and no GPS info in TCX format.  So obviously it is not a file format limitation, but an implementation decision from the Fitbit developers.

So it CAN be done.