How to get access to raw data from Fitbit Alta for research project

[JenniferWindt]

Hi everyone,

I am a researcher at Monash University. I am planning an experimental study using activity trackers to study mind wandering and spontaneous thoughts, and the Fitbit Alta HR seems suitable for our purposes.

To make our study work, we will require access to the raw data from individual trackers. A summary of the data will not be sufficient for our study, which requires minute-by-minute recordings. We, the researchers, will also need to be able to access these data ourselves. In other words, it won't be enough for the data to be accessible on the participants' mobile phones. We will need the data to

be sent to a device that we, the researchers, can access.

Does anyone have any experience with type of thing and might you have suggestions on how to make this possible? Fitbit advised contacting the community forum on this.

All best

Jennifer

Jennifer Windt <jennifer.windt@monash.edu>

Fri, Nov 23, 7:02 PM

[Gondwana]

If you're going to use Alta HR, you'll be needing the Fitbit 'web API'. That site describes the overall code flow and data availability. Note that security constraints require that the person to whom each watch is registered authorises you to get access to the data collected by their watch.

The resolution of data available is typically every 1 to 15 seconds.

[JenniferWindt]

Thanks! Is this process different dependent on which tracker is used, or is it the same for all of them?

I also read that for researchers (vs individual users) to gain access to the raw data, we need to submit some kind of application. Where does that happen?

[Gondwana · Accepted solution]

As I understand it, the Web API works essentially the same for all devices, although devices that don't have heart rate monitors (for example) don't tend to provide much of that sort of data. 🙂

The application you're probably referring to is here. I had to jump through that hoop for this, which might give you an idea of the authorisation flow and data quality (assuming you've got a Fitbit device to play with).

PS. I attended Monash several times during my PhD studies!

[JenniferWindt]

Again, thanks for this! This was very helpful and should get us started.