Vast number of update notifications per day from subscribers to my web app

[windsorandy]

I am not sure whether this is a misundestanding on my part or an error but I have users subscribed to my web app - with Activity scope only - and all I am interested in is collecting their daily total miles walked/run.

I respond to each inbound message with a 204 and in any case I read in the docs only one update notification is sent by Fitbit with or without such a response.

I am seeing literally hundreds of messages in a single day from the same Fitbit device. Have I subscribed them to a real-time feed or is this how it works?

Any advice appreciated!  I would like far less frequent updates from these users.

[Gordon-C]

Hi @windsorandy 

It's possible what you are seeing is correct behavior.   Let me explain.  If the user leaves the Fitbit application running on their mobile device, then the Fitbit device and mobile application will automatically sync every 15 minutes.   Each time there is a sync and we detect new data is available, we will send your subscriber a notification.  You will receive an activity notification not just for recorded activities, but also new steps taken and calories burned.   Calorie burn occurs even when a user is still or sleeping.   Unfortunately, there is not a way to customize which type of Activity data to receive a notification.

Therefore, it is likely that for a single user you would receive 4 notifications per hour * 24 hours = 96 activity notifications per day.

I hope this helps explain the behavior you are observing.

[windsorandy]

Hi Gordon, thnks for coming back to me!

I'm seeing different behaviour though.  Here's a log of a few entries for one user - 4WB8ZR.  The leftmost value is a timestamp, the rest a straight dump of the Fitbit message.

As you can see these are all just a few seconds apart.

What could be causing this?

1704972591 fitbit "[{\"collectionType\":\"activities\",\"date\":\"2024.01.11\",\"ownerId\":\"4WB8ZR\",\"ownerType\":\"user\",\"subscriptionId\":\"4WB8ZR-ub\"}]"
1704972621 fitbit "[{\"collectionType\":\"activities\",\"date\":\"2024.01.11\",\"ownerId\":\"4WB8ZR\",\"ownerType\":\"user\",\"subscriptionId\":\"4WB8ZR-ub\"}]"
1704972652 fitbit "[{\"collectionType\":\"activities\",\"date\":\"2024.01.11\",\"ownerId\":\"4WB8ZR\",\"ownerType\":\"user\",\"subscriptionId\":\"4WB8ZR-ub\"}]"
1704972671 fitbit "[{\"collectionType\":\"activities\",\"date\":\"2024.01.11\",\"ownerId\":\"4WB8ZR\",\"ownerType\":\"user\",\"subscriptionId\":\"4WB8ZR-ub\"}]"
1704973577 fitbit "[{\"collectionType\":\"activities\",\"date\":\"2024.01.11\",\"ownerId\":\"4WB8ZR\",\"ownerType\":\"user\",\"subscriptionId\":\"4WB8ZR-ub\"}]"

[Gordon-C]

Hi @windsorandy 

Thank you for providing that information.   It appears the Fitbit device and mobile application for this user is syncing more frequently than it should at that specific period of time.   It seems the sync behavior is back to normal now.   If the problem persists, the user can try rebooting the device and repairing to their Fitbit account.  Otherwise, they will need to contact the Fitbit customer support team at https://help.fitbit.com/support for assistance.   

Best,